I bought an HEQ5 from an eBay seller, Adventure Products Universal, who seem to be a subsidiary of Tasco Australia, the Australian Sky Watcher distributor. Now you would think that they would get it right. Hmmm !
It was advertised as: "NEW: NEVER USED Xedemo, box has been opened. Yhis is a stock item which we had on display in our shop which has since closed.” (sic)
The concluding sentence in the description read: "The saxon HEQ5 Mount with TRipod can be upgraded to a computerised SynScan system by simply changing the hand control to SynScan hand control." (sic)
Huh ??The Sky Watcherdistributor selling Saxon products ?
The description indicated that it had to be a SynTrek model with Stepper motors, upgrade-able to SynScan GoTo with just a handset change.
Well the mount arrived, eventually, and initial inspection showed that it was far from 'New: Never Used'.
The 'illuminated' polar scope wasn't illuminated, it had some sort of texta type mark on the reticle, and was missing the engraving of Sigma Octans.
I removed the motor control cover and there were no stepper motors, just the basic RA and DEC motors, so only upgrade-able with the full kit, about $650.00, as opposed to $220.00 for the handset upgrade. Oh, and the East/West slew at 1x didn't seem to work.
After much stuffing around the mount was returned and I was refunded, including the return freight.
To say I was disappointed with Tasco's attitude to their mistake would be an understatement.
I'm in no way suggesting that there was any impropriety on the part of Tasco, rather a procession of ineptitude.
So back to the internet. I came across a vanilla EQ6 at the right price and did the deal.
It arrived yesterday and I excitedly un-boxed it, first the brand-new shiny white tripod with stainless steel legs, then the brand-new shiny black mount. Huh? Shouldn't they be the same colour? Oh poop, here we go again I thought.
I was initially rather peeved about this but then I decided that the white tripod feet would be a hell of a lot more visible in the dark than the black ones and anyway the black, white and stainless steel looked rather smart together.
Oh and the package was missing the counterweights, one mounting plate lock knob and any instructions.
At this point in time conspiracy theories were starting to formulate in my tired old brain. 'Is there anybody out there' was turning into 'who out there doesn't want their photo taken' ?
I phoned the seller and no problems, will send me the missing weights and the lock knob, and I've downloaded the appropriate manual.
I started the process to buy a mount the first week in July, and it looks like being the first week in September before I'll be able to use it. To say I'm getting a bit frustrated would be a classic understatement.
Don't buy anything from Adventure Products Universal, it is an ebay dumping point for Tasco discontinued products, things previously return from retailers, ex-display stock, etc. ; made the mistake of buying a Skywatcher ED100 from them, same description ' new, bix opened for inspection only' - it arrived filthy, dust inside the tube and material on the insde of the objective - it was also the old Blue model which turns out was discontinued around 2008 so I later found out. I went directly to the Tasco Marketing Manager and sent it back and got a full refund. They are still trying this tactic even today, they are advertising a Skywatcher MN190 but its not the current model but they claim it is new, boix opened for inspection, etc.Current MN190s have the dual speed focuser and the one they are selling is single speed focuser and likely the original model from two years ago.
I bought a Skywatcher HEQ5 from Adventure Products Universal..
I thought to that it had the correct motors.. no it didnt.. It was used.. had some marks on it... I bought the Skywatcher SynScan kit.. Total cost for the unit was $1300... still cheaper than getting elsware..
Question.. If the Adventure Products Universal is a dumping ground.. would that explain why I cant get the mount to slew to object perfectly?
I did a 3 star alignment, then the polar alinment from menu.. and its always a tadd out... I had it set to 1sec deviation... any tips guys or is my unit faulty????
Mike what software version is in the hand controller? Early releases of the pokar alignment error correction routine were a bit buggy, upgrade to latest if you can. Best look at your physical alignment of the mount to true south before you get to concerned. You can always drift align it as well.
Mike, I assume that you are new to EQ mounts, and maybe therefore you are
doing something wrong/ and/ or unnecessary. Firstly place the mount with the leg beneath the weights facing due South, NOT magnetic South.
Make sure the tripod is reasonably level using a spirit level. Power up and
enter time zone, time and date [using mm/dd/yy]. Do a two star alignment, [3 star is only necessary for allowing for a thing called cone error]. After alignment is done the error should be displayed on the hand
controller as Mel and Maz . If the Mel reading is a + figure raise the mount a little by screwing in the swivel ended bolt at the lower back of the mount, and vice versa. If the Maz error is a + figure turn the mount clockwise a little [looking down on the mount], using the two black knobs at each side of the bottom of the mount, and vice versa. You have to slightly slacken the mount to tripod knob to do this. Do another 2 star align [using the same two stars] and check the error again. Repeat the routine until the error is down to a few arc minutes. Don't bother with the
polar alignment at this stage. The Go To should now place an object well
within the field of a low power eyepiece. When making the adjustments remember to slacken off the opposite side knob, and nip both sides up when adjustments are completed. Make sure you have hand controller
firmware 3.35 or later if the controller is a V.3 model. No problem if it is
a V.4.
raymo
Last edited by raymo; 31-08-2015 at 01:58 PM.
Reason: omitted name
for the next week.
