Originally Posted by Gruffalo
Lots of accessory and peripheral buying and all for a still truly untried mount - might be counting unhatched chickens
Seeing a dunny load of EQ6's up for sale, yet not many Losmandy's or Paramounts just yet... was hoping to cash in on the "help me afford my new EQ8" old mounts
well mate i think it will produce the goods, i have a titan and i wont get rid of that. it is primarily an alternative to going to one of those mounts - and at at least a minimum half the price i think that is the telling factor here.
well mate i think it will produce the goods, i have a titan and i wont get rid of that. it is primarily an alternative to going to one of those mounts - and at at least a minimum half the price i think that is the telling factor here.
And we are still waiting for the detailed comparison. I can't unfortunately as I have no experience with these higher end GEM mounts, but I can say that this mount handles my near 80kg of load (including weights) with absolute ease. In fact, the bearings are so smooth that a slight offset in lateral balance caused by not having a polar scope cause the scope to list to one side - co-incidentally with the time honoured tradition of 'laying back' against the worm to ensure maximum tracking accuracy.
I'm pretty amazed to be honest how much better this mount is than the original LX200 fork from which the OTA came. I look forward to those with experience of more exotic scopes to give them a good side-by-side test.
And we are still waiting for the detailed comparison. I can't unfortunately as I have no experience with these higher end GEM mounts, but I can say that this mount handles my near 80kg of load (including weights) with absolute ease. In fact, the bearings are so smooth that a slight offset in lateral balance caused by not having a polar scope cause the scope to list to one side - co-incidentally with the time honoured tradition of 'laying back' against the worm to ensure maximum tracking accuracy.
I'm pretty amazed to be honest how much better this mount is than the original LX200 fork from which the OTA came. I look forward to those with experience of more exotic scopes to give them a good side-by-side test.
and with the current weather pattern it will be that way for a while - we are forecast for the same conditions for the next week. I am over this ruddy weather, that's unless someone up north or south or west of me can do something
I would just like to give a big thanks for all the info that has been posted about the EQ8 mount by "iceinspace" members. This info has been very helpful to UK amateur astronomers as we will not get our EQ8 mounts till October. I have already found some steel plate in my junk box to counteract the out of balance problem.
John
Hi John,
You might get to use yours before us ... The weather has been terrible over most of the country!!
and with the current weather pattern it will be that way for a while - we are forecast for the same conditions for the next week. I am over this ruddy weather, that's unless someone up north or south or west of me can do something
Whilst were all waiting, don't forget to upgrade the firmware. The new version seems to help with setting the Home Point Offset that improves pointing accuracy after a one star align.
Whilst were all waiting, don't forget to upgrade the firmware. The new version seems to help with setting the Home Point Offset that improves pointing accuracy after a one star align.
Unless you need the almost fully functional polar alignment routine, version 3.27 is still the best.
In 3.35 they still have that odd backlash compensation bug introduced in 3.32. The mount tries to approach an object always from the same side in RA and Dec with GOTO slews. That's laudable but sometimes it moves in on the target, then moves away in Dec, moves in on it again and so on several times only to eventually stop *away* from the target. This can be worked around by manually slewing a fair bit past the target in Dec and then doing the GOTO again, but it's still annoying.
Unless you need the almost fully functional polar alignment routine, version 3.27 is still the best.
In 3.35 they still have that odd backlash compensation bug introduced in 3.32. The mount tries to approach an object always from the same side in RA and Dec with GOTO slews. That's laudable but sometimes it moves in on the target, then moves away in Dec, moves in on it again and so on several times only to eventually stop *away* from the target. This can be worked around by manually slewing a fair bit past the target in Dec and then doing the GOTO again, but it's still annoying.
Version 3.27 didn't have this bug.
Cheers
Steffen.
Sounds annoying! Thankfully not an EQ8 bug though, those encoders certainly play a big part in pointing.
I solved my power issues. I'm using those gold plated/coloured chassis mounted RCA sockets for 12v out of the computer and in/out of my dc distribution box. The -ve tag is under a nut and that wasn't good enough. I ran a bead of solder down the thread, across the nut and onto the tag and it's all fixed.
I still have a couple of bad usb extension cables. The qhy5L II refuses to work in all but one of the 6 extension cables. Time for all new cables I think
My Shoestring USB2EQ5 cable arrived this morning and it works like a charm as an EQMOD cable with the EQ8 .
Just for good measure I also finally have my GPS dongle working with the hitechAstro Mount Hub Pro - not using the drivers hitech told me to use
Finally, customs have decided that I don't after all have to pay GST on my 152mm APO I was hoping to get it this week, but it looks like customs will drag it out until next week now.
I've attached a zip file containing a 300s raw (except for the compression) uncalibrated & unprocessed single frame taken at full moon with my Vixen VC200L @ f/9 + Ha filter + QHY9 + QHY5 guider (on 270mmfl guide scope) to give an idea of the guided performance of the EQ8.
My mount shows an average raw PE of 5.1" PTP which is extremely smooth.
I am seeing some differential flex at different declinations with this set-up & will probably go to an off axis guider eventually.
Very happy with the EQ8 so far.
Cheers
Maurice
PS - sorry about the compression artifacts, but I thought others might like to see a full frame
Thought it was, just wanted to be sure... Cool, at least I know now if I ever get a chance to try out one of these baby's, I have the right cable for it... Terrific news... Anyone in Adelaide have an EQ8 yet? Would love to come and have a look at it, if it's at all possible..
well my case turned up for the tripod - too big to fit in an old corolla sedan. Will have to pick up from Alan's tomorrow with the Subaru. its big. waiting on the polar scope i ordered from Steve Massey, will also fit in the case. thanks Zane i also got the lens
I've attached a zip file containing a 300s raw (except for the compression) uncalibrated & unprocessed single frame taken at full moon with my Vixen VC200L @ f/9 + Ha filter + QHY9 + QHY5 guider (on 270mmfl guide scope) to give an idea of the guided performance of the EQ8.
My mount shows an average raw PE of 5.1" PTP which is extremely smooth.
I am seeing some differential flex at different declinations with this set-up & will probably go to an off axis guider eventually.
Very happy with the EQ8 so far.
Cheers
Maurice
PS - sorry about the compression artifacts, but I thought others might like to see a full frame
Hi Maurice,
have you a shot of the setup? Glad you are getting to use it
well my case turned up for the tripod - too big to fit in an old corolla sedan. Will have to pick up from Alan's tomorrow with the Subaru. its big. waiting on the polar scope i ordered from Steve Massey, will also fit in the case. thanks Zane i also got the lens