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Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

I have had a good time with the AP400, but it has not been without some issues along the way. DEC seems to have some fits now and then, which could be due to an aged worm or perhaps something else. I have set backlash comp in PHD2 to about 2500 with a guide exposure time of 2 seconds and the mount seems to be quite responsive to that. If I increase the guider exposures I run into some cases where DEC becomes completely unresponsive to pulses. I have already sent mail about this to AP. I checked all of the usual suspects Roland shared (worm mesh, end nut/washer) and everything seems to be in good working order on that front.

Nonetheless, the 2.0 sec guiding with the 2500 backlash setting in PHD (which seems to change downward on its own -- very cool!) is working well, in tandem with a 32 point model. So at the end of the day, I am getting great performance from the mount. I just had a 1.75" FWHM image land, with a median of 0.39 eccentricity - and this was a 10 minute OIII sub with the GTX and 268M, so 0.89"/px image scale. Nothing to scoff at.

I do want to find root cause on the DEC delays that seem to occur at random. For that I will work offline with AP support to root out.

I can say that if you can find one of these gems, and are willing to breathe some life back into it -- you will not be disappointed. 

-bill 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of richard payne <rpayne85392@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 9:32 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
I have a 400 GTO and about 5 years ago 
replaced the motors and gearboxes plus a CP3
computer, very quiet,smooth, superb guiding.
A flawless mount.
Richard Payne


On Sep 30, 2022, at 12:49 AM, Bill Long <bill@...> wrote:


This is a guide graph, at 1 second intervals, from a AP mount (Ap400GTO) made about 20+ years ago. 

I dont know what yall are trying to do, but you have lost your way if you think these new mounts, can beat this old soul. 

image.png
Re: APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

Bill Long
 

Do this:
  1. Kill the AP v2 driver, by double clicking on the "Client" part of the driver window.
  2. In APCC, click on the Virtual Port tab, and make sure the ports are created. If they aren't, click the create button for each
  3. On the connection section of APCC, click the Now button to auto-configure the v2 driver.
  4. Then you should be able to connect the driver to APCC.
  5. If this works, check the box to auto-create the Virtual Ports in APCC.
-Bill

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of S Berrada <sberrada19@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 9:10 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM
 
Hi Ray,

thank you for the response 

I must have rebooted the computer 10 times but still getting the error.

The workaround which seems to get the mount working with NINA / ASCOM  (but still showing error):
- load APCC and connect to mount
- The APCC ‘connect’ button for APV2 Driver does not work,
- so I go directly to NINA and click on ‘ telescope / mount settings’ which gets the ASCOM window to pop up (albeit gives same 402 error)
- afterwards I click on NIna ‘connect mount’ and it seems to connect to ASCOM and get the mount working 

Only then can I get PHD to connect to mount.
But APCC still can not connect the APV2 driver.

Everything worked fine in this computer until yesterday.

Thanks
Sam

Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

When you say unguided 90 second images, what level of star quality are you looking for from those images? That would inform just how much accuracy you will need in terms of the tracking. To be perfectly honest, most non-encoder mounts would fail to meet the perfection mark at 90 seconds without a model of some sort to support it. 

The AP400GTO is not sold any longer but would definitely be something that would meet your needs if you can find one. With a PEC Curve and a sky model, you could hit 90 seconds with little problems. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Kevin Cook <kvc3509@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:33 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
My outreach is EAA using the 130 refractor and an ASI2600MC camera, with the ASIAIR running things.  No guiding, but I need to be careful on my initial polar alignment so that I can take unguided images as long as 90 seconds.  That scope-camera combination lets me show wide-field targets like M42 and just zoom in the tablet view to show smaller targets like M51 or M57.  I love the freedom of displaying the images wirelessly on a Samsung tablet, it makes it so much easier to show and explain celestial targets to a small group, to move around to avoid glare from nearby lights, and no fuss with helping every individual ensure the image is focussed for them.  Kids these days grow up naturally knowing how to view images on electronic screens.  After reading a lot on harmonic mounts, I am not sure how well they would perform in such an unguided application.  At the end of the day, I think I am conservative about still wanting a traditional GEM mount.  A modern version of an AP400 with an encoder option for those who want them, coupled with a smaller/lighter scope than the AP130, sounds ideal for me.

There is another factor which I did not mention.  Sometimes I am the only astronomy volunteer at places that are not in the best of neighborhoods.  Not that I picture some late-night thief running down the street carrying 100lbs of my AP gear, but I do worry someone with malicious intent could just topple it all over, causing lots of expensive damage.  At times like that, when it is suspiciously quiet, my mind can't help but tally up how much $$$ I have invested in that gear.  A lot of my fellow astronomers doing outreach are using less expensive scopes and mounts, typically SCTs or Dobs, but I don't want to give up the "Oh wow!" reaction that I get from the AP130 views.  To be fair, I could probably get better results from an 8-inch Hyperstar setup, but at heart I am still a refractor guy.  And my ultimate goal in the next year or so is to downsize to one scope and one mount that serves for both EAA outreach function and my own imaging.

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 10:08 AM ap@... <ap@...> wrote:
On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 08:05 AM, Kevin Cook wrote:
Can't lift an 1100-class mount and though it can be separated into two pieces, then that is not quick setup for outreach use. Maybe my sports car analogy wasn't perfect, but I am seeking a small, light, transportable mount. Nobody expects Roland would ever produce ZWO-quality products. I would have complete confidence that any travel mount he produces would be awesome, just like his smaller refractors.

Outreach means visual, right?   Mostly?  The Harmonic drives, combined by more forgiving tracking requirements, would seem ideal -- no (or far fewer) counterweights and a light footprint saves on both ends.

Long focal lengths for DSO imaging and portable seem the hard niche to fill.  But if I were an outreach visual focused person I think I'd jump on one of the harmonics; no need for AP level precision.  

Or am I missing something? 

Linwood
Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

Oh, of this I am very aware. When I was younger both of my parents had thier own '66 Mustangs.  Coolest cars ever, and when my mom picked me up from school all my friends thought I was the coolest kid. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of weems@... <weems@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 8:31 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 

The Mustang is why they call these mounts “Mach”. Of course, a smaller mount couldn’t be called a Mach 0.5. But with advanced features, it could be a Mach-E :-)

Chip
Re: APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

Brian Valente
 

Hi Sam

When you have APCC running but ASCOM not yet connected, have you tried clicking the auto config option for the ascom driver first?



On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 9:10 PM S Berrada <sberrada19@...> wrote:
Hi Ray,

thank you for the response 

I must have rebooted the computer 10 times but still getting the error.

The workaround which seems to get the mount working with NINA / ASCOM  (but still showing error):
- load APCC and connect to mount
- The APCC ‘connect’ button for APV2 Driver does not work,
- so I go directly to NINA and click on ‘ telescope / mount settings’ which gets the ASCOM window to pop up (albeit gives same 402 error)
- afterwards I click on NIna ‘connect mount’ and it seems to connect to ASCOM and get the mount working 

Only then can I get PHD to connect to mount.
But APCC still can not connect the APV2 driver.

Everything worked fine in this computer until yesterday.

Thanks
Sam



--

Re: APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

S Berrada
 

Hi Ray,

thank you for the response 

I must have rebooted the computer 10 times but still getting the error.

The workaround which seems to get the mount working with NINA / ASCOM  (but still showing error):
- load APCC and connect to mount
- The APCC ‘connect’ button for APV2 Driver does not work,
- so I go directly to NINA and click on ‘ telescope / mount settings’ which gets the ASCOM window to pop up (albeit gives same 402 error)
- afterwards I click on NIna ‘connect mount’ and it seems to connect to ASCOM and get the mount working 

Only then can I get PHD to connect to mount.
But APCC still can not connect the APV2 driver.

Everything worked fine in this computer until yesterday.

Thanks
Sam
Re: We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images

Howard Ritter
 

Here’s my Meade 16” SCT on its original tripod, after undergoing a “mount transplant” in which it received an A-P 1600GTO AE.

Howard

image0.jpeg

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Re: Mobile Mounts

weems@...
 

The Mustang is why they call these mounts “Mach”. Of course, a smaller mount couldn’t be called a Mach 0.5. But with advanced features, it could be a Mach-E :-)

Chip
Re: APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

Ray Gralak
 

Time to reboot your computer, as something seems corrupted. Those types of errors should never happen.

 

-Ray

 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io] On Behalf Of S Berrada
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 5:36 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Subject: [ap-gto] APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

 

Hi 

I am having another type of problem connecting to my AP1100.

I am using a computer where virtual ports used to work ; now I get an error when I try to connect “ APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM …. (See image)

When I try to use the IP Address selection in ASCOM, it gives me an error that I have not seen before “run time error 402 - must close or hide topmost modal first” (see image).  Not sure what “topmost modal “ is?

Yet when I go into ASCOM, I am able to confirm that it finds the mount  with virtual port.  So I when try to go back to virtual port in ASCOM, it gives me same error “run time error 402 - must close or hide topmost modal first”.

So this run time error is preventing me from connecting either with ASCOM or virtual port.

 Any help would be appreciated 

Sam
Re: Small quirk when homing Mach2

Ray Gralak
 

I believe that the "yes" in step 8 is supposed to be clicked to cancel the homing. I don't have a Mach2 to test with but maybe Mike
at A-P can check this.

-Ray

-----Original Message-----
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io] On Behalf Of Sébastien Doré
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 3:49 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Subject: [ap-gto] Small quirk when homing Mach2

Hi,

I'm getting a small quirk when trying to home the mount after unparking from the ASCOM driver (in NINA). Not a
big deal but I thought it would be worth reporting nonetheless.

Here's is the course of events that inevitably ends with the mount not homing properly :

1 - Starting in park 2, I manually connect to the mount with APCC.
2- Then I manually connect NINA to the mount (through ASCOM)
3 - I unpark in NINA (manually or within an imaging sequence, doesn't seem to matter)
4 - Mount start tracking (through the sequence or if I toggle tracking in APCC). I have it configured to not track
upon unparking.
5 - At the end of the sequence (or manually in NINA) the mount gets parked (park 2 is my defined position). No
issue up to this point.
6 - If I then unpark again from NINA and hit 'HOME' in APCC (AE tab), mount start homing itself but for some
reason RA starts moving slowly too (from park 2, only DEC should start moving - or does it ?)
7 - Then DEC reaches home, and RA seem to continue drifting slowly away from the home position (East
direction)
8 - If I hit 'CANCEL HOME' button in APCC (AE tab), I get a confirmation window asking if I want to cancel but the
choice are :
a) Yes, find home
b) No, cancel find home


9 - If I hit 'NO - cancel find home', nothing happens ie RA keeps slowly drifting away while APCC keeps waiting
for it to reaches home coordinate, which never happens.
10 - If I hit 'Yes - find home', I get an error message saying 'homing failed - canceled by user'. But then I can hit
'find home' again and it goes directly to it successfully.


So as I said, no big deal, but a bit surprising and unintuitive at first.


I'm running the lastest of all sw/fw (APCC 1.9.4.3, AP V2 5.50.3, VCP5-P02-15, NINA 2.0HF1) and have a keypad
connected in ext mode with the latest version too (5.010) though I do not use it in that course of events.


I have attached my logs FYI but I'm not looking a for an ongoing support on this, just reporting so it can be fixed in
a future release of whatever is at cause.


Sébastien
Re: We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images

Donald Rudny
 



Hi Brian,

I use my AP1100GTO both for my home based observatory and as a portable setup for outreach around the Big Island of Hawaii.  I do a regular outreach show at the VIS on Maunakea using a camera taking short exposure images and displaying them on a monitor.  I stack subs that are usually less than a minute in exposure.  It’s called EAA (Electronic Assisted Astronomy).  The captured images certainly aren’t astrophotography quality, but they are good enough to amaze visitors wanting to see astronomy on Maunakea.  I can even Airdrop them from my computer if they have an iPhone.  It makes for a nice souvenir.  I’ll be 75 this Tuesday and the 1100GTO is very manageable for me.  The split design makes for easy quick assembly.  The RAPAS is an invaluable tool to help speed setup.  I use SkySafari on my iPad to initialize and control the mount.  Attached are pics of my permanent pier setup and my portable setup at the VIS on Maunakea.  The AP1100GTO is by far the best piece of astronomy equipment I ever bought.

Don Rudny
Pepeekeo, HI 

e62bf668-c00b-480f-bd38-2cb18ca8ddd1.jpg

b6f7e9c0-d9e7-4867-b8b0-49d6515459f5.jpg

On Oct 2, 2022, at 2:18 PM, thefamily90 Phillips <thefamily90@...> wrote:


Drawings made at the eyepiece of my first AP scope, a 6” F/12 Superplanetary in 1989-90.

Jim Phillips 
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Mundhir <Mundhir@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 1:42:31 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images
 

DSC03387.jpeg

Sent from my mobile

On 1 Oct 2022, at 12:41 am, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> wrote:


Hi Astro-Nuts,

We are wrapping up the next AP tutorial and are requesting your images for inclusion


We are looking for your images in one or both of these categories:

1. Your best astro images shot with AP equipment (mount or telescope). Any target, any time

2. A beauty shot of your observing/imaging setup (doesn't have to be 100% AP equipment, but AP should be prominent in your picture)



Please PM me with your pics, astrobin link, portfolio link etc. that would be great

If we use your image, you will of course get full credit and Roland will even record your outgoing voicemail message! 

(Disclaimer: Roland will not actually record outgoing message)

Thanks for the images some of you already submitted from our prior request


Image.jpegImage.jpegImage.jpegImage.jpeg
APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM

S Berrada
 

Hi 

I am having another type of problem connecting to my AP1100.

I am using a computer where virtual ports used to work ; now I get an error when I try to connect “ APCC Error connecting to AP V2 ASCOM …. (See image)

When I try to use the IP Address selection in ASCOM, it gives me an error that I have not seen before “run time error 402 - must close or hide topmost modal first” (see image).  Not sure what “topmost modal “ is?

Yet when I go into ASCOM, I am able to confirm that it finds the mount  with virtual port.  So I when try to go back to virtual port in ASCOM, it gives me same error “run time error 402 - must close or hide topmost modal first”.

So this run time error is preventing me from connecting either with ASCOM or virtual port.

 Any help would be appreciated 

Sam
Re: We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images

thefamily90 Phillips
 

Drawings made at the eyepiece of my first AP scope, a 6” F/12 Superplanetary in 1989-90.

Jim Phillips 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Mundhir <Mundhir@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 1:42:31 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images
 

DSC03387

Sent from my mobile

On 1 Oct 2022, at 12:41 am, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> wrote:


Hi Astro-Nuts,

We are wrapping up the next AP tutorial and are requesting your images for inclusion


We are looking for your images in one or both of these categories:

1. Your best astro images shot with AP equipment (mount or telescope). Any target, any time

2. A beauty shot of your observing/imaging setup (doesn't have to be 100% AP equipment, but AP should be prominent in your picture)



Please PM me with your pics, astrobin link, portfolio link etc. that would be great

If we use your image, you will of course get full credit and Roland will even record your outgoing voicemail message! 

(Disclaimer: Roland will not actually record outgoing message)

Thanks for the images some of you already submitted from our prior request
Small quirk when homing Mach2

Sébastien Doré
 

Hi,

I'm getting a small quirk when trying to home the mount after unparking from the ASCOM driver (in NINA). Not a big deal but I thought it would be worth reporting nonetheless.

Here's is the course of events that inevitably ends with the mount not homing properly :

1 - Starting in park 2, I manually connect to the mount with APCC.
2- Then I manually connect NINA to the mount (through ASCOM)
3 - I unpark in NINA (manually or within an imaging sequence, doesn't seem to matter)
4 - Mount start tracking (through the sequence or if I toggle tracking in APCC). I have it configured to not track upon unparking.
5 - At the end of the sequence (or manually in NINA) the mount gets parked (park 2 is my defined position). No issue up to this point.
6 - If I then unpark again from NINA and hit 'HOME' in APCC (AE tab), mount start homing itself but for some reason RA starts moving slowly too (from park 2, only DEC should start moving - or does it ?)
7 - Then DEC reaches home, and RA seem to continue drifting slowly away from the home position (East direction)
8 - If I hit 'CANCEL HOME' button in APCC (AE tab), I get a confirmation window asking if I want to cancel but the choice are :
a) Yes, find home
b) No, cancel find home

9 - If I hit 'NO - cancel find home', nothing happens ie RA keeps slowly drifting away while APCC keeps waiting for it to reaches home coordinate, which never happens.
10 - If I hit 'Yes - find home', I get an error message saying 'homing failed - canceled by user'. But then I can hit 'find home' again and it goes directly to it successfully.

So as I said, no big deal, but a bit surprising and unintuitive at first.

I'm running the lastest of all sw/fw (APCC 1.9.4.3, AP V2 5.50.3, VCP5-P02-15, NINA 2.0HF1) and have a keypad connected in ext mode with the latest version too (5.010) though I do not use it in that course of events.

I have attached my logs FYI but I'm not looking a for an ongoing support on this, just reporting so it can be fixed in a future release of whatever is at cause.

Sébastien

?
20221002-155245-2.0.1.9001.8548.log
?
APCCAscomZip-Sebastien_Dore-2022-10-02-155732.zip

Re: We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images

Chris White
 

Great shot Tony!
Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

How is "drive to the site" portability defined? I assume this will be drastically different from person to person.


From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Arvind <base16@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:32 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 


On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 11:00 AM Sébastien Doré <sebastiendore1@...> wrote:
Disclosure: I am mostly in the camp of new lightweight kinda nextgen AP400 size mount, which I would love to be able to bring to the nearest dark site on short notice (for wide field imaging) after a day of work. Pack 3 light cases (OTA, tripod & mount) in the car and go. Unpack the car and be ready to image within minutes.

To me, it’s not that much about AP precision (though I would obviously appreciate it) but rather the build quality and mostly the RELIABILITY of AP equipment that is appealing. No fuss, just power up and it works every time. That’s my thing I guess...

I’ll manage the rest as far as guided vs unguided go...

In fact, I’d leave to Rolando and AP team the care to get the balance of trade offs (2 encoders vs Ra encoders vs no encoder, harmonic vs stepper) right to make this an economically viable product. I’m sure they would come up with a wonderful and unique design.

Just my two cents from up here (Canada) where getting a used AP product can be twice as hard and long as getting a new one.

Sébastien



+1.

I was about to clarify Linwood's comment with something along the same lines.

Extremely minor nitpick / clarification of what you also perhaps intended: it is about precision, as well.. but not beyond where it stops making a difference. We expect AP gear to be precise so my feedback on this thread has been to not over-optimize for tracking especially when the said optimization starts compromising on portability (drive to the site portable (ideally even airline portable.. but this might be a stretch)). For mobile use cases I don't expect to be lugging my C14s or Planewaves to the field on a monthly basis... and at the same time just because we're after widefield (or doing visual) doesn't completely negate the need for high-quality, reliable, and precise-for-the-usecase mount -- and this segment of users if any is only growing.

All in the hopes, not sure if any of this will ever materialize :-) One can only wish.
Re: NGC891 from Paris with good seeing (8" f/4 Newtonian + AP900)

Dan_Paris
 

Thanks a lot Roland and Michael, I think that with today's small pixel cameras even  rather short focal-length telescopes can get an interesting level of detail on galaxies.


clear skies,

Dan
Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

It separates into three parts, which go together in a few minutes. 

I'd definitely love to see an AE equipped 400 size mount.


From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Kevin Cook <kvc3509@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 5:05 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
Can't lift an 1100-class mount and though it can be separated into two pieces, then that is not quick setup for outreach use. Maybe my sports car analogy wasn't perfect, but I am seeking a small, light, transportable mount. Nobody expects Roland would ever produce ZWO-quality products. I would have complete confidence that any travel mount he produces would be awesome, just like his smaller refractors.



On Sun, Oct 2, 2022, 12:06 AM Bill Long <bill@...> wrote:
Asking AP, whom makes the Maserati of telescopes and mounts, to make a Mazda, is silly friend.

A-P is not ZWO. They are a company that hangs their hats on excellent craftsmanship. That comes at a cost.  You pay to play with their products, and if you dont want to pay for that, its not really all that harming to them as all of their products are on massive wait lists and are effectively always sold out. 

I would never want to see an AP product that erred on the side of cheap, over awesome.

But - I will indulge you. You can buy an AP1100 without encoders (the auto transmission you talked about) and you can even add them later. It is light broken down into its parts, has excellent performance to weight ratio, has excellent performance to cost ratio, and is very fun to drive -- encoders or not. So, you do not need them to make you a new product, they already have it.

So, get yourself an 1100 and be happy.
 
-Bill

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Kevin Cook <kvc3509@...>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2022 9:40 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
As the OP for the original "next mount" thread, which sort of morphed into this Mobile Mounts thread, let me put what I wish for in terms that I know Roland will understand:  Whille the owners of multiple Bentleys and Ferraris can debate the merits of getting carbon-fiber cup holders, I am hoping that Roland can provide us (or at least some of us) with the AP mount equivalent of a Mazda MX-5.  Small, light, good performance-to-weight ratio, good performance-to-cost ratio, and basically fun to drive.  Yes, you can certainly provide the option of an automatic transmission for those want that, but I prefer the 5-speed manual transmission on mine, please.  Muchas gracias.

Kevin
Re: Mobile Mounts

Bill Long
 

I haven't had a Miata but my mother did when I was a teenager. It didn't last long. Maybe just bad luck. She sold it and bought a 66 Mustang instead, which is still going. 😃


From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of W Hilmo <y.groups@...>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 5:42 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
I'm guessing that you've never had a Miata :)

They are small, reasonably priced, absolutely reliable, and executed to near perfection for what they are.  I could have a Maserati if I wanted one.  I have a Miata.

Getting back on topic, I also love the idea of a Mach1 replacement, perhaps a bit smaller.  I'm currently using an AP1100 as my portable mount.  At this point, I doubt that I'll ever need another mount.  Just about the only thing that could make me rethink that, would be a small and light Astro-Physics mount, sized so that it could just carry my AP130GTX for imaging.  I would potentially sell one of my AP1100's to fund such a thing.

On 10/2/22 00:06, Bill Long wrote:
Asking AP, whom makes the Maserati of telescopes and mounts, to make a Mazda, is silly friend.

A-P is not ZWO. They are a company that hangs their hats on excellent craftsmanship. That comes at a cost.  You pay to play with their products, and if you dont want to pay for that, its not really all that harming to them as all of their products are on massive wait lists and are effectively always sold out. 

I would never want to see an AP product that erred on the side of cheap, over awesome.

But - I will indulge you. You can buy an AP1100 without encoders (the auto transmission you talked about) and you can even add them later. It is light broken down into its parts, has excellent performance to weight ratio, has excellent performance to cost ratio, and is very fun to drive -- encoders or not. So, you do not need them to make you a new product, they already have it.

So, get yourself an 1100 and be happy.
 
-Bill

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Kevin Cook <kvc3509@...>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2022 9:40 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mobile Mounts
 
As the OP for the original "next mount" thread, which sort of morphed into this Mobile Mounts thread, let me put what I wish for in terms that I know Roland will understand:  Whille the owners of multiple Bentleys and Ferraris can debate the merits of getting carbon-fiber cup holders, I am hoping that Roland can provide us (or at least some of us) with the AP mount equivalent of a Mazda MX-5.  Small, light, good performance-to-weight ratio, good performance-to-cost ratio, and basically fun to drive.  Yes, you can certainly provide the option of an automatic transmission for those want that, but I prefer the 5-speed manual transmission on mine, please.  Muchas gracias.

Kevin
Re: We want your Astro and AP Equipment Images

Tony Flores
 

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