Wide field setup - GOTO?

[Lognic04]

Hi All,
I am thinking of switching to a widefield (250mm or less most likely) setup and I'm the about getting a GOTO mount, as from what I hear the star adventurer is a nightmare to move to your target accurately. The goal for this setup is minimal time setting up, and minimal involvement necessary so I can enjoy doing visual at the same time. My current vision for the setup is: The asi1600 plus filters of course, a 135mm samnyang plus geoptik adaptor, an ioptron smarteq pro, and a NUC pc or ASIair possibly. The reason behind the smarteq pro is that it is the cheapest Goto mount I know of. (The Goto eq3s seem to be ripoffs!)

Please let me know what you think!
Thanks.:thumbsup:

[Atmos]

Why not use your CGEM for widefield imaging? If it works for longer focal lengths it’ll do fine with shorter :)

[Lognic04]

Hi Colin,
I just don't enjoy the bulk and weight of the CGEM - I'd much prefer something lighter. Ive been looking into an AZGTi too, equatorially converted and that seems like it would actually be even better!

[Camelopardalis]

I like my AZ-GTi. Perfectly portable, doesn’t need a big tripod, etc. I use mine attached to a computer and run EQmod and this plate solving, guiding, dithering ;)

[Lognic04]

Sounds excellent! How's the guiding quality? Obviously it doesn't matter much for widefield though.

[Camelopardalis]

Last time I was guiding with about 2” rms error. Well under my imaging resolution :lol:

[Lognic04]

:lol: wow, that's still quite surprising! How do you connect to EQMOD? Via a cable, or somehow through WIFI?
Thanks

[Camelopardalis]

Yeah it was doing alright :D

I bought the Lynx Astro EQ direct cable from FLO in the UK. All you need to do is then set custom gear ratios in EQmod and away it goes. Just like a bigger Sky-Watcher.

However, the Sky-Watcher Synscan app and ASCOM driver work just as well, both over the cable and via Wi-fi. The advantage with the app is that you can connect to it from a smart phone or tablet, and don’t need the computer (although you would to guide and plate solve). So it’s quite a versatile little system, depending on how deep you want go.