|
Anthony you should've had a word with Gary from ArgoNavis when he came up on the weekend. He sells the encoders and mounting kit for your dob, as well as the ArgoNavis computer. Of course the ArgoNavis is the most expensive, but it's also the best.
The encoders and mounting kit can also be sourced from Bintel, I think they're around the same price. Expect to spend around $200 to get the kit for both axes.
You've seen how the DSC's work on my dobbie (and John B's) - it's the best thing i've done for my scope. It is nice to learn the sky and starhop to objects rather than be told where to push them to, but having DSC's does not stop you from learning the sky. It actually enhances your experience by removing the frustration of not finding something you want to find, and allows you to find 3 times the number of objects on a given night.
But to your original question, you *can* buy all the bits separately, but as Ron said, there's not really much point as you can't use one without the other. Better to just save the money and spend it all at once when you have enough for the computer as well. You could check astromart or other 2nd hand markets for older SkyCommanders or encoders (or both) which might save you some money (depends on postage costs). You may still need to buy mounting kit specific to your dob mount.
|