zjc26138
Loved By All
Reged: 02/24/05
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio
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Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
#3065594 - 04/25/09 03:10 AM Attachment (180 downloads)
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At first the night looked less than promising. However, by about 1230 the clouds cleared and it was time to see what the mount could do.
Scopes used: AR5 and 80/9D
Eyepieces used: 30mm Generic 80 degree wide-field and 10mm Ethos.
Conditions: Poor seeing and transparency
Polar alignment was quick, but accurate. After entering my location correctly this time I had the scope go to Vega. It was off, but not by much. I set the mount back to the home position and had it go to Vega once more. This time Vega was at the edge of my 30mm. So I moved it towards the center and hit enter. I then had the mount go to M13. Bam! Smack dab in the middle of the FOV. I put the Ethos in but the conditions along with the AR5 were making high power a no go.
Next object: M51. A bit of slewing later and there it was. Not at the center buy easily seen in the field of view. This process was repeated for M81, M82, M57, M56, M13(again), M92. After getting it to go to these objects I would sync it on the object. The more times I synced the closer the go to was. To the point where it was in the middle of the FOV of the Ethos. All of this with just a one star alignment. I changed scopes and used the 80/9D and I much prefered its wider FOV than the AR5. Plus I have a soft spot for 80mm refractors 
For the first time using this mount I'm pretty impressed. I can only wait till tomorrow and see how good the go to's are with a 2 and 3 star alignment.
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BCB
Undercover Saboteur
Reged: 11/24/03
Loc: Look over your shoulder
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: zjc26138]
#3065802 - 04/25/09 08:29 AM
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I see you figured it out.. 
Excellent!!!
A review on this mount is forthcoming. I hope to have it completed sometime this week..
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Jim7728
Postmaster
Reged: 04/10/05
Loc: Stoop Landing Observatory, NYC
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: zjc26138]
#3065830 - 04/25/09 08:49 AM
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Sounds like a good setup, Zach.
BTW
Are the goto slews quiet?
Is Astronomics going to sell Bosma products?
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CounterWeight
Postmaster
Reged: 10/05/08
Loc: Cloudyopolis, OR.
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: Jim7728]
#3066011 - 04/25/09 10:37 AM
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What is this mount called? where did you get it? was it at NEAF? Rated capacity and any specs? Do you have a picture of it? Cost? Many questions Am curious if like the mounts SW is shipping... Was chatting on the NEAFcam about it but the cam mods didn't know much... and yes - is it quiet or noisy? stepper or servo? Thanks much for any additional information
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Jim7728
Postmaster
Reged: 04/10/05
Loc: Stoop Landing Observatory, NYC
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: CounterWeight]
#3066073 - 04/25/09 11:15 AM Attachment (44 downloads)
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I think it's this one:
http://www.bosma.com.cn/en/product_info.asp?id=440
Edited by Jim7728 (04/25/09 11:20 AM)
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BCB
Undercover Saboteur
Reged: 11/24/03
Loc: Look over your shoulder
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: CounterWeight]
#3066088 - 04/25/09 11:25 AM
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Nutshell summary:
4 were sold at NEAF. That I know of, this is all that's been made available. I do not know if there are more.
Rated capacity is 25#
Price was listed at 900.
Fairly quiet while tracking. Small whine I have yet to isolate during tracking. VERY quiet at next to highest slew rate. Max rate IS noisy, but less so than a LXD55/75.
MUCH quieter than my SVP Meade goto converted mount.
Only ran it on wall power to this point. Battery power MAY change things..
No idea on the motors. Haven't specced them out yet to know for sure. That's part of the review I haven't completed.
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zjc26138
Loved By All
Reged: 02/24/05
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: CounterWeight]
#3066097 - 04/25/09 11:27 AM
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At max slew speed it was quieter then the LXD75. Was it super quiet? No, back it wasn't enough to bother me. Its called the Bosma Goto mount as far as I can tell. Yeah Astronomics had about six for sale, and they all sold rather quickly. The NEAF special was 500.00, but I forget what they are going to sell for regularly. Astronomics might be selling them, but I'm not sure about this. I'm not sure what motors it uses either. I'm very reluctant about opening up the mount and seeing whats inside. I do know that the controller is iOptron and probably could assume that the guts are iOptron as well.
My only complaint was that my AR5 seemed a tad shaky, however I will add anti-vibration pads to it tonight. Another thing that could contribute to the shakiness would be the cheapo rings I used and the pretty much junk Meade R&P focuser.
I'll try to get my camera working to take pictures. When I tried to upload my NEAF pictures to my computer, a screen popped up and said that there were no pics on the card. I will try and download them on my home computer. My laptop has the lovely Vista, and thus likes to create problems.
Edited by zjc26138 (04/25/09 11:31 AM)
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CounterWeight
Postmaster
Reged: 10/05/08
Loc: Cloudyopolis, OR.
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: zjc26138]
#3066218 - 04/25/09 12:43 PM
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Interesting... at $500 do you think it's a good competitor to the ASGT style CG5?
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zjc26138
Loved By All
Reged: 02/24/05
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: CounterWeight]
#3066226 - 04/25/09 12:47 PM
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Quote:
Interesting... at $500 do you think it's a good competitor to the ASGT style CG5?
I find it better than my LXD75 I used to own. I always did a 2 star alignment with that mount and object was sometimes in the FOV of longest focal length eyepiece.
So I would say that it is better than the LXD75 and probably the ASGT(even though I have never used one.)
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: Jim7728]
#3066683 - 04/25/09 05:15 PM
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Quote:
I think it's this one:
http://www.bosma.com.cn/en/product_info.asp?id=440
Wow! According to the web page it's got "Intellectualized auto-guiding celestial objectives"...I GOTTA get me one o' them! 
Seriously, this...err..."Sphinx inspired" mount looks purty nice...maybe a considerable step up for Bosma.
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polaristom
sage
Reged: 12/17/07
Loc: Alaska
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Re: Bosma Goto Mount: First Light
[Re: rmollise]
#3066918 - 04/25/09 08:00 PM
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I also purchased one of these at NEAF and Astronomics asked me if I wanted one on the floor or if I wanted them to ship a new one to my house for FREE!!! This was the best deal I got at NEAF by a long shot. Well maybe - the mailman hasn't delivered it yet. LOL I'll let you know when/if I get it.
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