Since the Atrotrac came out I was intersted in something that could be used for starfield pictures, compact enough to be taken on a holiday trip. However the size and the price seemed not suitable for this.
During the total solar eclipse in Turkey 2006 I would have been happy to have a simple tracking device to make my life easier. At that time I did not want to haul my GEM to Turkey for the eclipse and shot the images using a normal tripod which was quite painfull.
Fast forward to 2012 there are now several choices for compact tracking mounts:
- Astrotrac
- Vixen Polarie
- Unitec SWAT-200
But all of them have a price tag that is in the 500 dollar range or even higher...
Recently I discovered a new product sold here in Japan that is more compact and priced at 19'800 Yen (250$) that looks really attractive.
I went to the shop to check it out today and was surprised that the housing feels really solid and still the weight and size are reasonable. The name of the manufacturer is Sightron and they named the device the "nano Tracker"

Here is a link to some online information
(Japanese so you may use Google to translate):
http://www.kyoei-osa...no-tracker.html
I hope to make some real life tests in the comming weeks.
So far it looks solid and easy to use.
best regards
Chris