Lodestar X2 vs Original Lodestar

[Andy01]

Hi folks,

I picked up a 2nd hand Lodestar X2 last week. http://www.sxccd.com/lodestar-x2-autoguider

Thought I'd test it's upgraded sensitivity by comparing it to my Original Lodestar.

Have to say I was underwhelmed by the result. From the photos here the original (first image) appears to be more sensitive! :screwy:

Has anyone else experienced this?
Do I maybe need to update drivers or something? (I use a mac) :shrug:

Thoughts?

Cheers

Andy

[Shiraz]

phd/phd2 automatically scales the screen display based on the signal - so you cannot tell much about sensor performance by looking at the screen. SNR on the same star should give you an indication of the performance improvement (which is claimed to be about a factor of 2x).

[Eden]

The Lodestar x2 has fewer hot pixels than the original as well as higher sensitivity at near-infrared wavelengths.

A more detailed comparison can be seen here:

http://www.astrosurf.com/comolli/strum60.htm

[phomer]

Andy,

I have some thoughts and suggestions.

1) Upgrade your guiding software to PHD2 as this also shows the signal to noise ratio of the guide star. It also has a number of other options that make it well worthwhile.

2) It is not clear from your screen shots which is which, however, I can see far more stars in the first image.

3) As someone else pointed out the program will adjust the display so that what you are seeing may not reflect what the program is seeing and the brighter stars are going to look similar.

4) The extra sensitivity is only going to be significant when you move to longer focal lengths and you are imaging in an area with few if any bright stars suitable for guiding.

Regards

Paul