Telescope Reviews: iOptron SkyTracker

Here is a quick report. Got mine last night and wonder of wonders, had clear skies. Nifty unit for sure. Ordered direct from iOptron and delivery was pretty fast. I wanted to take advantage of a clear sky so I just got things going as quickly as possible and, ya know what... that is what I like about it. It is simple and fast to set up. I have not used a Polarie or Astrotrac, but I was shooting photos in minutes and not only felt none of the usual frustration but was so anxious to see the results I almost dug out some SD cards so I could change it out, then plug the other SD card into the computer to do stacking and post processing while the ST was shooting another series.

So, things I like. Fast and simple to set up. For example, it has a geared altitude hinge. Fasten this on to your tripod, set up the tripod legs, use the compass on top of the unit to get North, then use this geared knob to set your latitude scale. Then, with the very nice polar alignment scope installed in the receiving hole, look for Polaris and use the geared knob to center Polaris and use the tripod's knob for horizontal, azimuth adjustment. This makes polar alignment a breeze and that is one of the reasons I got this thing. I was pretty darned close in very short order. Lock it down then go to the next step, putting your camera on.

This too is pretty easy. I used a spare smaller Manfrotto ball head from my photo gear and screwed it onto the ST mounting ring. I use the Manfrotto quick release plates on my camera and ball heads so clicking in my Nikon D90 was easy to do. This does introduce some extra metal, i.e., the QR lever, which could get in the way so consider that for your own use.

But I got my D90 with grip mounted then was careful to tighten down the screws on the ST mounting ring. With a heavy camera, lens & battery grip, you want to make sure these are tightened down as much as possible. Some slippage occurred to me but I was in a hurry, like I said.

Once your camera is mounted, point it in the direction of your target(s). I had a lightweight 35mm f/1.8 Nikon prime on the D90. I first set my sights for the Andromeda Galaxy as Cassiopeia was high in the northwest. I was in my backyard, with streetlights around, neighborhood lights and the general glow of Fort Collins, CO, pretty much red zone.

I use an external intervalometer, set to shoot 12 sub frames, 60 second exposures. I wanted to see what it would do with 1 minute subs. I had to fiddle with ISO a bit and live view and focused the camera before locking it down, then turned manual focus on, with manual settings. I took the ISO down to 800 since it was really blowing out at 1600 with all my sky glow. As it was, my exposure histograms were pretty far to the right of the scale, but it was a work night and I was just testing things so I was not too concerned about the exposure. Mostly I just wanted to try it out and see if my stars were pinpoint or oblong.

The result of the Andromeda attempt can be found here:
http://www.astrobin.com/30065/

I am very pleased with the unit. When it was time to go in for the evening, it was amazing how lightweight it all seemed compared to taking out my DSV-2 Alt Az mount on an Oberwerk tripod. I used a carbon fiber Manfrotto tripod which is, of course, super light and with just that and the Skytracker, it was just sooo light and easy to take back into the house.

So, its a keeper for my purposes. I'm a rank beginner at AP but love photography and take week and two week long motorcycle trips with my photo gear along, to get photos along the way of places I've always wanted to see. Now, I will take the Skytracker along with the D90, lenses and CF tripod to take advantage of the evenings as well as the days, to shoot photos and astro photos.

It seems to be a well built unit, comes with a nylon case. The polar alignment scope uses the concentric ring approach to place Polaris correctly in comparison to the celestial pole and it has a notch to allow a small red LED to light the markings in the PAS. Nice touch, clever design. I got the ST unit with PAS for $348 plus shipping. I think some dealers sell the unit with the PAS and have free shipping. So it is a much cheaper alternative to the Polarie or the Astrotrac, etc.

Hope this is helpful for you Skytracker researchers !!

--munch