EQ8 'preview' video

[rustigsmed]

Hi all,

Stumbled across this video today some of you may find interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd95pnNOMcQ

Sounds like it is indeed on its way shortly.

Not sure about the 35kg imaging capacity ... anyway. Looks promising (apart from the polar scope!)

Cheers


Rusty :thumbsup:

[Shiraz]

'nother one - looks like a production version, complete with disconcerting warnings "no pressing" which presumably means "or you will break the encoder disk"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMJIb5PSSFY

[mithrandir]

From the Austrian video the pitch on the worm on the polar align looks a bit coarse. Could make it hard to get fine adjustment.

[OzEclipse]

I think SW designed it as a permanently mounted mounting. Once on the pier the no pressing shouldn't be an issue. Most mounts of that size designed for permanent mounting would probably have similar weak spots.

I was reading their bumpf a few weeks ago where they quoted tracking accuracy as 0.1164 arc sec. This isn't PE, it's the step size for the motors. I crunched a few numbers and worked out their gearing.

Worm Wheel has 435 teeth
step motor : 0.9 deg/step
step motors driven at 1/64th step micro stepping ratio
resulting 0.11637 arc sec per single step

Joe

[frolinmod]

Isn't that a rather coarse step size for tracking?

[OzEclipse]

I didn't design it, I just worked out the ratios from the published step size. :)

A drive that uses a gearbox can go to much smaller step size however they have designed the system without a gearbox to get rid of the higher frequency periodic errors.

With the published payload, the mount could at most support a short 20 inch OTA. Theoretical resolution is 0.25 arc sec but seeing will almost always push the resolution much higher. I doubt you'd see the image cogging.

Joe

[Shiraz]

is coarser than high end alternatives - eg AP1200 has .05 arc sec encoder tics.

If movement is smooth though, it is still well within seeing (eg 2 arc sec) as Joe points out. No transfer gear noise is a plus.

[rogerg]

Thanks for posting the video, interesting to see.

[Tandum]

Gezz Ray, you can't compare it to a 1200 AP. I got one on order and delivered for $4150, the 900 AP is almost US$9000 ex USA.

I found this site (http://www.teleskop-austria.at/shop/index.php?lng=de&m=2&kod=mont-eq8-adv-sw) that lists it at 3500Euros, but it's the first offshore price I've seen. It says the stupid polar scope is an option.

I wish one of these videos would show it running under eqmod .... I really need it to work with POTH.

[Shiraz]

I was trying to suggest that it wasn't a bad spec - had to compare it with high end stuff to find any better.

actually looks remarkably similar in concept to this discontinued EQ - even down to an outrigger polar scope. http://www.geminitelescope.com/ENG/G42_eng.html ...nothing new under the sun...

[2stroke]

Who really uses a polar scope these days in the southern hemi lol, if a 12" can ride on it fine and if tracking on par with the eq6 then i would be happy. Would make a great cheap mount for a perm obs for someone like me living on a beer pocket who wants a taste of champagne. Hopefully eqmod will support it but thats unknown and haven't seen anything on the eqmod yahoo groups yet, though i only check on the odd occasion. Until a production model review is done I would be hanging off though, lol after meade and the LX80 I will never get excited about a mount again in the budget level.

[gavcol]

Hi All

For those who are interested in this mount I spoke with Bintel the other day who stated that it is not due for release for sometime in May 2013 now.

Gav

[2stroke]

That means when ever lol, If you really want one before xmas i think import is the only option. If bintel manage by some divine intervention I can't see them getting more then 2 or so due to initial supply and demand from overseas country's and if they did then the price would come at a premium much greater. There's no doubt they will be doing there best to get stock though supply and demand is a creek of human waste, Bigger stores will get preference leaving them heading up steam, being in Australia makes the import of only a few very costly leaving them no paddle. :rofl: Why I love bintel, price and there service i went there 6 months ago approximately and they didn't have any eq6's or heq5 and were still advertising they had them, they were totaly sold out of eq mounts altogether, so there's your barb wire canoe :rofl:

[gavcol]

Hi Jay

Just letting people know the latest news! I am quite aware that even May would be unlikely, especially taking into consideration the past few years of the eq7 into the eq8 and the ongoing delays etc.

I am looking at getting a G11 :)

Gav

[2stroke]

Yer i know man no disrespect, though there has being one poor soul i read of on these forums who was told by another store he would get his before last xmas and i believe he even put a deposit down. Bintel were even taking pre orders for the LX80 and they ended up pulling them from there site altogether. I just don't want to see people broken harted by resellers happy taking there money and giving them false hope. :(

[gavcol]

Yes I agree:thumbsup:

Bintel are taking pre-orders for the eq8 as well and their website is still saying it will be released in March. So thought I would advise people that it s not even looking like that now! So I am not getting people's hopes up I am giving them a more realistic view (if you can call it that :rofl:, as who really knows?)

Shame, I do like the mount that I have seen in the video. But i haven't got the patience to wait and I don't think I will ever go beyond a 12" ota (but you never know :lol:). Would really love a Paramount but who can afford one of them? I am on beer pocket budget as well:sadeyes:

Gav

[baileys2611]

Actually the mount is already in production. Bintel (and others around the world) are doing software bug testing on it.

In their words, it's a mechanically good mount, it's well made and they are happy with the quality of the work. Software and firmware are going through the motions. Don't want to release a well made product only to have it let down at the last minute with software and firmware glitches.

There's about 1 guy who is finishing off the programming work, they are getting through it but it's a matter of going through the bugs.

April is looking possible - pending any larger bugs coming out of the software.

I'm not going to get one, but did speak with Don about it to help me make a decision. Not for any reason other than I saw a good deal on the PMX and went for that.

[Tandum]

That was me but it wasn't their fault, they expected 2 x eq8's but received 2 x eq6 alt/az instead.

I was told the release date is delayed to April/May due to a shipment of bad bearings from a supplier which have to be replaced.

That said, some dealers have some, scroll down this German forum (http://www.astronomieforum.at/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=6145&p=43206) for Guiding/PE charts.

[clive milne]

Once you subtract out the noise (from seeing) the tracking error looks like a gentle sine wave of 6 arc seconds peak to peak.
Very respectable for a mount at this price point.

I'm not overly impressed with its stated payload capacity, but still
it looks like it will be a winner.

:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

I saw this on the web and while I got excited I did think was it real:shrug:

[Tandum]

You better scroll down this forum a bit Dave, those guys are dodgy.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=101354

[h0ughy]

point noted

[toc]

Another video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23G83RhQhys

[Digital_Artist]

In reply to an email Bintel informed me about EQ8:

"The latest from SkyWatcher is that the EQ8 mount should be released in May. We are also in contact with the software developers at SkyWatcher as we help debug some of the software issues as they arise. They are hope ful to have the EQ8 readu to ship at that time."