PMX - worth the upgrade

[pvelez (Pete)]

I'm looking to start a barney - as the backlog of PMXs (not sure what the plural of PMX is) appears to have cleared and there have been a few delivered, I amlooking for feedback on the mount.

Is it worth the money? Are there any little niggles to be ironed out?

Its a bit like aperture fever - I fear I am contracting mount envy and may soon be parting with many hard earned readies. So I'm keen for some informed comments.

I appreciate that there have been posts - but o date most comments have been from new owners trying to figure out the mount and software rather than the product of a series of decent workouts.

So lets hear what you think.

Pete

[cfranks (Charles)]

I've only had one day setting up my MX due to clouds etc and, hopefully, tonight will be clear for another go. The main thing I noticed was when slewing to a star and then centreing it to the cross hair on the camera image. I overshot the correction by half the width of the diffraction spikes and the MX responded immediately to the new correction. NO BACKLASH! I am still impressed. I even vacuumed some dust off the MX today!!
All in all, with my limited experience, I am happy. I also found a bug in TheSkyX (only applies to SA users) which will be fixed in the next release so the folks at Bisque are very responsive.

Charles

[pmrid (Peter)]

I found that TheSkyXPro as supplied did not load the drivers in Win7. You have to go back and DL and update to get that. Then I found that the CCDSoft program did not speak at all well with my QHY5 and QHY8 cameras either in ASCOM or native.
I found that the system had a definite SBIG-bias that is a PITA.
But after that, I have found that it is a beautiful piece of engineering and believe it will be a great choice that will reward me over a very lonf time.
Peter

[frolinmod]

CCDsoft has always handled my QSI camera well. Or rather, properly stated, QSI has always handled CCDsoft well. SB can't magically support every camera in existence. The camera manufacturers have to take some responsibility for that too (it's their camera).

BTW, now that you're using TheSkyX, have you had a chance to try out ASCOM 6 and the new X2 to ASCOM interfaces available for download from the ASCOM standards website? And if you're a Maxim user, have you tried the new X2 to Maxim interface?

[pvelez (Pete)]

Originally Posted by cfranks

I've only had one day setting up my MX due to clouds etc and, hopefully, tonight will be clear for another go. The main thing I noticed was when slewing to a star and then centreing it to the cross hair on the camera image. I overshot the correction by half the width of the diffraction spikes and the MX responded immediately to the new correction. NO BACKLASH! I am still impressed. I even vacuumed some dust off the MX today!!
All in all, with my limited experience, I am happy. I also found a bug in TheSkyX (only applies to SA users) which will be fixed in the next release so the folks at Bisque are very responsive.

Charles

Sounds like you are a happy camper - thanks for your thoughts

Pete

[pvelez (Pete)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

I found that TheSkyXPro as supplied did not load the drivers in Win7. You have to go back and DL and update to get that. Then I found that the CCDSoft program did not speak at all well with my QHY5 and QHY8 cameras either in ASCOM or native.
I found that the system had a definite SBIG-bias that is a PITA.
But after that, I have found that it is a beautiful piece of engineering and believe it will be a great choice that will reward me over a very lonf time.
Peter

I haven't shifted from Maxim yet (and don't plan to) but the hardware sounds the goods.

Pity about the need to download updates

Pete

[pvelez (Pete)]

Originally Posted by frolinmod

CCDsoft has always handled my QSI camera well. Or rather, properly stated, QSI has always handled CCDsoft well. SB can't magically support every camera in existence. The camera manufacturers have to take some responsibility for that too (it's their camera). And of course, SB are working toward replacing CCDsoft with similar functionality in the Camera Add On for TheSkyX.

BTW, now that you're using TheSkyX, have you had a chance to try out ASCOM 6 and the new X2 to ASCOM interfaces available for download from the ASCOM standards website? And if you're a Maxim user, have you tried the new X2 to Maxim interface?

Thanks Ernie - as a QSI user, that is good news.

TSX - there's a bit of a story there. I've managed to get TSX, Maxim and EQMOD to play nicely. From time to time I get a "failed to unmarshal pointer despatch" error which means I need to restart TSX but otherwise it all works nicely.

The challenge has been getting TPoint into the picture on an automated basis. I've been trialling AAG TPoint Mapper - there seems to be some sort of conflict. I map 7-8 stars and then the ASCOM driver clags out and TSX hangs. So I start again. Can work fine manually but its a drag.

I may have made some progress this evening - I think it freezes when TPoint Mapper decides to shift over to the other side of the meridian.

I've emailed Bob Denny who wrote the driver and will see what he has to say on the subject.

To be really honest - apart from all the talk lately about the PMX (and the exchange rate which is still pretty good at 97 cents), its the kerfuffle with the ASCOM driver that had me thinking about moving on the EQ6 too. I have yet to hear anything negative on the hardware front which is good.

Pete

[frolinmod]

Originally Posted by pvelez

The challenge has been getting TPoint into the picture on an automated basis. I've been trialling AAG TPoint Mapper - there seems to be some sort of conflict.

I sure hope Bob Denny is able to nail down that error sooner rather than later. Which camera are you using?

With the QSI camera, I set TheSkyX to use "CCDsoft's camera" then set CCDsoft to use the "QSI Universal" camera plug-in for both camera and filter wheel. The built-in automated calibration works very well for me.

....thinking about moving on the EQ6 too.

I just received an Atlas EQ-G last week. Seems like a good mount so far. This will be a "grab 'n go" mount for a Lunt solar telescope replacing a wobbly little Nexstar 8SE mount. I certainly like the hand controller on the Atlas more than the 8SE's Autostar controller. The Atlas saddle plate is rather crappy though. I'm replacing it with an ADM accessories saddle (which I have ordered). I also purchased a little GPS accessory to connect to the handset. It's very nice to not have to enter the date/time/location. It sure is a quiet mount too. So far so good! I don't want to disassemble it to see just how bad it really is until after my warranty runs out.