EQ8 Public unveiling at Astro Pete's

[ferreros]

To whom it may concern,

Have just confirmed there will be a public unveiling of the NEW EQ8 at Astro Pete's in Brisbane, Saturday (8th June 2013) @ 3 pm.

Pete will be unpacking and setting up his first EQ8, in a public showing at his store in Upper Mt Gravatt.

Should be fun to see it in action.

:):):)

Regards

Scott

[Tandum]

Who is Astro Pete and where is the Astro Store in Upper Mt Gravatt?
Would that be Peter Marbles at Sirius Optics Springwood?


Jonathan, found your missing mount .......

[tlgerdes]

The first public unveiling happened last night on IIS. Houghy posted pictures of it as he did the dance of the 7 veils with it :lol:

[LewisM]

Will Astro Pete be dressed as a Storm Trooper for this unveiling?

Yeah, David sure has taken the cake for first unveilings :)

Robin, no, it's NOT Peter Marples.

[ferreros]

Robin,

Tried to send you info on your question re Astro Pete's but got blocked by your spam filter.

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
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Content preview: Astro Pete's is a Telescope/coffee shop, he also does outreach
astronomy on Saturday and Friday nights. His shop link is www.astropetes.com.au
The shop is opposite Garden City Shopping centre. [...]

Content analysis details: (98.1 points, 5.0 required)

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100 USER_IN_BLACKLIST From: address is in the user's black-list
0.0 FREEMAIL_FROM Sender email is commonly abused enduser mail provider
(scottferrero[at]yahoo.com.au)
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[score: 0.0000]
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Astro Pete's is a Telescope/coffee shop, he also does outreach astronomy on S=
aturday and Friday nights.

His shop link is www.astropetes.com.au

The shop is opposite Garden City Shopping centre. =20

Regards

Scott

Sent from my iPad=

[Tandum]

That's right, I don't need anymore spam from yahoo. Get a real email address.

So is this guy a skywatcher dealer? Never heard of them. Not listed as a dealer either?

I've asked a couple of bas members if they know him, he links to them on his site.

[Tandum]

I guess all will be revealed tomorrow arvo.

And if that's his price for the eq8, everyone in the country has been ripped off.

http://www.astropetes.com.au/Mounts/Skywatcher_EQ8.html

[Astro_Bot]

He's president of BAS!

[Tandum]

And he sets up a new shop round the corner from Sirius Optics? WTF?

[Astro_Bot]

He's been there a couple of years. And it's not really "round the corner", more like a few kms away.

IMHO, he's a good guy and worth chatting to if you wander into his shop. He does good coffee, too.


He's made similar remarks to me a few times. But some items he has little discretion over and will have to charge whatever the wholesaler/distributor requires, AFAIK.

[Tandum]

It's a 5 minute drive, tops.
Beyond me, Sirius is for sale.

A couple of years, never heard of it and it's just over the hill from here.

[Astro_Bot]

I'm not sure I understand. Sirius Optics is up for sale?

[Tandum]

Has been for ages. You don't go to astrofest?

Ron is always there.

[Astro_Bot]

No, I never get the time. Maybe one day ....

[Grimmeister]

Didn't think there was a law against opening a store and being competitive. Like astrobot said maybe you should head on over an have a look.

Pete is a great guy and works very hard and passionately to out reach to the community and share astronomy with any one who has a minute to stop an look.

The price on the EQ8 is fairdinkum too so pays to shop around IMHO.

And yes he makes a great coffee. Will be enjoying mine today while observing the public unveiling in the flesh. Pictures in a forum are great but not like the real thing.

Cheers

[naskies]

Did anyone go to the public unboxing?? Any reports? :)

[Grimmeister]

Hi Dave,

Yes mate I went and was very pleased with the mount, I am just writing up a review now for my web site.

It really does look the goods, I can't wait to see it used in anger :)

Cheers

[RobF]

Hi Dave

There were about 15 people around at Astropete's, with a gentle drizzle that started as the boxes came out from the shop ;)

I've shown a few of Martin with his new baby. We had a 12" dob loaded up at one stage, but I didn't get any pics of that - we were too busy listening to it slew - VERY smooth, no play. Quality fittings all over (Azimuth knobs a nice alloy head for example). Pardon my shoddy iPhone shots.

We had a quick play with an RJ45 Hitech Astro HEQ5Pro EQMOD module without success. Wouldn't connect to the mount. Synscan versus 3.33 in the Handset from memory. Can't wait to see how she performs in the field! After a couple of hours we packed it up in the car, as the drizzle got a bit heavier....:)


p.s. Pete makes great coffee, and plenty of astro-goodies to peruse in the shop if you're ever nearby.

[Grimmeister]

Hi Dave,

Here is the review as well if your interested, just my thoughts and opinions.

http://www.astrophotography.id.au/unboxing-and-set-up-of-the-skywatcher-eq8/#more-911

Cheers

Anthony

[naskies]

Thanks Anthony - great little write up!



Thanks Rob. Good to see Martin's beaming big smile - like Christmas morning! Your second photo with the motion blurred hands is great :lol:

A shame about EQMOD... I suspect the absolute encoders and other new features meant that the serial protocol's been substantially revised. It might require some substantial work on the EQMOD developers' part to get EQDIR working again.

Did you manage to get an ASCOM connection to the handset? I imagine that not having ASCOM control of the mount would be problematic for imagers...

I can't wait to hear what the tracking and pointing performance is like under the stars.

[OICURMT]

:screwy::shrug:

Mount looks nice... too rich for me atm

[RobF]

I didn't take a USB-Serial interface with me alas. Would expect the handset could connect to ASCOM in the correct mode, but couldn't try it. Robin commented there are many extra settings/menus in it compared to EQ6.

[Grimmeister]

Hi all,

The hand controller definitely has the "PC Direct" option in the menu so could be controlled via the hand set but as Rob said the correct cables weren't there to test. I am sure in time all these options will be explored.

Cheers

Anthony

[RobF]

Nice write up BTW Anthony :thumbsup:

[Grimmeister]

Thanks Rob, I hope this helps people get a sense of the mount f they haven't seen it. let me know if I missed anything.

Cheers

Anthony

[Bullockbob]

Pity though that a tcp interface wasnt included as well. That would've been very handy.

[h0ughy]

The sad fact is that no USB ports were included. Still have a clunky serial connection. Nice unveiling a few faces I recognised from astrofest in the photos Anthony put in his report