[gregbradley]

Interesting.

A quick comparison between competitors:

Apogee U16M: US$9895, no cover slip as standard, inert gas filled chamber with lifetime guarantee, fused silica CCD window, internal buffer, variable speed fans, cooling 40C below ambient (although it takes 30 minutes to get there), fast downloads, USB2.0, reliable and proven bug free Alta series base. Residual bulk image fix (RBI or ghost images), mask to CCD chamber to reduce reflections, CCD window has antireflection coatings. Superb 7 position filter wheel (best in the business but expensive at US$1800). Weight is probably one of the lower of the 3 (not sure if SBIG has said what the ST weight is).

FLI Proline 16803: US$10,495 (they've dropped their price), best cooling 65C below ambient, inert gas filled chamber (no desiccant or need to bake the desiccant), super fast download (2 speeds available), buffer, long lasting shutter (1 million activations), no cover slip as an option (not standard), now proven reliable and stable base unit, a bit heavy probably the heaviest camera of the 3, built in powered hub. Filter wheel is cheaper but not as nice as Apogee unit which is both very fast and totally accurate in repeatibility and easy to service. RBI fix and mask for the chip to cut down unwanted reflections (a big problem with these big chips).

STX: US$11,875 most expensive, gas filled chamber but also desiccant plug meaning gas would have to be repurged and desiccant plug baked from time to time, other autoguiding options, internal guider, option of AOL and also remote guide head, buffer, RBI fix . 50C below ambient cooling so that is good, it mentions KAF16803E chip - not listed on Kodak site - probably a misprint or error and should read 16803 chip. There was a 16801E chip but no 16803E. Base is not proven and is new so could be bugs to be ironed out, no mask, no RBI so that will cause problems unless addressed, ethernet output (probably appealling to some not sure who wants that but some must).Probably comes with a nice case (Apogee does not and I don't think the FLI does either). Still has the cover slip on the CCD which reduces QE and causes some minor reflections. Not sure if this model requires constant connection with a computer to operate like other SBIG models do which means if the connection drops for any reason its a power down and power up (losing cooling in the meantime) to get going again - very annoying and far more frequent than you would think. Hopefully the buffer means this doesn't happen anymore - not 100% sure.
Download and autoguiding concurrent improves the internal autoguiding setup. The KAI0340 internal guiding chip no doubt is a step up. Double handles are good and also nice looking unit with red and black theme.


So in the final analysis the difference in money is really for the internal guiding and option of AOL and the differential autoguiding setup (which probably requires more accessories and a remote guide head). The camera will not work with the STL remote guider so that would be extra.

Its success no doubt hinges on how good this new autoguiding technique is and on brand loyalty to SBIG.

That may be worthwhile for some applications especially long focal length users (hence the photo of the Planewave 12.5 inch CDK). The mask will also be important to cut down on reflections, perhaps it has one but its not listed.

Keep in mind for all 3 you need an external filter wheel and 50mm square filters so you won't be able to use the filters you may already have and the 50mm square ones are quite expensive.

Unfortunate timing for SBIG to release their most expensive model during an economic recession. $11,875 will turn into $15,000 by the time you add a filter wheel, filters, remote guide head.

FLI will turn into about $13,500 adding in a filter wheel and filters plus a guide cam
Apogee will turn into $13,550 when you add in their filter wheel, filters and guide cam.

So in the end they are closer in price than it seems at first. A bit like comparing phone companies costs!

So for US$1500 you are paying for the option of internal guiding, option of AOL, option of remote guide head (they're convenient), option of differential guiding.

Greg.