PSA: I dropped $800 on a fancy star tracker and it's been a total waste

I bought the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi last fall, thinking it would let me get those super clear deep sky shots. Set it up in my backyard, spent an hour getting it aligned, and the first long exposure was a blurry mess. The thing just couldn't hold a steady track, even on a calm night. I've tried it three times now with the same junk results. Anyone have a tracker that actually works for under a grand, or should I just save for a real mount?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_hernandez832mo ago

That's rough about your star adventurer. My GTi has been solid for over a year. The "blurry mess" makes me wonder if something's off with your setup. Did you double check the counterweight balance? A small imbalance will ruin the track. The polar alignment needs to be really precise too, even a good mount can't fix a bad align. Maybe try a different tripod, a shaky base will kill it.

ellis.victor2mo ago

Man, your comment about the tripod just reminded me of my buddy's whole saga. He was fighting blurry shots for weeks with his tracker, swearing the gear was broken. Turns out he was using this old lightweight travel tripod he had lying around. The moment he borrowed a solid, heavy one from another friend, it was like night and day. All that wobble just killed every single exposure. He felt like a total idiot for not trying that first.

ninal9110d ago

Kevin's comment about the counterweight is probably the biggest thing most people miss. I had the same problem with my first tracking attempts and it took me two weeks to realize the weight wasn't even close to balanced. The mount was basically fighting itself all night. Also that tripod thing is real, I was using a photography tripod that looked solid but had just enough flex to ruin everything. You need a tripod that's way heavier than you think, like an actual chunky astro one. It's annoying because it adds cost but a wobbly base makes the tracker's job impossible.