Below are two photos of my set-up.
I've used the Astrotrac once in the field, in southeast Johor. That was in around April 2009. It worked well.
Two points of note:
(1) Since S'pore/Malaysia is near the equator, the "top" surface of the Astrotrac will have to be pointed almost horizontally to the north celestial pole, and not at an angle of around 45 degrees as when it is used in far northern or southern latitudes such as the US, Europe, Australia, etc. To avoid having the Astrotrac knock against a tripod leg, I had to place it between two of the legs, instead of in front of one. See photos.
(2) To mount a camera properly so that it can be pointed in all directions, you would need not one (as with use in Europe, US) but two tilt-heads, so that the ball-head for the camera would not be mounted sideways. The 2nd tilt-head is to off-set the ball-head 90 degrees so that the ball-head is mounted vertically. See photos.
As with the use of German equatorial mounts in equatorial regions, a polar finder is of no use in Singapore. So, to point the Astrotrac accurately, you would first have to use a compass to point north for rough alignment, then use drift-alignment methods for precise alignment.
I had purchased the Astrotrac (a British product) direct from the Astrotrac manufacturer's website with courier shipping. At that time, it was the cheapest means of purchasing it when factoring shipping to Singapore. The UK sterling pound was and still is quite low.
If anyone else has used it here and has points of note, I would be interested to hear of your experiences!
