iOptron Skyhunter mount review, unscripted

[@jarmomarkkanen2473]

Thank you for the great tutorial. The best I've seen to date and it confirmed me to purchase this mount. One question: I suppose the camera can not be connected to Skyhunter through USB and therefore Skyhunter is not delivering camera images, right? So if I want to have a look at the camera view home inside through WiFi, I must have a PC next to the mount and connect my camera in it (and the PC outside will then have the WiFi connection inside)?

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, you can use a device like ASIAir plus or mini

[@standfest_party]

Many thanks for tutorial. i have skyguider pro and skytracker pro. Just bought SKyHunter and not yet decided which one of old trackers I would ditch, since I don't need three start trackers.

[@ASC-Explore]

I have clients who love the older model amd swear by it, but personally, I believe goto and dual axis autoguiding makes this a better mount

[@standfest_party]

​@@ASC-ExploreI left both the SkyGuider Pro and the SkyTracker Pro for the widefield imaging. I ditched the SkyHunter due to its design flaw related to the extremely difficult-to-release declination clutch. I bought the Umi 17 Lite instead, a much more capable harmonic-drive portable mount.

[@ASC-Explore]

@@standfest_party They released the new brass upgraded clutch that takes around 15 minutes to install, fixes all the issues with the binding clutch. They sent me replacements for all my clients to install. I announced a recall for my clients and did the upgrade for free.

[@standfest_party]

@@ASC-Exploreso now you can easily release the clutch when needed?

[@ASC-Explore]

@standfest_party seems to be reasonable. The clutch never gets over tight and in fact will even slip a bit if overloaded, which is how I would expect a clutch to work

[@lwizzit]

Sorry for the late comment but I’m thinking of upgrading my SkyGuider to this mount. I purchased the Williams Optics latitude wedge for the SkyGuider which is a great upgrade to the original wedge. Do you know if it will work with this mount as well?

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, It does not work with this mount, but iOptron just released their own new upgraded wedge that we will be stocking soon.

[@voederbietels]

can you use this for wide field milkyway photography?

[@ASC-Explore]

Yes, but make sure to get from ioptron the clutch upgrade.

[@DevalSinghBaghel]

Great introductory demonstration.👍 👍. It felt really good to see something about this mount on KZbin . Since it's new , nothing much available exept on clowdynights forums. I have struggled with it since last 4 months ,as it shipped to me with old faulty Pannel board like most of us, then ioptron people gave the replacement board which is working fine now. Doing some testing with my sony a7iii and samyang 135f2 . After very precise poler alignement with ipoler+pc , it took star trails on 30 second exposures . I'm still trying to figure out what is the reason behind this .

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, how good is your balance in both axis? At 135mm you should not have start trails at such short exposures. Try keep the weight a slight bit heavier on the side being lifted. Just a fraction off balance. My business partner has done good work with long guided exposures using this mount

[@DevalSinghBaghel]

@@ASC-Explore Thankyou for the tip. Declination balance was bit off. It working perfectly fine with sky safari pro. Thanks a lot.

[@ASC-Explore]

@@DevalSinghBaghel glad you found it useful

[@tebatilava]

Thanks for this very informative video! I wonder if this is as good as the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi for astrophotography?

[@ASC-Explore]

Haven't had the chance to compare them side by side as we don't have skywatcher dealership. I do know that this is a more modern unit so hopefully when iOptron made it they benchmarked it against existing competition. My business partner purchased one of these for himself and he is doesn't like the clutch design. I also found the screw on the pier extension could benefit from some threadlocker as it always seems to want to unscrew back into the pier, but honestly for the price it is a very nice unit. If it cost a couple of hundred dollars more I would have had much higher expectations, but at this price point I think it's alright to have to slightly tweek it to get the best performance

[@Sanjiocom]

@@ASC-Explore would you recommend getting this, or something more expensive? I’m after a portable astrophotography and visual observation rig, mainly for use with a mirrorless full frame camera weighing just under 3kg.

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, depends on your objective. If you want good portable mount but are willing to pay more next step up while still being very portable is strain wave mounts or harmonic drives. They do not need counterweights but are significantly more expensive. If you just want a good mount then skyhunter is not right mount for you as main focus is being easy to transport. If you just want a good mount with better accuracy and durability get any of the other iOptron mounts starting from Cem26 upwards

[@ajitsharma04]

Thank you for the detailed review, I'm stuck on this and Skywatcher AZ GTi. Both of them are in the same price range and i would like opinion from you if it would be the right choice.

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, I made a few errors in that review and since I had published it iOptron has updated the device and now it no longer contains an internal battery, it now runs off 12v power supply. The clutch has also been upgraded and now doesn't seize up as much. I can't comment on Skywatcher mounts as I don't have access to them. I am also a dealer for iOptron, so might influence my decision. All I can say is that iOptron has outstanding customer support compared to the other brands I have been selling over the last 6 years. Are their products the best? Not really at this price point don't expect the best. Are their products great value for money? Definitely. For example, lots of the new harmonic drives that are on sale now fall flat on their face when it comes to visual astronomy because they don't have any proper alignment procedure, nor do they have a hand controller, iOptron still has the ability to 3 star align their mounts and have the option to get a fully featured hand controller. They also constantly upgrade their designs during the product life cycle and you and up with constant improvement.

[@ajitsharma04]

Hi again, I've decided to get this one...just wanted to know how the telescope and DSLR are attached to the mount, do I need any extra wedge or something. I'll start with the Canon entry level DSLR and hoping it can be connected directly with the mount.

[@ASC-Explore]

@ajitsharma04 you need something like this astronomicalsolutions.com/product/stellarprint-dslr-dovetail/ It's a Vixen style dovetail with 1/4" 20 tpi screw

[@kevinaraneda9384]

Hola buenas podrías agregar un tutorial de como configurar la montura en skysafari 7 pro , no logro conectarla

[@ASC-Explore]

Hi, there is a document on iOptrons website you have to download it. I think its titled how to connect the skyhunter to a computer, but it also covers mobile phones

[@ravioli1369]

can i use this mount with nina to polar align (using 3 point polar alignment in nina, not the ipolar) and slew on a laptop?

[@ASC-Explore]

Yes you can, it would work very well this way. You can also pair it with stellarmate or ASIAir for an even more portable setup

[@yasminedrissi8266]

does this mount work with stellarmate

[@ASC-Explore]

Yes, should work ss stellarmate has support for iOptron mounts

[@constantinelind]

Thank you very much for your tutorial!

[@ASC-Explore]

Glad it was helpful!

[@marystaten5077]

Can you list the apps to help with Polar alignment ? Thank you

[@ASC-Explore]

Many options, but ones that come to mind quickly are N.I.N.A. and Sharpcap

[@Styloco]

can you do tutorial for connecting to pc?

[@ASC-Explore]

Working on in use tutorial, but weather has been uncooperative lately

[@rudolfbenner4802]

Works fine with ASIAIR mini. In either EQ or AA mode.

[@ASC-Explore]

Yeah, seems that the issue is with the Raspberry PI versions

[@amini82ka]

Amazing

[@ASC-Explore]

I'm glad you liked the video; I hope you found it helped you understand the product better.

[@jamesodin8751]

30 day warranty doesn't seem like alot!!

[@ASC-Explore]

The device vibes with one year warranty and 90 days on the battery. The battery warranty is shorter because it is easy for users to damage the battery by draining it completely.

[@jamesodin8751]

@@ASC-Explore thank you!!