Quote:
Originally Posted by OneOfOne
If he just wants to take long exposure, you just need an equatorial platform. Once the scope is pointed to an object, the motor will continue to follow the target for several minutes. The cost of something like this is much less than a full blown "goto" conversion.
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Correst O'nO, in fact I've just baptised my new Round Table Platfrom (you can read my travails in the "Equipment" section.)
But personally I thought it worthwhile to point out John's set-up, that he's asking $850 for; and without being too presumptive he may be negotiable over - an interesting option perhaps.
I'm thinking that you may really be referring to Gary's (Wildcard) response: that is not my provenance but it would be interesting to see the cost comparisons between (most likely) apples and bananas so to speak!
At $900plus including shipping I considered the RTP a darn good purchase: but I was naively ignorant of the fact that even though I'd paid for air-freighting, that an "Aussie" middleman (profiteer?) would extract another $200 to "tell me when it had arrived" and then another $100 to provide the broker services needed to get it through customs.
An exceptionally expansive (imho) customs officer explained to me that because the goods cost less than $1000 there was no GST (which I already knew) - but that as an item below that value I could make a "self-declaration" which customs had 48/72 hours to just respond to, then an indeterminate period to process this application.
Without commenting verbally on my polite comment about "quasi-monopolies," he explained that they had "preferred agents" whose electronic (ie emailed) applications would be automatically processed more quickly than any individuals: this presuming the individual could manage to fill the forms in correctly, with all the codes etc necessary!
I'm more than happy with the possibilities for my platform and any intended usages, as my thread indicates; and am already "upgrading" its' versatility; but I would be interested in Gary posting costs for an Argo Navis with drive options (mini version) as per his post below.
Cheers, Darryl.