ondebanks
Member
Thanks! I knew that you had an AstroTrac - such a thing stands out in a forum like this. Yeah, I weighed up the Polarie and a few others (such as the Fornax unit) before going for the AstroTrac. It was mainly the higher payload rating over the Polarie that swung it...and the compact dedicated latitude wedge option.Ray, the AstroTrac is really nice, I (theguywitha645d) used one. I have since side-graded and have a Vixen Polarie--I am just a sucker for small tracking mounts. I have not done much with the Polarie as of yet; the weather has not been on my side. But I am hoping to get some star time this summer. Nice to see you posting here.
I've used full-blown telescope equatorial mounts before, from a medium Vixen Super Polaris to a back-breaking Skywatcher EQ6, so the AstroTrac is feather-light and compact in comparison.
I really, really wanted to get away from the German-equatorial style with lopsided camera positioning, counterweight bars, big battery packs, controller handsets, and cables hanging everywhere. I wanted to recover the sense of mobility, quick set up and convenience that comes with fixed-tripod astrophotography...Several of my happiest memories from the past 25 years are of hiking a short distance at night with a tripod over one shoulder and a camera bag over the other one, to get a better vantage point or darker sky for photographing a comet or a conjunction. At such times, I have experienced the purest expression of freedom and the deepest appreciation of nature.
Anyway, before I burst into tears at the recollection of it all , I'll just say that the AstroTrac is now starting to recreate that vibe for me...with of course the new dimension of superb sky tracking.
Ray