I bought this mount last week and I have been able to use it a few nights now with my Televue NP-101 and I find it to be a light and easy to use mount. Once I worked through the GPS connection issues, it has been great. The hand controller software could be a little easier to navigate, but it is much nicer having the large screen than the older 1 or 2 lines displays on my Meade and older Celestron gear. I like that it can be upgraded and apparently iOptron has been very good about software updates for their systems. That is one of the main items that caused me to choose them. The other main item is that the hardware systems seem much more current and they are actually thinking about new systems rather than retrofitting ancient designs. That being said, Meade and Celestron have done a great job with their software by adding huge performance gains in tracking and GoTo accuracy to extremely old GE mount designs.
The new Minitower points my scope around just fine, is pretty quiet, and tracks very well. Following the basics of leveling the mount, pointing it in the right direction, and balancing the telescope make a huge difference. From reading the forums, most people’s problems have come down to those basic items. Far fewer people have had electronics or other manufacturing issues. Reading the boards though, you would think every mount from every manufacturer arrives broken out of the box. That was my worry in committing to a relatively new company in this field.
The pointing accuracy is good in a medium eyepiece for my scope, the sync feature helps it work better in the specific area as well. It is not a photography mount, but might be good enough for some video astronomy though. I also like that it boots up very quickly and is ready to go. It is so fast, there is almost no reason to park the telescope after an evening of viewing. I can’t always leave it set up anyway.
It all packs into a nice hard case supplied by them, except for the tripod. It is easy to lift and pack up in the car as well. It is built for small scopes and I don’t expect any issues as long as I am not pushing that. If you need more scope, do yourself a favor and get a new mount. Don’t push things beyond their abilities and expect them to work faultlessly. I have learned that in plenty of other hobbies and real life items.
I recommend this mount to anyone who has moved beyond the nicely packaged Meade and Celestron systems. Treating your mounts and scopes like components allows for greater flexibility in your viewing habits and more cost effective upgrading.
