Rainbow Astro's RST 300, Harmonic Drive Deep Dive!

[@padhyemihir]

Video is as usual very good and thanks for covering all aspects of the mount.

[@paulcizdziel3769]

The Rainbow harmonic drive mounts intrigue me. I am glad to see your enthusiasm and satisfaction with the product. I agree it would be great to see some guide data using the mount to support the theoretical performance benefits, perhaps in one of your future videos?. At some point I may consider a Rainbow drive as well. But need to save my pennies first! Thanks for the detailed explanation and useful insights!

[@AstroPlayground]

I agree Paul, however I won’t be able to get any data on it for a while yet, seeing as I’m in the midst of a move. However when we get set up in our new place will be imaging soon there after.

[@cgddgc36]

Thanks for such a great video. Looking forward to seeing more details like actual tracking or some other things....

[@AstroPlayground]

Thanks for the comment Edd, I look forward to future videos, however I am in the middle of a move at the moment and not sure when I’ll be able to post again. Not to worry though I will continue the videos with the channel once we get settled in our new place. Clear skies!

[@douglasmeyer9691]

Thank you for this. I am thinking about the new iOptron mount that is comparable.

[@Asphere-59]

Scott, Jm and Astroworldweb member and live in Walworth NY east of Rochester. I bought the RST-300 through Dan and love it! May I ask if you have success with running the mount in WiFi mode. I have had many problems hang ups. I am close to it, have all updated drivers etc. I miss you on the chat and hope to hear back.

[@craiglowery4427]

Love your set up. This is my second viewing of your video. I'm thinking of purchasing this mount. Any updates on what you think about this relvolutionary style mount?

[@AstroPlayground]

If you’re thinking about the RST300, make sure you get the recommended tripod support, there are a couple of options including the one I went with, a Losmandy heavy duty tripod. There is also one recommended by rainbow that should be viewable on their website. If you have any other questions or comments please feel free to answer back, thanks.

[@craiglowery4427]

@@AstroPlayground I was hoping to use the tripod from my CGX-L

[@AstroPlayground]

@@craiglowery4427 nope, sorry to tell you that will not work. I had a CGXL and it could not be retrofitted to hold the RST 300. Now if you know a machinist that could mill a plate for you, custom for the CGXL, you might get it to work. Here’s your better bet. www.rainbowastro.com/2020/02/28/supermounts-act-carbon-tripod/ telescopes.net/mounts/tripods/fhd-mal-fhd-mal-folding-hd-tripod-with-mal-top.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwz96WBhC8ARIsAATR251HruRQSBau7MQkqwvLDr9OEScZOrozvAAKq_pzdnXfprKVK8RpEVsaAhUGEALw_wcB You will need a custom pier plate from “Dan’s Custom Pier Plates” (he only will do them for the Losmandy HD tripod)

[@mattmagilke2433]

My new RST300 was delivered today. You are absolutely correct. There just isn’t much info about this mount anywhere. I’ll be comparing it to my 10Micron AZ1000 as soon as I’m able to get the 300 mounted on a permanent pier. One correction. The mount weighs about 18.5lbs, not 18.5kg.

[@StevenParrisWard]

Hi I want to buy one of these mounts. Which ADM saddle did you buy? You dont mention it and they dont come available with the mount head for free.

[@AstroPlayground]

I use the ADM saddle.

[@famounts]

Hi can you show guiding graphic?

[@drdave827]

Hi Scott, I really enjoyed your video, you are so right about "shockingly little on the internet" about these mounts.I am a newbie and my first mount is the Rainbow RST-135E, and I have had a time learning what's needed to use this mount. Your video really helped, did i understand you correctly that first you Polar Align, then you HOME, then you slew to your target? I thought I could polar align, park in that general area, then sleep to my target... could you clear that up for me? I was also interested in the fact you suggested to use Sky Safari as I haven't really chosen that kind of software, i have just been setting up NINA. Rainbow also suggests SkyX? what do you think? sorry for so many questions... thanks again

[@SkyCharter]

Decades old, it's about time harmonic drive systems made their way to amateur telescope mounts.

[@davidaucoin4990]

Great video. By the way, what is the music playing at the end of the video?

[@AstroPlayground]

Thanks David! The music is part of the “Adobe” suite, can’t remember the name. 🤪

[@mattnudi5363]

Do you have any general insights on the guiding performance of this mount?

[@aethyr13]

the proof is in the tracking error on PHd, maybe you can show a screen shot or video next time.

[@neilhankey2514]

Why do I need an harmonic drive mount? Happy with my CEM120 and CEM60 for portable use. When this is 8K$ count me out. I would never pay that for a mount. Despite all of the hype you don't need anything fancy when you're moving at sidereal rate. There are a lot of capabile mounts in the 1-3k$ range. Besides, ZWO have just annouced their own harmonic mount. That will bring the price down. My advice is don't be an early adopter, wait a couple of years for the technology to prove itself and the bugs to be worked out. Then buy one at a much better price point.

[@AstroPlayground]

Thanks for your opinion, hope you enjoy the channel. 😎

[@derekbaker3279]

Hi Neil. You are quite correct. There are many other more affordable options that can do the job. (note: the ZWO A5 Harmonic mount has less than half the capacity of the Rainbow Astro RST300. A closer comparison would be the RST135.). Furthermore, for the money you spend on this mount, you are close to affording a mount with top-notch encoders that will reduce PE to negligible levels & perhaps even enable unguided imaging. However....here's the big deal about these mounts....portability. For a given capacity, the 'equatorial head' of a harmonic mount is much smaller & lighter, and generally no counterweights are required. Given that many amateur astronomers (a) need to carry their rig up & down stairs or move it around the yard to be able to see/image objects, (b) have to travel a long way to find truly dark skies, and (c) will fly to a location where more of the southern celestial sights can be viewed/imaged, I will suggest that harmonic mounts are going to become quite popular, and for legitimate reasons.

[@williamhuang5329]

Hanzhen harmonic drive gear , strain wave reducer, robot joint , over 30 years experience

[@NGC008]

Thanks for sharing but the intro was way too long. Almost stopped watching at that point.

[@BoxCar-n6j]

Torturous listening to you stutter

[@mrrockenrock]

Are you kidding me? Concentrate on the content and not the fluff. I liked this informative video! Probably you hate listening to Elon Musk, and he is genius in many ways.