Astrotrac

I like the Astrotrac kit, always have since it was first launched. Like most of you, I have also been deliberating in my head as to whether to splash out on it, mostly because of the lack of free time I would have to use it mind you, instead of the cost. I think if you have the money, get the kit as advertised with the Manfrotto tripod assembly included. It can take a very good weight for those serious cameras out there as well as scopes up to a point, so it kind of fits almost all the requirements...

Seanie.

You'd make a great salesman Frank ! :laugh: but yes, you tell the truth, portability is a major plus, I can only imagine bringing it to Greece and even further afield.

I'm swaying towards geting it.....

Keith.

Ok, I bit the bullet yesterday and ordered the full Astrotrac package from the UK, I've been told I'll have it by the end of ther week :woohoo:

:woohoo:

P.S Get observing NOW, it will be cloudy all next week !

Keith.

Keith,
Will you keep me appraised of it when it arrives with you? I have been toying for a few months with the notion of buying this myself. Now it is getting more publicity here and some folks here also endorsing it, I'd like to hear "from the horses mouth" what your thoughts on its use etc. is like.

Seanie.

Woohoo, it's arrived. First impressions is that the junior head is way bigger than I thought it would be, quite a bit bigger than a 488 ball + the Astrotrac itself is quite ingenious. One very long, fine-threaded bolt is used as the gear so I guess that's one of the reasons it's so accurate - no need for pec! It looks like it is really easy to align.

Keith, way to go! I was in the same situation for the longest time but my final thoughts were:

1) no more bringing the celestron mount out, polar aligning, setting up autoguiders, etc, which takes an absolute age, limiting exposure time and then having to tear it all down at the end of a session.

2) ultra-portable as I have a tripod and head with me whenever I travel anyway adding the astrotrac doesn't add a huge amount of weight except that you have two large ball heads instead of one.

3) It ended up about half the price of the asgt which was 1200 and it will give better tracking, albeit for wider fields.

4) + after the asgt got blasted in a freak storm it wasn't very reliable any more and I found I just stopped using my scopes after a while in frustration with it. At least now I'll get back into it.

One word of warning though be careful with the polar scope, it dropped out of the mount any time I moved the tripod as the magnet is not very strong, so I'll only be attaching that at the end once everything else is setup.

Unfortunately the clouds arrived with the postman so it looks like it will be a few days before first light but that gives time to plan some targets

T

Keith,
Will you keep me appraised of it when it arrives with you? I have been toying for a few months with the notion of buying this myself. Now it is getting more publicity here and some folks here also endorsing it, I'd like to hear "from the horses mouth" what your thoughts on its use etc. is like.

Seanie.

I'll do just that Seanie, and Trev has got in there 1st

Trevor, I'm very envious right now : cheer: sorry to hear about your mount, what are the chances? but hey, I hope you have every enjoyment with the astrotrac to make up for it

Keith..