Ordered a used GTi from High Point Scientific a couple weeks ago and I'm very impressed with it so far. One thing you mentioned Nico, was the loosely attached polar scope cover. I did notice that the tabs on the cover press right against the battery holders, so what I did was very carefully pare down the pointed edge of the two clips where they meet the battery holders. The tabs now fit much tighter. Your mileage may vary of course, but with a used unit I didn't feel bad making a slight mod. I also wrapped a small wire around the elusive battery cover screw and looped it around a knob on my tripod. Hopefully I won't lose it in the dark again! Thanks for all your helpful vids!

Thorough information. Perfectly presented without disturbing background music. Thnx.

Love your vids man

Very detailed thank you again can’t wait to see you use it and see some more awesome photos…

Thanks Nico, I got one partly based on your review. The single counterweight has been replaced by 2 smaller dissimilar ones instead. Making balancing smaller payloads now possible. I also found that very old EQ3 style weights work too. I actually keep the included weights as spares for extreme balance situations. Spot on with the relevant details as usual. You can tell the difference between those who have a head knowledge. And those who have an actual practical knowledge. You are so convincing because you are in the last group. Thanks

Great video, very nicely put together and great to have that intro added to it. Not like some other "reviewers" tend to do. ;)

Great review as always. Thank you.

Great review Nico!! Looks promising.

Hello nebula photos, you really got me interested in Astro photography! I used your guide as a reference to take 200 1-2s Orion nebula photos and stacked them. This initial session really got me into the hobby so I made my own automated barn door tracker (which actually works!!) I will use this weekend. Your videos are truly amazing and inspiring thank you! Hoping for clear skies for both is us.

Much better in depth explanation then every other channel (not hating, just saying, thank you). You continue to show your passion and knowledge. Rock on

Super informative video, great job Nico! Might have to pick one of these up for myself...need a "mini-me" for the EQ6-R.

So happy to see this new mount! It really fills in a need, and it does look very good for portable setups. Excellent overview Nico! I'd be interested to see if it works with GreenSwamp Server, although I don't see why not. Direct USB connection, which I assume is the same as other SW mounts, should just work with EQMOD or GSS as long as the right COM port is selected, and baud rate is set to 115200!

Alyn Wallace recommended your channel, I suspect you will get quite a few new subscribers from this quality content 🤘🏻

Great video and lots of great info. For future project with this mount see if you can get a 60mm telescope (Williams optics, Apratura etc), with field flattner, mono camera, filters, filter wheel, electronic focuser, Guide scope and camera, ASI AIR PLUS and dew heaters. See if the mount will handle it and kind of sub time you can get with round stars. As this would be the perfect portable setup or setup for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from having a much larger mount. You asked for future idea's and I would love to see what this mount is capable of. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for great explanation. Have been looking at AZ GTi for a small refractor but looks like this is much better

I would love to see this with the ASI AIR PRO. That would make a super lightweight package to hike with.

Thank you as always for the review, got one on order now will be a good mount for when I don't want to or can not bring my EQ6 R pro. FYI weighed my 72 edf with image train came in at 9 pounds.

Superb initial overview of the mount Nico!! Great work putting this together and presenting man :-) Can't wait to see more! Clear skies!

Great review, Nico.. I was able to get my hands on one and finally took it out tonight. I was a little disappointed in the two adjusting knobs/screws for azimuth. They didn't offer much adjustment, and were flimsy. You mentioned the scope cover, and I'm really not sure how that passed into final production. A couple of strategically placed magnets could have been used. Aside from those issues, I'm excited for more time and clear skies!

Thanks for a great review. This is the first I have heard of this mount and will definitely buy one. I am currently using an AZ-Gti in EQ mode while travelling. It works nicely but time for an upgrade.

You can make simple counter weights using 1/4" lead wire, used for making fishing weights. Simply tightly coil it around the shaft. The lead comes in 1lb and 5lb

The Polarscope LED addition was much needed

Thank you, very comprehensive and useful info

That is useful information! Thank you

Awesome review. Thanks.

On my wish list. Great review.

Cool Niko! I'm eagerly awaiting this star tracker, to be paired with a 50mm or a 62mm refractor. The phone connectivity and go to was a selling point for me. I had considered the Zwo AM3, but at more than twice the cost, minus tripod, pier, asair, polar scope, weight or bar, and battery source (all EXTRA!!!) the choice was easy to make. ($740.00 is not inexpensive, but seems fair for what you get: a great, portable travel rig optimized for light telescopes or cameras.) Thanks for posting!!!

Thanks for the review, Nico! I’m still looking for my first mount, and while I think this new GTi looks great, going beyond the payload limit is the thing holding me back. It’s going to be easy to surpass once additional equipment gets added or larger scopes get involved. Still, seems like a terrific option for people as a first mount!

Great review. I am a beginner looking to get the gti for my first mount with my dslr and small lens. Would love to see more videos showing all the auto-guiding capabilities and how to connect it to a computer and run the guiding

Live stacking with the ASI Air and an iPad is what has me interested in this.

Great in depth review. I too, would like to see this GTi mount controled with a ZWO ASIAIR Plus with a CMOS camera and guide scope.

Nico, thanks for great review, will be nice to test it with ASIAIR plus. Thanks for sharing

thanks for your video

It will be interesting to see how a range of samples of the unit perform. I currently use the AZ-GTI with EQ firmware, reports have shown that unit has great variations in tracking error out of the box. This product does seem to fit a demand that the mods to the AZ-GTI firmware showed great interest in with a bonus of being actually designed for that purpose from the start.

Thanks for the great overview Nico! I just picked up a SA 2i a few weeks ago and was hoping that I could use it with my AT60ED and small mirrorless camera (Samsung NX mini). Unfortunately with the small sensor size and the 360mm FL of the scope, it was just a struggle trying to dial in my target. I was thinking it would really be nice if they made a SA that had full goto capability. What great timing for this release!!! I think this mount would be the perfect pairing for my setup as it seems like the perfect grab and go setup. Did you get a chance to test out the battery life using alkaline and/or eneloops?

Can't wait for your video on backlash. I hear it in a lot of videos but I have no clue what it is. I have an idea based on context, but I only know what backlash means in regards to fishing, lol.

Excelente felicitaciones y gracias , saludos desde Colombia

Very nice first look at the product, thank you! Do you think this is still usable on an image scale of 2 arc seconds or is this pushing the limits too far? Does it use an RJ45 cable for the hand controller / eqmod or is it the RJ16 found on the AZ-GTI? Since the price is already quite close to the EQ-35 a comparison between the two would be very interesting. I'm very happy to hear that goto accuracy is quite good, it was less than decent on my AZ-GTI sample. Looking forward to further videos and your further experience with it.

This is what I’ve been waiting for! Does the sky watcher app offer aid in polar alignment?

thanks for the review and providing the details of the mount. This certainly apears to be a good travel mount, just 2 pounds heavier than sa2i. I also like the way you mounted the camera and samyang 135mm f/2.. I do have similar vixen dovetails, but it doesnt look so nice and doesnt has those markings.

First, for additional counterweight options, there are 3D print specialists out there making all kinds of photography accessories, including counterweights. Starting a chat with one of them would likely result in them making something to your specs. I recently bought a counterweight set for my SA 2i, in case I need a little more than what it came with. You can fill each cannister with whatever density filler you need, so you can customize the weight. I used fish tank gravel, mostly because it's cheap. But you could use much denser ball bearings for more weight if needed. Secondly, I'd be interested in seeing, or knowing, how this compares to the AZGTI. Cuiv the Lazy Geek did a couple of videos last fall showing how to (somewhat easily) adapt the AZGTI for astrophotography, and I've been considering buying one, but the availability has been so hit or miss for several months, and the sellers have been jacking the price up 2-4x the MSRP. I'm finally starting to see the prices come down as normal availability is more consistent, but after learning of this tracking system, I would definitely want to see how the two compare before spending the money on either one.

I only recently got my 2i a few weeks ago… didn’t know this was in the works. It’s tempting, but I may hold off for a bigger mount since I’ll eventually want to mount bigger scopes to it.

Nico, on the Star Adventurer GTI mount I found if you spread the weights with a couple of inches between them balance can normally be achieved。 I did not have a camera setup but did have the SVbony 60mm guidescope attachedand was able to balance the rig.

Looks like an interesting mount, would like to see a video with ASI pro compatibility.

Great video. I'd like to see how a Polemaster camera fits in.

Very interesting mount. Fixing the main reasons why I never went for the star adventurer. As much as it is a great mount, the lack of DEC and GoTo limited it's uses for me. 1- being lazy. 2-planning multiple targets per night or mosaics. I "need" more though then what this mount offers.. Cooled camera, asiair, guiding, filterwheel, maybe a dew heater, etc. Drawing quite a bit of power.. So, as I would need a big battery for that already.. and doing all my photography 5 meters away from a power socket.. being "off the grid" isn't high on my list of requirements.. And rather have something like an EQM35 or Celestron VX, and have the additional weight capacity. Either way, interesting mount. Maybe for the future.

I received a new Star Adventurer GTi this week, vintage 2023, and it has two separate counterweights that weigh 1.5 and 3.5 pounds for the same total of 5 pounds so it would seem that the lighter load balancing issue has been taken care of this time around. There is even a sticker in the user manual in the what's-in-the-box section covering I would presume was last year's 5 pound counterweight. Same crappy polar scope cover though, and there still needs to be a captive screw on the battery cover.

Hi! First of all for sharing your knowledge with us. I am wondering if you would be doing a complete A to Z tutorial on the GTi in a future video? Like from setting it up to the different ways to connect and mount your camera etc, and also how to use (if someone chose to) an ASI Air Plus and a guidescope with it. I don’t know anything about dithering, guiding etc, so that’ll help greatly. I plan to use my Canon 300mm prime lens with a 1.4x TC with this setup. Would I need any additional dovetail plates etc to attach a ballhead onto which the camera would go? Thank you.

Great review, heads up - I’ve always used a surveyors tripod, really stable, affordable and light to carry.

Thanks Nico. I have the little MSM star tracker and find this super interesting, mainly for the auto guiding. I'm in the southern hemisphere, so wondering how accurate polar alignment would work here? This doesn't have an electronic polar finder like the iOptron. I assume with a guidescope and the SyncScan app you can do some form of plate solving? Really very interested in getting this mount, however only see it worthwhile if I can get accurate (within reason) polar alignment without having to do it optically which can be a hard task in the southern hemisphere.

For balancing lighter setups I had an extra iOptron counterweight that i used on my 2i. I took it to a local engineering firm with the GTi's bar and asked if they could mill it out to fit, five minutes and ten pounds later I had a one kilogram counterweight.

Hi Niko, I have really enjoyed your reviews, this set up seems to be really good, love the tracking feature for a dead set newbie like me. Could you give a quick opinion, I have either a Canon D60 with a Eos 10-18mm F4 5-5.6 IS STM wide angle lens plus an EF 70-200 F4 telephoto lens. I also have a Nikon D5200 with a Sigma DC 18-250 3.5-6.3 telephoto lens and wondered if this set up would work for it or if I should go for the Mini AZ-GTi (mainly in relation to the balance issues with the counter weight of the new one). Happy sky snapping. Boofy.

Go Niko, go Niko, go, go! Great review!

Hi Nico - thanks for the great review. I'm curious if there is an existing adapter, or some other way, to mount a PoleMaster polar scope to this mount? Mike

Great job, Nico ... this one is right up there with your other high standard productions. As for next, are you a N.I.N.A. User? If yes, I would love to see how this mount worked with an automated imaging sequence ... thanks for another great learning experience

I genuinely believe this is the "EQ version" of the AZ-GTI, which I absolutely loved purely for observing. I never got into astrophotography other than putting a cell phone camera up against the eyepiece and perhaps only taking a single long exposure photo lasting around 4-7 seconds. Unfortunately, I've sold it months ago just to make some extra cash. This was prior to realizing a long exposure photo allows more detail and light to be seen, something I've never done before and had an itch for a lightweight EQ setup just for a small refractor. I originally had the EQ6-R Pro and that was well over 50 pounds! It nearly put me off from astronomy altogether hauling that thing from my room to the backyard nearly every night. This seems like the perfect lightweight EQ package to get back into astrophotography, even if it's just using my phone for longer exposures. I miss not having to deal with field rotation but hated the heavier mounts and counterweights. Definitely considering the Star Adventurer GTi, but I would wait until I gather public opinion after it's available to see what people think about it.

Great video Nico, thank you. Could you add your Redcat 51 , ZWO autoguide scope plus OSC camera and auto focuser on your cheese plate to the GTI or would that be too heavy of a payload?

Hey Nico, thank you for another great review! You mention the Ioptron Smart EQ being a similar mount/competitor, however, what about Explore Scientific iEXOS-100…that seems to be a portable eq mount, but not much info/few reviews. Any familiarity with that mount…possible review from you? Also, I know you come down to my neck of the woods to image in Charlestown RI/Ninigret…hope to bump into you sometime.

I was wonder what dovetail plate you are using, I like the idea of mounting the guide scope like you have pictured.

I got the star adventurer 4 months ago and then this comes out. An affordable go to mount is exactly what I wanted but I got the star adventurer instead so whoops

If I had not already committed to a EQ5 syn-scan pro I would definitely be giving this some serious thought as a first mount.

Excellent first look, thank you! Could you not improve the backlash by using the backlash adjustment in the SynScan Pro app? The hand controller also has that adjustment, to give the Dec axis a short jolt to take out any hesitancy or delay, but still avoiding overshooting. Lots of people will want to know how it works with an ASiair, with it connected to your mobile device, so the GTi can’t be connected as well. Thanks!

​I sold my old non-wifi star adventurer mount under a mount ago, after upgrading to a HEQ-5 goto synscan, but Imight get this one again. Glad I sold my old one before the GTI came out, because that might be nearly impossible to get rid off with this new (better) version!!

Very exciting mount. I’d like to see how you polar align then doing the go function all in the dark. Control this from your tablet

As someone who currently is using the AZ-GTI this looks like a much easier one to polar align and it has all the other capabilities. Do you know if this will work with the ASIAIR+ that I'm looking at picking up?

I am looking forward to a full review. I need a new small mount for astro outreach. I want to make it has good go to and tracking accuracy, full ASCOM, etc.

Would love to see the possibility of ASIAIR compatibility.

Very interesting!

Damn you Nico Carver! 😁 Just when I thought I knew what I wanted, you pop up with this with everything I want but at AU $250 extra cost! Looks like a great mount and a definite winner, IMHO. All it needs is a lighter counterweight, which shouldn't be hard to find.

Great vid Nico. Any updates on further testing that you mentioned ie the dec backlash tuning and the use of the USB port with a EQMod/NINA type setup. I have one on backorder and would like to know what to expect ;) Cheers man !

Great review! Is this mount comparable to EQM-35 Pro in terms of guiding?

Would work good with my Zenithstar 61. Can’t wait for a full review. At least they are headed in the right direction.

Hi Nico! Have you ever used that QHY533M (or similar) astro-cameras for landscape astrophotography? I currently use the Canon 6D on a star adventurer. I love the RAW quality from the old canon DSLRs and LOATH the raws out of my A7S, A7R II etc for astrophotoraphy. even if not in bulb mode, those sonys aren't that great. I'd VERY much be interested in the experience and results of using a cooled astro camera for astrophotography in the 14mm-50mm focal range.

Nice overview... have been looking forward to this release. Here's a use case for you: we're thinking of recommending it as a portable mount for the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse. (1) Can you use the cell-phone SCP boresight (aka "The Rackley Technique") to get a rough daytime polar alignment and/or (2) can you use planetary objects to get a good daytime polar alignment?

Good video Nico. For me I am prob gonna stick with the 2i and get an eq6 r Pro to use a big refractor in my bortle 4-5 backyard. This way I retain portability with the 2i; and more extreme capability could be had with the eq6r. I lug the 2i up hillsides and this gti looks heavier. I am a little disappointed the payload isn't more. I recon I might have got it if it had been increased.

Great video and review. Can you do 3 Star polar alignment with the app? Also, with the 2i, I think the two screws at the base of the head you need to turn for polar alignment are rather clunky. Does this one also have those two counter roating screws? I think the 35M has a much more precise spindle/worm gear for turning the head during polar alignment?

Great information 👍, what is your settings here ?

Thanks Nico, very nice video. Most times you have discussed comms using a windows platform. It would be nice to discuss comms with Apple Mac. Also please display what actually comes with the unit. Thanks would be grea.t

Just ordered mine!

Very cool!!!!!

Just wondering which adapter you used to connect the Rokinon to the filter wheel? It looks quite low profile.

Really appreciate all the superb videos you put out! After going back and forth, I think this would be a good first mount (once it becomes available) though the EQM-35 isn't that much more(?) My S1R and Sigma 150-600 is well under the limit, and still has room for adding some more gadgets I suppose. I know you can get a guide scope with camera, though I have to admit I'm still unclear on what exactly the benefit would be. I would love a super simple (most importantly fast) way of setting it up in terms of quickly locating polaris, not sure if that could be accomplished by that setup? (i.e. guide camera works with pc to do this?)

How exact do the counterweights have to be? You could use a Manfrotto Super clamp to add a little extra weight. If you needed to adjust it in small increments it has mounting options for anything with a thread.

Nice looking mount and a very informative review. What about the Explore Scientific iEXOS-100? Have you had any experience with it? And just wondering which Somerville you are from as I am minutes from the one in NJ. BTW, my astro setup weighs about 8.5 pounds including an Orion ED80T-CF scope, 50mm guide scope and DSLR. My mount is the EXOS2-GT w/PMC8 controller which is open source.

Hi Nico, great video. Would you do a video in how to Star align with this GTi? Thanks!

6:35 You can add tension to the Polar scope cap, heat the prongs individually with a hair dryer until hot, then a little outward pressure, hold until it cools. It will not be falling off when hit. I did it with my Star Adventurer Pro, works like charm.

Concerning Counterweights there is a 1.1 kg counterweight for Vixen Polarie and an iOptron 1.35 kg counterweight available. Both with a 20mm diameter hole, so they should be usable in theory.

Thanks Nico, great video! I would like to get into astrophotography (I shot star trails once about 10 years ago) but now I'd like to shoot planets and nebulae, which is what got me interested in this mount. I am also very interested in visual astronomy - something I can enjoy with friends and family in the moment looking at the moon, planets, and galaxies, if possible. Are there any recommendations you would make for someone wanting to do a bit of both and get decent quality photos. I'm tempted to start with a decent telescope for visual (I watched your video comparing refractors and reflectors, very informative, thanks!) but I am just not sure how easy it is to connect a DSLR later (I have a Canon 600D and would like to stick with that for now). I know the photographer in me will want photos I can look at later and share! I know these are kind of distinct hobbies and blending them into one is probably asking for a lot! Grateful for any advice you or anyone else here can give.

I'm looking to get myself this for Christmas and I just want to know if this is a good first time purchase. I already have a Celestron 4se telescope, looking to expand in the future, and I've done untracked photography with just my dslr and a few photos of the planets and moon for a while now. You think this may be a good purchase, or should I consider something else that can hold more weight for future telescope purchases or should I consider something smaller and better manageable

Cool... Ill get this one... What lenses you can recommend for my a7s? Thanks from far NZ

Recently bought one of these. Am using it with a short tube 80 for EAA.

Weird question. What does the box it comes with look like? Is it the same or similar packaging dimensions as the 2i? Reason I'm asking is I bought a hard case for the 2i and just slipped in the foam packaging that came came with the 2i into the hard case and would love to do the same for the gti. Thanks!

If you were thinking about expanding your options would the 35eqm be a better choice its not much more and does it have all of the same features of this one ? Im using a dslr and 15-30 mm 70-200 and 400mm prime.

Have you had an opportunity to try out the Benro Polaris? It's a motorized tripod head but one of the functions is as a star tracker.

On the SA that I have now, I can use a USB to an external battery to power it. Can this be powered the same way or do you need a different connection and power source for side stepping the batteries to power it via external means?

What guide camera and guide scope are you using? I need to buy that before I get this guy. I have a 2i pro now so I'll use the guide scope to control RA.

Great video, thank you. What is the support you are using underneath the camera? You don't see to support the lens.

Hi Nico. Now that you've had a chance to review this new mount how would you say it compares with the iOptron CEM26?

Informative.

Hey Nico,can u recommend any lighter counterweight for the mount?.and what is the recommendation for the weight of counterweight for lighter payloads ?