I've been using this mount for the past year or so, and it's been a huge step up from the star tracker I had been using. I can easily get 5 minute exposures with a 102mm refractor (and a 150mm Newtonian). I use a small guide camera, and have never had any issues. It's also about 3-4lbs lighter than the competition.
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Solid mount
October 11, 2023
Reviewer:
Jabbar Ali from Spring Hill, TN United States
I like the mount, I have used it for a few times and it performed very well. It is a solid light weight nicely made mount. What I did not like about the mount is the inability to really make any useful cable management, it has relatively small path that does not allow a USB cable to pass through, this was a major disappointment for me! The hand controller has to be always connected and the usb connection to the computer goes throgh it, I don't like that. The other one, it has a bubble level that cannot be clearly seen as it falls under the mount and you can only view it from the side. The iPolar I got with it did not give me right polar alignment or it was off compared with 3-point polar alignment in NINA for example. When I polar align with iPolar, slewing to targets is way off than when I polar align with NINA. I think it is the way the iPolar is mounted on the mount! In general, it is a very nice mount, I will keep testing it when the weather cooperates.
Clear skies!
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Changed capacity after purchase
February 28, 2023
Reviewer:
Dmitriy Smolensky from Manhattan, KS United States
I like the mount. Didn't get good tracking yet but I like it. The problem is when i bought it the capacity with the CW was 20kg. Now it states it's only 40lbs. Close but no cigar. The manual still states it's 20kg with the CW. Shady marketing.
Was this review helpful to you?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A Nice Portable Mount
February 16, 2023
Reviewer:
Jay Small from Redwood City, CA United States
I have had this HAE29 mount for two months. Since I am starting to do astro imaging, I purchased this EQ/AA mount to replace my 15-year-old MiniTower.
I am using a Windows Surface Pro for polar alignment and mount control. It is very easy to use and the mount worked very well.
When I tested Android OS Commander Lite, the APP was got locked frequently. After contacting iOptron, here is what they replied: 1. The WiFi of the mount is set to AP mode. It only allows one connection at a time for security purposes. Therefore, other SmartPhone/tablet won't be able to connect to the mount without disconnecting the previous one; 2. The Android Commander Lite APP would pause when the phone went to screen sleep mode and relaunching is required. Please set the phone to no sleep mode; 3. There was a bug in the Android APP. Once goto zero is performed, the APP would stop and need to be relaunched.
I am waiting for the new release.
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
HAE29 a bundle of problems
February 15, 2023
Reviewer:
William Cavender from Cedar City, UT United States
To start there are no instructions on how engage the RA & Dec to do a Polar Allignment. Then the WiFi communication between the HandControll and 2 Android 11 tablets was allmost non existant,difficult to make and soon to disconnect, it was non existant on a smartphone. The GoTo when it did function would frequently aim in the wrong direction. The nice thing is it is quiet.