In case anyone is interested, I'd like to share my not so fabulous experience with the NYX-101 (v2). But first, a bit of history...
I, like many others, started with a star tracker. It didn't take long for me to upgrade to a proper GoTo mount. My first real mount was the iOptron CEM25p. I took my first steps with it and eventually outgrown it. Or so I thought... Somewhere down the road I sold it, hoping to get something "better", with more consistent tracking performance (spoiler alert: the CEM25p is to this day the best mount I've owned in terms of tracking/guiding performance).
Now, I'm always doing (extensive) research before purchasing something new and while the Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro wasn't getting 5-star reviews, there were (and still are) A LOT of people praising it, as if it is the best thing since sliced bread. So I bought one. In short, probably the worst astronomy product I've ever bought and I've bought quite a few (my empty bank account is the proof). I've even gone through the trouble of sending it for hypertuning/tweaking/repairing, hoping to save the investment. Nothing helped. Consistent terrible tracking and guiding among other equally terrible things. So I sold it.
Back to iOptron with a brand new CEM28! At least the RA/DEC axis is moving freely again when releasing the brakes (I'm looking at you, Skywatcher). I had high hopes for this mount. I really thought I'd be seeing consistent 0.5" total RMS guiding again and almost perfect round stars, just like with my CEM25p. Yeah.... no. Shady tracking/guiding, ranging from 0.5-1.2" RMS. And the stars.... Well, they are not round anymore.
At this point I was seriously getting burned out doing mobile astrophotography and dealing with horrendous weather. So I decided to build my first remote, fully automated observatory. Far away from home. As in 2000km far away. Since most (all?) my budget went into building the observatory and automating pretty much everything (including the scope), I was stuck with using the CEM28 for a while.
So, back to saving pennies and researching for a new mount. This time, it had to be something "premium". Something that wouldn't make me wanna curse when sorting out the subs on a good night. Unfortunately, my budget wasn't huge. But even if it was, I wouldn't be comfortable leaving a e.g. $10000 mount alone in the dark, with no means of security and no on-site assistance. iOptron and Skywatcher were out of question because "Hey, didn't you get the memo regarding the roulette nature of buying astronomy related products?". Maybe an Avalon Linear? Not too far away from my observatory but the price tag, a bit high. Same with 10micron. American brands were not considered due to support considerations (different continent).
Why not something new? An AM5 maybe? But then again I could stretch a bit more and get the "better", more premium NYX-101? So I did!
The NYX-101 replaced my iOptron CEM28. For me, this is the first mount with a premium price tag. Not so premium is the tracking/guiding performance. It looks amazing, no doubt. The software (Unity) is nothing groundbreaking, but looks more like a normal, modern piece of software. In contrast, using EQMOD or the iOptron Commander feels like running a Windows 95 era program under Windows 11. Either way, they all have their pros and cons and at the end of the day (night), they do what they're supposed to do....more or less.
Regardless, back to the important stuff. I couldn't care less about how mount or software looks, as long as the tracking is good, the guiding graph has no spikes and my stars are round and tight. Are they though? Mostly, no. As far as guiding is concerned: it's pretty wild. Unguided it's like a drunken rollercoaster, but I never expected to run this mount unguided (and neither should you). The total RMS variability is pretty big. I have experienced moments with 0.5" (very rare), as well as 1.3", but it usually swings between 0.7" and 1.2" RMS. And that's the biggest problem. You can see the mount struggling (literally) to achieve 0.7". It usually stays within 0.9" and 1.1" RMS. Using short exposures (0.5-1s) almost guarantees chasing the seeing (which is a russian roulette of its own) while using longer, more relaxed exposures (say 2s) leaves you at the mercy of the mount's inherent, horrible PE, having to use longer pulses to correct its inherent tracking imperfections.
Let me give a you a real example of how bad things are: I use NINA for imaging. If I configure NINA to interrupt any subs when RA/DEC goes over 2" in PHD2, I might get 20 subs within a 6 hour imaging session. And we're talking 1-2 minute subs, nothing crazy like 5, 10 minutes or longer!
Now before you start throwing suggestions in regards to PHD2 settings, cable management, polar alignment and what have to, let me tell you this:
- Cabling is as tight as it gets using a mount that doesn't have through-the-mount-cabling.
- Polar alignment is close to perfect. Repeated iterations with NINA's 3PPA and SharpCap's PA, checked via PHD2's drift alignment and guiding assistant. Oh yeah, I've also tried not-so-perfect-PA as many people often suggest. No improvement.
- Literally every possible option/value PHD2 offers has been tested. No groundbreaking combination found.
I'm not talking out-of-the-box, plug-n-play experience here. I've had this mount almost a year now. More than 120 clear nights under my belt using the NYX-101. I've tweaked/optimized everything imaginable. No silver bullets found. Frankly, if this was a $50 product, I'd have disposed it in the trash long time ago.
Also worth noting:
- I've always used small scopes, no matter what mount I owned. Right now, I'm using a RedCat51. In regards to payload, it's like I've placed a feather on my NYX-101.
- I've used both guidescopes and OAGs. No noticeable performance differences, which is more or less expected at this focal length.
Wrapping it up: If you want to buy the NYX-101 by all means go ahead. Depending on the mount you will be currently replacing, the NYX-101 might be a breath of fresh air for you. It is not that lightweight, so if you are coming from a CEM26/CEM28 class mount + counterweight, don't expect miracles. Guiding calibration is a hit & miss/iterative process, which works against its grab-n-go nature.
One last thing: you're still playing astronomy roulette. Keep burning money until you hit the jackpot.
Edited by nyx, 26 September 2024 - 06:19 AM.