I'll watch that with great interest. I am looking for another mount to mount my AP130 on in the near future. Something light and portable is even better.
The actual PE is conflicting on this site. In one spot it says 0.5 to 0.8 arc secs
which is better than high end mounts currently.
In another talking about PE correction it says +/- 20 arc seconds which is not good at all.
Very interesting indeed! Could be a great travel mount or secondary mount for lighter setups. I looked at the Rainbow Astro but that price is (IMO) OTT for what it is
My first thoughts on this mount being so light with an incredibly accurate precise drive system, you want to make sure there’s no wind gusts around when imaging unless your using it in an Obs or you have protection against the elements.
I’m old school , I prefer a heavier tripod and mount for stability together with a lower centre of gravity.
I must say this mount looks impressive, time with tell after 6 to 12 months out on the market. If there is an issue with performance, folk will be straight onto the ZWO forum I’m sure.
My first thoughts on this mount being so light with an incredibly accurate precise drive system, you want to make sure there’s no wind gusts around when imaging unless your using it in an Obs or you have protection against the elements.
I’m old school , I prefer a heavier tripod and mount for stability together with a lower centre of gravity.
I must say this mount looks impressive, time with tell after 6 to 12 months out on the market. If there is an issue with performance, folk will be straight onto the ZWO forum I’m sure.
Thanks for posting
Hi,
Wind, cloud, dew we just cannot win can we...
I am thinking of downsizing to a Esprit 100 from my Esprit 120. This mount looks like it may be a good match.
Thanks for posting Paul. I am looking for a third down the track. Might wait a for the second model to come out . So all the.problems have been ironed out. It looks awesome as well.
Was looking at this earlier today & might make a decent lightweight travel mount, an improvement over something like the EQM-35, without the need for counterweights for lighter rigs.
But looking at the "what's in the box" it seems the counterweights & bar may be an optional extra as they aren't listed, so no go for a heavier rig out of the box. They also recommend under 1000mm focal length. Think I might wait to see how they perform in the wild before considering one of these over a HEQ5 Pro.
Humm...look at ZWO's own data, the PE does seem to be about 30 arc sec. Might be high frequency ripple there too of about 1-2 arc sec....
But, it's Christmas so..." Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of a (zwo) team "
P.S. My decade plus old-school Losmandy Starlapse has +/- 6 arc seconds of PE.....might keep it a bit longer
I am a newb and really don't know much about harmonic drives, but don't they all have high PE (without encoders) and can't it be mostly guided out with 0.5 second guiding?
; and isn't that the point, its a 5kg mount costing $1,999. I mean I am 63 and still lug around my AZEQ6 (21kg with tripod), which I am happy with and can get 0.4 RMS (out of the wind), but I am getting on and if i can get decent images out of this, without a permanent setup it would be a game changer for me.
LOL, I may have to sell my Esprit 120 and buy a redcat, to colour coordinate my ZWO camera, guider , focuser and ASIAir Plus , but it's a good scope so i probably won't. nǐ hǎo, everyone
bugger that bortle 9 plus moon skyglow in glebe...
I am a newb and really don't know much about harmonic drives, but don't they all have high PE (without encoders) and can't it be mostly guided out with 0.5 second guiding?
^ this.
PEC is high, but that's normal for harmonic drives without encoders, and yes, it goes away with short-sub guiding.
Similar $$ and PE to an AZEQ6 - well close anyway, I think.
But only 5kg and no counter weights needed with a moderate size OTA.
Like Zuts - this sounds very appealing to me with my back. And don't have to adjust backlash like a normal worm gear driven mount
The weight advantage is huge. I own a RST-135E and it's amazing how much more I get out now with the lighter mount. Saying that.... Harmonic drive PE is very different to worm drives. It's always changing based on the weight and angle th mount is at (based on torque on drive in current orientation), so can not use PEC/PPEC like you can with EQ6, etc. This means the true error is MUCH worse than what you may be used to. Not saying it can't be overcome, but don't compare error bars of harmonic drives to more traditional drives.
The biggest thing with these mounts is you need very fast guiding exposures to keep on top of the PE as it can move quite fast at some parts of the sky so you need good SNR for your guide cam so it can keep on top of it.
I've got a custom boutique HD mount from SS-One, a Japanese maker. It's a great travel setup where I can mount my FSQ85ED and not use any counterweights.
Would I do another HD mount? I don't think so unless it has encoders like the RainbowAstro's. Strainwave geared drives have a high PE which can be countered by guiding but somehow I feel encoders with HD mounts is more a of a must than a nice-to-have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans Tucker
A competitor (similar specs) to the Hobym Crux Mini at a significantly lower price.
