Skywatcher Star Adventurer

Well, just did it, ordered my Star Adventurer from Stephen, I guess Christmas has come early this year.

Paul

Had this been on sale when I got my astrotrac I would have gone with the Star Adventurer.
saying that, I read that it will struggle with weight more than the astrotrac.

I can guide an 80mm scope with a flatner in it, plus a dslr and guide camera on mine.
but its twice the price.

and the polar scope on the adventurer is 100% better than the astrotrac

The unit arrived yesterday, Christmas definitely came early this year, I ordered the AP bundle, that includes the dovetail bracket, eq wedge and counterweight shaft and weight, strangely Skywatcher did not ship the counterweight and shaft to the UK or Ireland, according to Stephen, most peculiar, but they will be here soon. As per usual Stephen gets the equipment out to the customer super fast, kudos. :rock:

Taking out the Star Adventurer the first thing of note is it's so cute, it looks too small to hold a camera and scope combined, the feel is excellent, quality metal casting, very few plastic parts, only the covers of the battery compartment and the polar scope, these I didn't like, the clips that connect them to the main body do not look the strongest and there is a worry of them snapping.

It was cloudy, of course, I connected the battery to the polar illuminator and attached it to the front of the mount, went outside, looked skyward and wondered why everything was blurred, the scope is adjustable, which I eventually found out, once focussed the location circle for Polaris, as well as Octans, was perfectly illuminated, the level of illumination can be adjusted, very handy. Polar alignment should be a snap.

A note on the illuminator, it takes a flat battery, not sure what they are called, the circular on-off unit screws it home, but to turn the illuminator off you have to unscrew this piece until the battery does not connect with the contacts any more, it just rattles around, it won't fall out, I just thought it was a little odd, that's all.

I didn't get the opportunity to pop it on my tripod, I will have to remove the tilt pan head, and I didn't have the time.

Apart from the plastic covers, everything is so well made, the dovetail L bracket is a heavy piece of kit and will have no troubles holding a camera and scope combo, the eq wedge is sturdy metal, and the adjustment to your latitude is so easy that it borders on genius, a flick of the clutch, some turns of the threaded screw, a nice big plastic grip makes this child's play, lock the clutch and it's done.

A lot of thought went into this design and Skywatcher have come up with a winner.

Of course, the real test will be in the field, tracking, etc., hopefully some clear nights will come along and I can give it a test.

Now all I have to do is learn about flats and darks and bias, :rolleyes: what have I gotten myself in for? :ohmy:

Paul

Great stuff paul. Im sure you'll keep us posted on first light.

Sean

Glad you like your new Sky Adventurer, I thought you would. Looking forward to hearing
how you get on when you have it all set-up and running.

Just a couple of images of the mount set up with the camera.

www.flickr.com/photos/32880031@N03/15231249483/

www.flickr.com/photos/32880031@N03/15825075826/

www.flickr.com/photos/32880031@N03/15228632104/

As last night was promising clear I met up with some of the guys from Meetup at the Sugarloaf, unfortunately it was wall to wall cloud and I didn't get a chance to test out the unit.

Paul