Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTI Mount Head Kit with Counterweight and CW bar - Full GoTo EQ Tracking Mount for Portable and Lightweight Astrophotography

Works well, though the SynScan app can be problematic upon occasion. When it is working, my goto’s were very good. I do astrophotography and use this with a guide scope/camera, through EQMOD and that works well. Some nights my total error is about 1.2-1.7 which isn’t great if you have a camera with very small pixel pitch. For mine not an issue. Other nights I can get about 0.6-0.8 total error. Goto’s with Stellarium and EQMOD work very nicely. And with no guide, good polar alignment I could get up to 2 min subs with a 200mm lens.

I have been using the SA GTi for about a month now and have been very satisfied. Its go to capability is a huge advantage over the SA 2i, since it saves time when locating the astronomical objects that you want to photograph or observe, but it also feels more robust, the knobs for polar alignment are better and allow adjustment easier and more precise. It is very easy to install and connect. The tracking is very precise and using guidance, I have been able to take 3 minute exposures with a 560mm telescope with an average error of less than 1 arc second.

I liked the star tracker just what I needed. It’s a bit hard to setup but once you get used to it you can point at space objects. I had trouble trying to make it point at the objects correctly but with good alignment it works.

When I shot the recent Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS with my Fujifilm X-H1 on a geared-head tripod, using 0.5 second exposure, background star motion was visible in closeup. Later, I calculated that the stars had moved 6 pixels during that 0.5 second. The photos were still great, but this experience got me excited about an EQ clock drive.Research led me to this SA GTi -- good specifications, good reviews, and still relatively affordable. The 11-pound weight limit is the primary characteristic of the GTi. This is fine for modern cameras and "astrographs", small refractors designed 100% for astrophotography.I will update the review as I gain experience and results with the mount. The reason for only four-stars in my rating is that the polarscope LED is nonfunctional in the GTi that I received. I tried all the posted workarounds and even the alternate Windows package GS Server but no luck. I decided not to return the GTi but might at a later date seek a warranty repair. The reason is that traditional precise polar alignment is not that important for a "Go To" mount like this. Instead, after a basic polar alignment, two- or three-star alignment and synchronization are used to calibrate the internal computer for precise pointing and tracking.

The instructions include a list of parts that are already installed and what may be missing, and even other parts not listed in the manual are included. The construction materials seem solid but some parts are very fragile or easy to lose. In some spots the paint is worn as if the equipment had been used before. If you want to install a DSLR camera, the instructions do not tell you what elements to use or what accessories would be useful for this purpose.

Everyone looking at this, do yourselves a favor. Just save more money and get the EQ6R pro. It's night and day difference. This will feel like a cheap toy compared to it.If you want something compact and light, get the ZWO AM5N mount. It's expensive, but if you want a good mount, you will have to spend money. Astronomy and astrophotography is an expensive hobby, and cheap and poorly made equipment are hobby killers. Leave this back to Skywatcher, do not buy!

I set this up with a Redcat51, a ZWO asi294 pro, asi120 guide camera controlled with an ASIAir. The first night I did the polar alignment using the ASIAir then slewed it to the North America nebula where I did my final focusing and did a few test images of about 1 minute each to make sure I had it framed how I wanted it. Well I set up a run of 10 pictures 3 minutes each but guiding failed during the first image, I didn’t set it up correctly so I just let it take the images anyway. Well I thought I was taking 3 minute integrations but I had checked 300 seconds and that is 5 minute integrations not 3 like I thought I was taking. To my surprise the images came out perfect totally round stars no trailing with no guiding.This mound tracks like a dream better than my LX200 but then again it’s had a much smaller focal length. The next day I setup again and 5 minute tracking was spot on both guiding and not guiding. I slewed to several targets that night and it hits its target almost dead on every time. This will be my camping setup nice and compact.

Simply works great.