Hi,
I nearly got the QHY8 but got the SBIG 2000XCM instead, for the following reasons
(1) Second hand one was cheaper than the QHY8, good reason
(2) SBIG has a good name, not so good reason
(3) SBIG are known to be reliable, reasonable reason
(4) Fixed cooling so can easily take a library of darks for later use, excellent reason, but qhy8 is supposed to be pretty well noise free so maybe not relevant.
(5) No flex due to 2nd guidescope, irrelevant at short FL, but very relevant at long FL.
I also figured that if people are buying DSI III's for 1600 AUD then a ST2K at 2100 AUD which has more pixels, self guiding and fixed cooling was an absolute bargain.
Still I am finding it hard to focus and havnt turned out any images I am happy with yet. The QHY8 has 6 megapixels which is a real bonus, I am a bit unhappy with the 2 megapixels of the SBIG but will give it a decent try to get some good images as I know it is possible.
From all I have read, the QHY8 in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing gives fantastic results and I dont think you would be dissapointed.
Apologies to Gamma but, I have a friend in China and asked her to email Qui direct. He said for Chinese astronomers only (native i mean), pickup only in Beijing, Qui does the QHY8 for around 1100 AUD eqivalent. If you have a freind local to Beijing this may be a possibility.
I guess if SBIG did a 6 megapixel camera for the same price as the QHY8 we would not be having this discussion, but they dont
Paul