First light for the Mini
Towers!
I recently
had the chance to be with a few friends who have been having a blast
with the
new Mini Towers from iOptron. When my friend first saw one at NEAF he
was very impressed. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating,
so, we waited until he had
the actual production units in his hands before we passed judgment. We
are all proud to announce that our expectations have been exceeded by a
very
large margin!
The Mini
Towers arrived well packaged.
Here is a
picture of the tripod in its box and the Mini Tower case in its
shipping
box. Personally, I would like to
see more padding around the Mini Tower, perhaps a box within a box and
some
foam would better protect it. I
had no issues with mine since it arrived in perfect condition. However,
I do see the potential for
some of these to be damaged in transit.
The mount
itself comes very well protected within its own locking case. Included
are just about anything and everything that one needs to be up and
running,
with the exception of an OTA.
I watched
as the mount was lifted easily from its compartment, as did all of the
accessories. The items included are the mount, GOTONOVA hand
controller,
flex cable for the controller, a 20' DC power cord for use with an
automotive
style 12VDC plug, an AC adapter for use with house current (110-120VAC)
and
even a USB cable for updating the GOTONOVA controller. Also included
are
a counterweight shaft, an 8 pound counterweight with locking knob, a
SECOND Vixen
style dovetail, a mini CD with the manual AND USB drivers and even a
set
of keys to lock the case!!
The tripod
was shipped separately and arrived in perfect condition. The legs are
1.5" OD at the top and 1.25" OD at the bottom. The legs extend
quickly and easily. The clamping knobs grip very well with little
pressure required. The tripod has a special head which includes three
leveling screw assemblies. The Mini Tower rests upon these screws and
allows the user to fine tune the mount instead of needing to play with
the legs
to get things "just right". This is a very smart and well
thought out feature. (Obviously, someone had become personally
frustrated or lost control of
another mount while trying to adjust it to a level position.) The
center
bolt and tripod spreader are already installed, too!
I was
impressed by how easily the setup procedure was. It was just too
simple. We took the tripod out, opened the legs, set the spreader
and made the tripod close to level. We removed the Mini Tower from the
case, placed it onto the leveling screws (There are three hard rubber
sockets
into which these fit on the bottom of the Mini Tower.) screwed in the
center bolt until it was home and then started hooking things up. We
quickly discovered that the center bolt should NOT be tightened
immediately. If you wish to adjust any of the leveling screws it is
necessary to leave it a bit loose until the Mini is leveled. Once that
is
done THEN tighten the center bolt and follow by tightening the support
knob.
The next
step was to plug in the cable to the GOTONOVA controller which in turn
plugs into one of the two "HBX" ports. It does not matter which
one. Then the power supply was attached and the switch was thrown. The
GOTONOVA immediately came to life with a confident single "BEEP"
to confirm that it was working. The controller first shows the GOTONOVA
logo, then the firmware version number (European dated) and then the
main
screen. This screen displays more information than any other system out
there.
The
GOTONOVA has 8 basic lines of coordinates as well as the date and time.
It also shows the correction speed, tracking rate and that the GPS is
communicating with the controller. In the top right of the screen it
shows "GPS ON" when looking for the satellites. Once it has
locked on the date, time and location are updated and the display
changes to
"GPS OK". It is necessary to go into the "Set Up
Controller" section and make certain that you have the correct time
zone,
daylight savings and offset from UT settings correct. If not, it
will think that you are somewhere else. Also, make certain that the
"Mount Type" is set for Alt/Az instead of Equatorial.
Once we had
some clear skies and the night had fallen we set about with our first
round of
testing. Alignment was easy. We set the little "S" to
point south and eye-balled the mount to the north. We set the OTA to be
vertical and level and then told the mount to begin alignment. The
choices are "Easy Align", "One Star Alignment", 'Two
Star Alignment", or, "Three Star Alignment". The Three
Star does not work on this mount and it will tell you so if you make
that
choice. We chose the Two Star Alignment and have used it ever since
then.
The mount
offered its first star selection and we pressed the ENTER key to
confirm the
choice. The Mini Tower placed the OTA very close to the first
alignment star. A little bit of correction and the star was within the
FOV. We centered the star in the EP, hit ENTER and it gave us the
next choice. The next star WAS within the FOV. We centered it and
again pressed ENTER. That's it! We're done! Total time from
opening the case to the beginning of our viewing test was 10 minutes,
MAX!
The real
proof was now to come. We pressed the MENU key. The choice of
SELECT & SLEW was made and the ENTER key was pressed. The next
choice
was Planets and Solar System Objects. Again, the ENTER key was
pressed. We toggled down to Jupiter and pressed the ENTER key once
more. The Mini Tower took off and started heading for Jupiter. In
moments the planet was right smack dab in the FOV. It was a bit off
center, but, with the limited FOV that this MAK has it was very well
placed. We pressed the MENU key and toggled to the "SYNC TO
OBJECT" selection and pressed the ENTER key once. It told us to
center the object and press ENTER, which we did. It returned to the
next
level up and we selected the SELECT & SLEW section, then DEEP
SKY and the
MESSIER OBJECTS. We chose M-13 because it was nearly overhead and is
always a favorite. The Mini again took off and when we looked through
the
EP the big bright globular was dead center!! We kept this up with more
and more objects, such as M-15, M-31, M33, M-17, M-57, M-20, M-81/82,
the
Double Cluster and on and on. Most all were very well within the FOV
and
the few that weren't were brought to center with little effort and the
SYNC
function was again used to help update the controller. Eventually, Mr.
Moon decided to wipe out any further deep sky seeing. Yes, the Mini
went
straight to the Moon and it was placed dead center in the FOV.
The first
observing run was an unqualified success! The people that were present
took notice that the mount was very quiet. That should be something
that
people in close neighborhoods will appreciate. The fact that it can be
set up with two different instruments at once will make it a hit at
star
parties and educational functions. The simplicity of setting up and
tearing down makes the Mini Tower an absolute dream. It is very
portable
since the tripod only weighs about 11 pounds and the mount in the case
is about
28 pounds.
To date,
the Mini Tower has been tested with a 150mm f/12 MAK, a Celestron C-6,
C-8 and
C-9.25. It has also very easily held my 5" f/8 refractor.
It is a
rare item that gets this writer excited. I've only recently become
involved with GOTO mounts. The few
that I have tried have not been nearly this much fun or as easy to use
as the
Mini Tower. With the years passing more quickly as well as lots of
mileage, I need to consider the fact that my 12-1/2” f/4.9 reflector
along with
its mount, weights, etc. are no longer a portable item! The Mini Tower
is
a perfect set up to help me remain a mobile astronomer. (I live in the
center of Manchester, NH and the light pollution here is horrible, to
say the
least!) If there is a better and
more capable mount, with the same features for the same small cost, I
am not aware of its existence! IOptron has hit the ball out of the park
with the Mini Tower.
Clear skies
to all,
Jeffrey H.
Carter
Manchester,
NH
PS
According to a few friends this mount works well with the planetarium
programs
Cartes du Ciel and HNSky. I’ve not
yet tried them, but I will at some time in the future.
Jhc
