NEW Skywatcher Synguider Autoguider

[Psychobilly]

I'm just hoping it works on a 80-200m f3.6 teleguider... the recomended FL range is 400-1200mm and 80 mm aperture... tonight is not looking good at the moment...

Once I have got it tested the way I want to use it I'll get onto the more general stuff...

Peter...

[joselin]

could you use a Zenithstar 66 ED as a guide scope with the synguider ?

Thanks

[FLO]

The Zenithstar 66 should do nicely

The Skywatcher Synguider Autoguiders are back in stock.

[FLO]

HitecAstro have introduced a compact and stable power supply for the Skywatcher Synguider. Its £25 price includes cabling and a cigar plug for connection to your 12V DC power supply.

[Al Greaves]

SW Synguider. I've got one but after two long sessions I have not managed to make it lock onto a star and guide my HEQ5 Pro. It does all the right things, good tight focus, target bang on the cross wires recommended combination of BRI and Exposure, but when asked to 'Lock', it says 'No'. I've tried everything the menu offers but no 'Lock'.

If any other user can tell me what I doing wrongly, I syre be grateful.

Al Greaves

[darkly]

The screen position is an issue but at this price point, a remote screen would have been challenging. I don't like the idea of using a diagonal although in fairness, a rugged one attached with three retaining bolts to the focus tube could do an effective job. It could be fun positioning this to view it and locating a suitable guide star on an off axis guider though!!

Do you reckon it would be possible to use this as an off axis guider or is this un-realistic?

Has anyone done this yet?

[NickH]

The CCD is sensitive enough, but you'll need some good light grasp to probably use it effectively. I didn't use it OAG when I tested it earlier this year, but there's no reason at all why it should not work

[steppenwolf]

I agree with Nick, I found the SynGuider to be reasonably sensitive but I reckon OAGs are problematical enough without the added complication of trying to locate suitable guide stars using a SynGuider.

[darkly]

Yeah, thanks.

It was just an idle half plan / possible project.

I had thought about using it OAG in conjunction with an X-Y guidestar locator like this one

Orion USA X-Y Guidestar Locator - Telescopes UK: Telescopes & Telescope Accessories in your only London shop

Thought that OAG would give me a weight saving as opposed to a separate guidescope etc.

But it's away in the future as of yet.

[Petrol]

Has anyone tried this piece of kit? It sounds ideal for what I am looking for

Pete

[NickH]

Yes, and the reviews in AN and S@N hopefully combined with user reports here show it's great

[astroimpulse]

Reading through this and other threads RE the Synguider, it looks like a decent affordable choice. At worst something great to get experience on and sell later. At best a great guider for the next year or so (while saving for other things).

Nick...I've seen you champion this with some great posts. But I was wondering why you have the DSI-C in your sig. Is it preferred?

[NickH]

Not preferred, just what I use as my setup is obsy based...and for £70, the DSI-C was a no brainer

[philming]

Hi all ! I was wondering about the M42 thread on this device.

Since one's supposed to arrange some sort of parafocal system with an eyepiece, how does it work?

I have a 12,5mm crosshaire EP. If I'm going to use the Synguider and attach it to the guidescope with the M42 thread, is it still possible to go parafocal? Does the adjustment has to be done on the EP in this case? I understand it should be the other way around... First focus with the EP, then remove the EP and connect the SG and move it in or out to get a pin point star on the SG screen...

How is this done when attached via the M42 thread (without talking about the hastle of unscrewing the SG without moving the focuser in the process...

Thanx for your input !

[Guest]

SW Synguider. I've got one but after two long sessions I have not managed to make it lock onto a star and guide my HEQ5 Pro. It does all the right things, good tight focus, target bang on the cross wires recommended combination of BRI and Exposure, but when asked to 'Lock', it says 'No'. I've tried everything the menu offers but no 'Lock'.

If any other user can tell me what I doing wrongly, I syre be grateful.

Al Greaves

I've just started using this auto guider and noticed that you have to use the keypad up arrow at this stage to change the "no" to "yes" to start guiding - that worked for me.

David

[fatwoul]

So far, I have had no trouble with my SynGuider. For what my opinion is worth, I would recommend it to someone else looking for a basic guider for field use. I may rethink once my scopes are set up permanently, but right now it suits me fine.

[Psychobilly]

portable widefield i use the synguider in the obs I also use a DSI... in the obs theres a pc so I can use the DSI with PHD and pick a guide star anywhere in the cameras FOV.. which is handy as you can concentrate on framing rather than getting a guidestar centered on the synguider... not a problem with widefield as I just tweak the mount to center the guidestar...

Billy...

[MikeWilson]

portable widefield i use the synguider in the obs I also use a DSI... in the obs theres a pc so I can use the DSI with PHD and pick a guide star anywhere in the cameras FOV.. which is handy as you can concentrate on framing rather than getting a guidestar centered on the synguider... not a problem with widefield as I just tweak the mount to center the guidestar...

Billy...

Hi Billy,

I found, swapping between the SynGuider and the QHY5+PHD that even although the advantage of the PHD software approach is numerous, the SynGuider didn't require centering on a guide star. I could guide on a star to the edge of the frame just as easily on the SynGuider as on the QHY5+PHD.

[Psychobilly]

hmmm...

Goes against everything that sykwatcher say in the manual... unless thats just an attempt to sell more of their Alt/AZ guidescope adjusters...

I still prefer the DSI's if theres a computer available...

The fact that you get "proper" video with the DSI's rather than the almost useless 1 bit offering from the Synguider means that its better for framing.. with the DSI on the 500 f8 teleguider the FOV is a pretty close match to the DSLR on the CPC800 @ f6.3.. I have the 3 OTA's on the mount all co -aligned... so by upping the "guide exposure" i can check alignment on faint fuzzies...

The synguider is OK for what it is... a fairly straight forward standalone guider - but it's next to useless on a finder guider setup .. it now spends its time on my second setup outside the obs...

If Skywatcher ever get around to sorting out an releasing the firmware fix for the EQ3 Pro's guiding "issuers" then it might get a bit more use...

Billy...

[MikeWilson]

hmmm...

Goes against everything that sykwatcher say in the manual... unless thats just an attempt to sell more of their Alt/AZ guidescope adjusters...

Here's the manual:

You only need to move the star away from the edge if you're at zoom level 1.

Best Regards,

Mike

[Psychobilly]

Which is where I would be looking for a guidestar? I certainly wouldn't be looking for one zoomed in...

With a "proper" camera you can guide anywhere in the frame ... so frame the image in the long FL scope .. find a guidestar on the guidecam chip calibrate and off to go... no limits to the center NN x NN pixels...

Horses for courses...

[MikeWilson]

It looks like we agree. I suspect what the SynGuider manual is getting at is that "too close to the edge of the image zone" is just a generic recommendation in the same way that one probably shouldn't guide with a guide star right on the edge of any camera's field of view. You're more likely to lose the star on the edge during calibration than one not at the edge. Maybe the edges have coma too? Who knows.

In my time with the SynGuider I regularly had to guide with stars near the edges. That's because my guidescope (ST80) didn't have adjustable rings. IT was locked into one position - not quite in the same field of view as the main OTA. I had a few issues trying to find a guidestar near M45 for instance, despite the fact that any of the stars in M45 would make ideal guide stars.

Anyhow, any focussed star light falling on the edge of a chip is going to fall on the edge of a chip no matter if it's a SynGuider, a QHY5 or a DSI.

[Guest]

Speaking of the Synguider and it's particular functionality I was disappointed with the user manual in that there isn't a trouble shooting or FAQ section - that's just lazy marketing on Skywatchers part. However the product seems to be living up to the great reputation I read about so often in various forums. I'm still working on understanding the whole guiding environment and enjoying that process. In fact I just realised tonight that I can use it to PEC train the mount as well - bonus I'm really interested in user experience with this thread rather than preference - so, any comment on the effectiveness of the Auto-calc mode would be welcome - I'm finding that the star is lost shortly after this process is complete?

[Guest]

Which is where I would be looking for a guidestar? I certainly wouldn't be looking for one zoomed in.

I don't think "zoom level 1" as refered to in the previous post is zoomed in - it's the basic level of zoom.

[x6gas]

Speaking of the Synguider and it's particular functionality I was disappointed with the user manual in that there isn't a trouble shooting or FAQ section - that's just lazy marketing on Skywatchers part. However the product seems to be living up to the great reputation I read about so often in various forums. I'm still working on understanding the whole guiding environment and enjoying that process. In fact I just realised tonight that I can use it to PEC train the mount as well - bonus I'm really interested in user experience with this thread rather than preference - so, any comment on the effectiveness of the Auto-calc mode would be welcome - I'm finding that the star is lost shortly after this process is complete?

I use the auto calc all the time and have had no problems with it. As I say, I run the synguider through the auto cal process every time I use it (not sure if that's necessary as I haven't re-read the manual ).

Very interested to hear how you can use it to PEC train the mount - please do share!