I guess that unless StarGPS advertise 3.2 on ther website you can't assume that it will work with v3.2. They claim that it works with v3.12, so it kind of absolves them. I'm not sure I'd be blaming SkyWatcher for this either - they don't make equipment that is guaranteed or even intended to work with 3rd party solutions. You chose to upgrade, so maybe that responsibility is your own.
Quote:
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Orion Atlas/Sirius GoTo and Sky-Watcher SynScan controlled telescopes include the models listed below. StarGPS-NX requires a hand controller with firmware version 3.10, 3.11 or 3.12.
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Still, as stupid as it may seem, they test their hardware on various brands & models (Meade, Celestron, Losmandy Gemini, Vixen StarBook, StarBook Type-S, Orion Atlas/Sirius GoTo, Sky-Watcher SynScan/SkyScan or Astro-Physics GTO. This includes the Celestron CG5, Advanced Series GT (AS-GT), CGE Series, NexStar SE, NexStar SLT, NexStar iSeries, NexStar GT, StarSeeker and the Meade ETX, LXD55, LXD75, LX90, LX200 Classic) and this gives me the impression that they are in the business in a big way. They must test all their offerings with the plethora of units listed here, and in so doing really should put up a plainly-seen disclaimer stating that the unit WON'T work with a specific version of hand controller firmware and WILL work with another.
At the end of the day, it's hard to blame SkyWatcher for evolving its software. If 3rd party hang-ons fail, it's like blaming Microsoft for bothering to attempt to make its operating systems better, and suddenly finding that the Chinese gadget you bought of eBays' drivers don't work any more. The difference is that you chose to upgrade, and it wasn't an automatic night-time procedure that you had no control over and should therefore rightfully complain about. Having said that though, the email from Tasco suggests that Synta have purposely changed their protocol to recognise ONLY Synta-branded GPS units - and this is unconcienable. Whether your brand is affected or not isn't the point - ALL brands other than Synta would be, and they damn-well knew it. To not realise that would have been plain naive of their software engineers and marketing people, so this seems like a ploy to me. To not know that their binary protocol was being used as the basis of communications by 3rd party companies is crap - why else develop and provide the protocol on that interface in the first place?
If they don't mention this where you download their software updates from then they should have rockets placed in their bottoms facing upwards. At least you were able to back-flush, so to speak, and downgrade again to v3.12.
Ultimately, I sincerely think that it is the 3rd party's responsibility to keep up with the host, not the other way around. If this unit isn't upgradable via firmware of its own then you're stuck I'm afraid. Letters a-plenty to SkyWatcher will probably fix this, as one thing the Chinese companies hate is a customer who's willing to publicly expose them with logical criticism.