Hello Everyone,
I have posted here before asking opinions about BETI from Astro Devices (
www.astrodevices.com). Well, I have decided to go ahead and I bought it.
Here is my setup:
1. 10" GSO Dobsonian with encoders
2. BETI
3. Treo680 with Astromist
My total cost for BETI and encoders with mounting kit was around $430.
BETI is a wireless (Bluetooth) adapter that connects to the encoders and communicates with planetarium software. In other words BETI together with planetarium software gives me wireless digital setting circles.
I also bought another PDA later - HP iPAQ HX2110 for $80 to run Astromist. I bought it because it has a bigger screen than my Treo and it also has excellent battery life (I used it the other night for three hours and it only used 30% of the battery charge and that is with the screen on and the Bluetooth on). Besides I have my Treo as a backup. It also seems to run faster than my Treo.
Here is my experience with using my telescope with BETI.
I initially had some issues with the azimuth encoder, I used Astromist to test the encoders. The azimuth counter would stop incrementing at some angle and then start again. Serge from Astro Devices helped me to find what was wrong. It turned out to be a misaligned mounting of the encoder. After a few adjustments it was all good to go.
Now it was time for the real test. I did a two star alignment and looked at the screen. The telescope pointer moved nicely across the sky chart. I moved it to align with Omega Centauri and looked through the eyepiece - it was in the centre (using Nagler 13mm). I found the pointing accuracy to be high when used in the same quadrant of the sky as the alignment stars were but I had to put a 25mm eyepiece in my scope when finding objects on the opposite side in order to see them in the eyepiece. I also tried to use Jupiter as one of the alignment stars and that also works well. I have to try Astromist's N star alignment - it is supposed to compensate for mount errors.
I also tried using BETI with Mega Star on my laptop and it works very well as well (just use the correct settings).
I am using 2500 mA Energiser rechargeable batteries with BETI. They last about 4 hours.
What can I say about my experience with BETI? I am extremely happy with it!
What I liked:
- wireless operation!!!
- high quality design;
- runs on 2xAA or external power;
What I did not like:
- no instructions on setting it up with popular planetarium software packages.
- no battery low indication.
Overall I can highly recommend BETI to anyone wishing to add wireless digital setting circles to a telescope. You will also get a huge database of objects (depending on the planetarium software you are using).
Clear skies!
Best regards,
J.
