SKYWATCHER WIFI ADAPTER

The Sky-Watcher Wi-Fi dongle is a godsend for me :-) I have a 12" collapsable GoTo and an older ED80 on an AllView mount, both are AZ drives. Both telescope units were bought second hand and both had tracking issues using the hand controller. I tested the wi-fi dongle on both units where I have a limited sky view. The DOB and the AllView both performed excellently with spoton tracking. I still need to try the AllView with a camera attached to the ED80. I have been recommending the dongle to my friends at my local observatory.

WiFi for Skywatcher very useful
This little wi-fi dongle did away with the Synscan hand controller, on my HEQ5 Pro. It gets the lat long from your smart phone (if using one) which saves a lot of set up time. I now use a cable and the other Synscan adapter to make use of GS Server but use the dongle when I want to do visual, or simply use the DSLR to simply take photos in a quick set-up when away from home. The Android app works every time and is very stable, and once everything is aligned, it makes it easy to find and fix on a your objective. Setting up on my smart phone, then also on a tablet meant I had a cord-free hand controller and tablet. Ascome will work through the Synscan Pro program, although I could not get CDC to stay on and remain stable (APT works fine though). This is a great addition to the Astro-imaging (and visual) setup.

The wifi adapter on my AZEQ6 does some things really well - ie: much easier to navigate lists of stars and touch screen virtual buttons are more sensitive/reliable than the actual buttons on the handset. However, twice I've tried to go through the PEC training routine and it just stops at around 10minutes without saving whereas the AZEQ6 needs 15 minutes on it's hand controller. Also, on a couple of occasions, it has directed the scope completely the wrong way and I've had to stop the mount before the scope crashes into the mount base. The wired hand controller has never done this weird maneuver. Perhaps a software update may fix the particular problems I have with it. Connection has been stable, even when the screen has shut down and I've had to wake the phone. For now, I've gone back to the original wired handset.

Update....

As in my previous review, I had gone back to the wired controller. Until I tried the wifi adapter with SkySafari on the ipad to control the mount. Well, bloody Marvelous! This alone is worth the price of admission. While I still don't trust the synscan wifi app to do the correct flip across the meridian, this can be avoided by locking the skysafari screen to where the 'scope is pointing, release the clutches and move the mount manually - whilst doing so, you can watch where the scope is pointed at all times on the screen. This is with the AZEQ6 - I am not sure if most mounts have the necessary encoders to keep track. Using the wifi adapter with a planetarium program this way makes everything so much easier and with a bit of local 'aligning' using the planetarium app, you can pretty much just use the ipad/iphone etc screen to navigate anywhere you need. Makes for a very enjoyable evening!