iOptron mounts: Do they stack up?

[Star Hunter]

Hi guys,

Anyone here using an iOptron Mini Tower, MT Pro, or Cube?

What are your thoughts on them?

How do you find them in GOTO accuracy and doing a Two-star alignment?

Are they worth it?

How do they compare against Celestron, Meade, Orion, and Skywatcher?

James

[jjjnettie]

I've had both the Cube and the Mini Tower.
I've since sold the Cube on, but loved it. It went overseas with me, tucked into my suitcase.
I use the MT for Solar, Lunar and Visual. In fact it's going out with me tonight to image the comet. Just putting a dove tail bar on the camera and imaging wide field.
The goto is fantastic, I love the big display on the MT handset.
Good GoTo is very dependant on getting the mount level during set up. Don't rely on the bubble level, use a small spirit level instead. And during the night, do an occasional "Synch to target".

[Blue Skies]

I've just started using a MiniTower Pro and once I got the firmware upgrade sorted I've found it pretty easy to use. I haven't used it much but I've been happy with it so far. GOTO is pretty good once its synched. I've just leveled it in the home position then sent it off to Jupiter, synched on it and then it seems to be quite happy and hits the spot quite well.

I did have a bit of a runaround getting a dovetail to suit, however. I had bought a Meade 8" SCT optical tube that I wanted to use on it, but the dovetail that came with the ota, nor the extra I bought from the supplier fitted the scope. I ended up having to by a Losmandy dovetail to suit the supplied saddle (the MT-pro comes with two different saddle options, plus the counterweight saddle). Now all is good, though.

Counterweights are an issue I'm yet to tackle, but I can see I'll probably need to rig something up for my ota once I have imaging gear attached, which is on the larger side. Smaller scopes (eg 80mm refractors) probably don't have to worry about it.

I don't think I would consider it a heavy duty mount, but for lightweight work its worth considering.

[Graham Beazley]

James.
The minitower is a fantastic mount. I have 2 off them and also 1 pro.. The oldest one is now 3and 1/2 years old and going strong.. I also service my own mounts and have modified this oldest one ie: upgraded the bearings to high precision Timken versions and made and fitted a super clutch along with other internal mods etc... This mount is super quiet and carry large amounts of weight.. After working on my mounts now for this number of years i have come to the opinion that the MT is the preferred mount.. It has tapered roller bearings thru-out which allows them to be preloaded correctly and makes the mount tight as.. The pro does not have these bearings is there-for quite sloppy when comparing the two. The targeting of the MT is super good and there is no need to do 2 star alignment. Just slew to your selected target and then sync.. easy as that. The pro has more sofisticated encoders but at present the firmware is just not able to take advantage of these so the targeting is off compared to the MT.. Maybe when the designers improve the firmware the story will be different.
In my opinion the stock MT is a very good purchase indeed. I do not know of any other mount in this price range that comes close to it. Even others more expensive do not stack up to this mount.
All my three mounts have worked straight out of the box and have been totaly reliable.
Go purchase one and enjoy.
cheers.
Graham.

[Star Hunter]

Thanks guys for the input.

I have been offered a MT Pro and after reading Graham's reply, will I have to change the bearings? or was that the older version did not have tapered rollers?

I also read somewhere that the MT pro can be made to go Eq.? How would this stack up swinging a 8-10" SCT?

How would one make a longer Dec shaft as the current axle thru the head is one piece of steel?.

I can make a wedge ok, but the Dec shaft......Hmmmm.. any suggestions?

[Graham Beazley]

James.
None of the MTPRO's have ever had taper rollers and most likely never will. It is very expensive to change all the pro's ball races to taper rollers.. in my opinion just not worth it that is why i like the stock MT , its easy to modify.
Both the mounts can operate in EQ, the facility is there in the controller software, you just need a wedge.
As far as the pro dec axle.. it is the the same length as the MT, its just that it slides away inside the main axle for storage. It Can aslo be removed if you want to fit an even longer one but i dont see why that will ever be needed.
cheers.
Graham.

[Star Hunter]

Graham,

If I set the MTPro to Eq. Do you know its payload capacity and its GOTO accuracy?

[Graham Beazley]

James.
There are some out there that are using 10 and 11 inch SCT's on their MT's with no problems at all. In my opinion i wouldnt expect the PRO to do that well.
As far as go-to accuracy, well that depends on how well YOU align it.
As i said, i have found the Pro will not be as accurate as the MT.
cheers.
Graham.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: mine the few times I have used this , has been perfect .
As to the Meade / Celestron programs ,, I have played with both and did not like either of them , never brought one .
But my iEQ45's os is way easier to navigate. Basic commands .
. it works.
I like mine .:D.
hope this helps .
Brian.