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I spent $200 on a 'premium' star tracker and it was a total waste
I bought the SkyGlide Pro last fall, thinking it would let me take longer exposures without star trails. The setup took over an hour, and the polar alignment was so finicky I never got it right. I tried it on three separate clear nights and every single shot came out blurrier than my basic tripod shots. Has anyone actually gotten good results with one of these, or are they just overhyped?
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ivanl765mo ago
Man, that sounds exactly like what happened to my buddy Dave. He brought his new tracker out to a dark site, spent the whole night fighting with it, and came back with nothing but fuzzy streaks. He was so mad he almost left the thing in a field. I guess some people get the hang of it, but he sold his for half price and just sticks to wide angle shots now.
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xena_miller315mo ago
Poor Dave, @ivanl76, those trackers can be a real pain to set up right.
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spencer6643mo ago
See I gotta disagree a little bit. Trackers are fussy sure but once you get the basics dialed in they become pretty reliable. Most people give up before they really figure out the right balance setup wise. The polar alignment is the biggest hurdle and once you get that process memorized the rest falls into place. I've seen guys claim a tracker is junk when really they just didn't take the time to level the tripod properly or forgot to balance the load. It takes a few frustrating nights but it's worth pushing through because those wide angle shots can't get you the same detail.
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