iOptron A-GPS

[Regulus]

Can anyone here comment on the iOptron A-GPS EQ/Alt-Az set up. I have been thinking of one of these with the little Vixen 110 modified Maksutov as a grab and go and intro photography set up.
Has any one used one of these items and have useful info/comments to pass on to a prospective buyer.

Thanks in advance

Trevor

[Blue Skies]

No - but I have the Minitower Pro and I've often been impressed with it's goto accuracy, even after a rough-ish one star alignment. I don't think I'd rely on it being a heavy-duty mount either, mine certainly isnt, but I'm more of an occasional user and it suits me and what I want to do with it. If I was doing stuff every night I could I think I'd be looking elsewhere.

[cjamo9]

hi there.
i have the cubepro. ive just changed my firmaware to the smartstar a version so i can use it in eq. ive made a wedge and got it on my origional tripod. i think the set up info for the eq usage is a bit weak. check the ioptron site for payload as it has just been rejuiced but most of the other places selling them have the previous payload capacities. is you vixen the one with or without the front lense. either way the smartstar a should be able to handle it but the scope is as far as it will go for accuracy anyway. if i do a 1 star easy align something goes all haywire with the positioning but 1 star 2 star and 3 star align works fine. be aware that the computer guidance they claim you can use only works when in eq mode as well. it seems that some of the controll parameters are only for the northern hemisphere, it might be just that im using the cube pro, that might have a different pcb in the mount. the the payload on the cubes is low, the lowest stated is for the dual alatz eq smartstar a.

[PaulG]

I'd looked into these myself a while back and maybe they've been updated since, the real turn off for me at the time was they did have a plastic worm/gear setup internally. My concern was a good knock or fall that moved the OTA with a degree of violence might strip teeth off the gear or damage the worm relatively easily. If spares are readily available at reasonable cost this might not be an issue, it may even be possible to swap out the plastic for metal components from a higher end model, if they're geared the same. At least from what I've read iOptron's goto system is real nice and the company genuinely seems interested in user feedback and solving issues. Unfortunately the plastic gearing was a killer for me especially considering even Celestron's cheapest Nexstar setups are metal geared. It is quite possible that this is a non-issue and the gearing is adequately durable or its been upgraded on the newer models, but I can't help but feel that if it's still the case, it's at very least unnecessarily cheap.