Quote:
Originally Posted by sparna
I have the 268C rather than the mono version, but have been using it consistently with NINA for the last six months and have been very impressed. No problems at all with either the native drivers or the ASCOM drivers, both work flawlessly.
I did have some apprehension about going QHY again as I had (and still sometimes have) endless problems with my QHY5LII, and my ZWO cameras I’ve used always had zero issues on the driver side. However they seem to have really upped their game (OCCASIONALLY the 268 won’t be recognised upon startup by NINA, but this is always easily solved by unplugging the cables and trying again, so could well be a cable problem). The option of different read modes is very nice - I mainly use the high gain mode at 60 gain for duoband filters, but read mode 3 with the extended full-well depth is really nice for bright targets like Orion. The cooler is fantastic too compared to my ASI071, it cools down extremely fast and seems a lot more powerful than the ZWO one. I actually had it running at around -40 delta last night, I’m assuming because I allowed it to get there gradually over the course of 30 mins or so.
Downsides are the lack of a USB hub like the ZWO cameras, and it’s pretty darn chunky - adds a nice pendulum onto the back of the image train and wouldn’t be much good for a hyperstar-style setup. Also they forgot to hire someone with a brain for the connection interface/backspacing design of the colour version, but I believe the mono has a different (much better) design.
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Thanks for the write-up, Shaun! Sounds great. QHY's driver issues are the one thing making me apprehensive, but I haven't been too happy with the oil leak issue from ZWO so I'm happy to try out QHY for now (only have their PoleMaster and it's been fine since I've owned it).
The lack of USB hub is a small issue for me, but I can work around it with my Pegasus Powerbox Advance.
One thing I've heard of is that the cooler on these cameras is so powerful, it can cause disconnect on some systems (especially with Pegasus products) because of the high current draw initially. We'll see how it goes.
Apparently someone very lovely has just bought me one so I'll hopefully have it in the next month or so
