Guys,
Anyone here getting tired of GOTO? I mean all those alignment, noises, not getting the GOTO to work properly, mechnical failures, etc etc do really add into the frustrations when comes to observing....
I remembered that when I started astro with a 40mm refractor, I enjoyed astronomy so much better. No alignment stars to worry about, no batteries to lug around, no worries if the scope can't find the object, no worries about gears backlash, etc, etc.....just grab, go and observe.
Now after nearly 5 years of GOTO, I think I am inclining back to manual mode again.
Anyone feel the same?
Tired of GOTO?
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acc
- Administrator
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- Favourite scope: Mag1 Instruments 12.5" Portaball
Re: Tired of GOTO?
Ho Ho! I feel exactly the same now! I was an avid proponent of GOTO, and my first real scope was an ETX90EC. I love the GOTO feature then, and my dream scope was the LX90. Later, I got a bit tired of lugging around batteries, wrestling with finicky goto controllers and dealing with the poor engineering and assembly of my ETX. The turning point came when I purchased the Portaball and TV85 on an alt-az mount; I never felt so 'stress-free' while observing. No worries about whether the battery will die or if the goto is accurate.
But old habbits die hard and last year the GOTO bug bit me again. I caved in and bought a used Nexstar 5. After a while the issue of power supply and wondering when the scope will break-down resulting in low resale value made me sell the scope. So I am back to manual aka care-free mode again and is likely to stay this way. For the time-being at least
But old habbits die hard and last year the GOTO bug bit me again. I caved in and bought a used Nexstar 5. After a while the issue of power supply and wondering when the scope will break-down resulting in low resale value made me sell the scope. So I am back to manual aka care-free mode again and is likely to stay this way. For the time-being at least
We do it in the dark...
Portaball 12.5"
Takahashi Mewlon 210
William Optics 110ED
...and all night long!
Portaball 12.5"
Takahashi Mewlon 210
William Optics 110ED
...and all night long!
Re: Tired of GOTO?
I am still keeping my Nexstar 5i just for some simple photography though. The optics in this scope is pretty good. I was doing collimation the other day using 240x on this small fellow and I didn't see any image shift! None at all! I find it hard to believe. The other Meades I owned normally have some small image shift at this power. Once collimated, the optical quality is pretty decent. I was impressed by M42 from my home balcony even though it was pretty low with a super wash out sky (think limiting mag at 3 only....even Rigel look like an ordinary star). These 5" SCT from Celestron is really not bad at all.acc wrote:Ho Ho! I feel exactly the same now! I was an avid proponent of GOTO, and my first real scope was an ETX90EC. I love the GOTO feature then, and my dream scope was the LX90. Later, I got a bit tired of lugging around batteries, wrestling with finicky goto controllers and dealing with the poor engineering and assembly of my ETX. The turning point came when I purchased the Portaball and TV85 on an alt-az mount; I never felt so 'stress-free' while observing. No worries about whether the battery will die or if the goto is accurate.
But old habbits die hard and last year the GOTO bug bit me again. I caved in and bought a used Nexstar 5. After a while the issue of power supply and wondering when the scope will break-down resulting in low resale value made me sell the scope. So I am back to manual aka care-free mode again and is likely to stay this way. For the time-being at least
However, having own it for 5 months now, I have not tested its GOTO. That shows how lazy I am when comes to GOTO. The thought of alignment, blah, blah, blah makes me lazy.
My sentiments exactly! Though my goto mount has been working well and not giving me any problem at all, I have only used it a few times as I still find it simpler, more engaging and a great joy to manually starhop and hunt for deepsky objects. Starhopping helps us to be more familiar and in touch with the sky and starfield. I feel that the act of searching for deepsky objects is an important component of an observation session, and for me, there is a thrill and satisfaction when one finally found a deepsky object after carefully planning a starhop.
Yeah, wanted that GPS thing to make me less lazy......acc wrote:Vincent, u are very contradicting leh...
actually I wanted to try the GPS module so that I can get a rough alignment from my home balcony. At this moment, I can't do it because the viewing area is quite small (from my balcony).
If I am not lazy and bring it to Dempsey, then I wouldn't need that.
