Just to add a perspective, for Sony cameras the live view still works fine with the camera connected to the Benro. With the camera connected there is a dithering option in the app. I've only had it a couple of days, but can confirm round stars at more than 200mm and over 30 seconds. Testing tonight at 400mm :)

The Benro is attractive to me for these reasons: 1. My vision is imperfect due to age and polar aligning is extremely difficult. 2. In summer I live where mosquitoes make it torture to polar align. The Benro base sounds like a gift from the gods for this semi-blind guy wanting to capture views of the night sky.

I just recently picked up the Star Adventurer GTi as my first tracking mount. This video was quite helpful. While the GTi’s instructions are adequate, they weren’t the most detailed, so I wasn’t sure if my alignment process was correct. Thanks, Nico. Great video!

The guy that could do commercials for the best most expensive gear on the market but keeps it practical ! Ty man.

Thank you so much for all the work you have put in to making your highly informative videos. Though I have done photography for over fifty years, I never did any astrophotography, other than an occasional photo of the moon. You mainly surprised me when you got into teaching about light coming in from the stars arriving in packets of photons and was one of the reasons for shooting so many “lights”. So, I have coined a new word and it is my gift to you. The word is “astrophotonography”. Enjoy! Hope it catches on…

I also backed the Benro-Polaris project 612 days ago. Patience is a virtue that can be tested in crowd funding😊. I hope to receive it soon - it looks like it may be worth the wait!

You know the astrophotographer is legit when they have dark circles under their eyes. Really appreciate all your hard work in bringing great information to light.

Literally just got the Polaris today (New Zealand) and hoping it will help me with my constant issues with polar aligning in the Southern Hemisphere...but.. time will tell. This definitely helped

New subscriber here and I just have to comment that I really appreciate your clear and straightforward review Nico. This nerd (me) doesn't need dramatic music, click bait titles, or overacting; it's the info presented at a comfortable pace, from someone who knows what they're doing, that got me to subscribe. Looks like I've got a lot of other videos to check out now. I've got similar night sky challenges here in NY so I appreciate all of the viewing conditions tips. Peace!

Your sound quality is really great in this video!

Thanks for the vidoe. I ultimately went with the GTI. I've taken it out four times now and I've been very happy with it.

Hey, I don’t often leave comments on videos, but I’d just like to say thanks, your videos are always very informative, big thumbs up Nico…

Thank you for the great video! Since the Benro has an increased payload advertised, I'd be really interested to see how it would do in the 200-400mm range at up to a three minute exposure.

Great thorough review. Thank you!

I am the backer for Polaris and been using it for 3~4 months, previously a skyguider pro user. For my situation, not able to see North at all from patio, not able to travel far or even just go out during the night because of family and kid… Polaris is a perfect fit for me. In the 3 months, I have captured more than using Skyguider pro in the last 3 years combined. Pretty much everything I can capture in southern sky. Since the setup process is SO fast and no additional laptop needed. Tracking accuracy and drifting over time are still known issues but if Benro can get it improved by 2 star alignment and even adding guiding ability, this might be a game changer :)

Nice review as always Nico, however 500+ extra just to have some newer gadget type tech should push this only towards the “want to have” crowd. I would def prefer the option of being able to connect to a laptop as a choice ( its what we do with main rigs and becomes second nature) and 500 does leave room for lens, 2nd hand scope etc

This video is exactly what I needed. I have a nice tripod and a good camera (Nikon P1000). But am getting frustrated at the out of focus shaky photos of planets, and want to get a star tracker. But, had no idea where to start, and wanted to get one that I knew would work with a camera and not a tripod. Thank youl

I've been using my Polaris for multi row panorama...it's really a game changer :)

Easier polar alignment would be amazing for us in Southern Hemisphere!! Benro looks amazing!

Great review - thanks!

The Polaris looks really neat and really high tech, but I was used to Sky-Watcher AZ GTi, so I just bought a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi as a grab and go equatorial mount a few days ago.

Thanks for this video. However, after 1 night of using the Sky-Watcher GTI though I sent it back. I have been using a Adventurer 2i for over a year now. I do mostly landscape photography. I have no intentions of getting into telescopes or anything else past my Nikon D810 and 150-600mm lens. During a conversation with someone at Sky-Watcher I found out a couple of things. Items that I think should be said for those just getting into using a GO TO mount. Something I haven't seen mentioned on any KZfaq videos. You not only need to align Polaris but 1-3 stars as well. I was told that GO TO trackers are dumb. Until you provide the locations by centering the 1-3 stars in your viewfinder, the tracker has no idea where it is. It was also mentioned that 2 stars would be good enough. I used Live View in Stellarium if I didn't know where the 2 objects I was looking for were at. Moving the tracker to the 2 objects, it is was not very close to even having an object on my viewfinder. The time I spent getting the additional objects centered I could have been almost done photographing the object I initially came to photograph. My Polaris alignment takes me 30-60 seconds to do. After that I've located and I'm photographing the object I came for. For the money you do get more with the Sky-Watcher GTI. The turnoff for me with the Benro was the software not being fully complete. I spent 30 years in Silicon Valley writing software for major corporations. Incomplete applications would never be released to the public.

For anyone interested in a bit of DIY and a low'ish budget check out the Open Astro Tracker. It's really smart as well with goto and a rich software and hardware ecosystem like automatic polar alignment, a lens focusser and a DIY guider. I'd still consider myself a newb in Astrophotography but this awesome project got me into the hobby for a reasonable price and learning curve.

Benro polaris would be a game changer for tracked multirow panoramas

I started out with the Benro Polaris as I am here in North Dakota and have a chance to use it for some amazing extremely widefield astrophotography. Admittedly, it is not the best tracker, with maximum exposure lengths of about two to three minutes even with a 22mm lens on an APS-C sensor. The best I was able to do was 32mm (50mm) on an APS-C sensor at three minutes, but when pixel-peeping I could see oblong stars in the corners, so I would say nothing over 50mm (either full frame or 35mm equivalent) for those who want to at least get a couple minutes out of it. However, for everything else, it is immensely fun, and it is a great experimental tool for other types of photography. It can turn many beginner DSLRs such as a Canon Rebel T7 with limited capabilities into a more fully capable camera. I am looking forward to using mine for more cloudscapes, panoramas, and timelapses. The app is a little grainy when in live view, (at least for a Canon Rebel T7 and a Canon M200), so I can attest to that too, but rest assured it is focused if you leave it after focusing your lenses. I decided to get the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi after much consideration and deliberation. I had been using the iOptron SkyGuider Pro for deep sky astrophotography, usually reserving it for the winters when I am less busy as a federal government soil scientist, but it can get bitterly cold here in North Dakota and I was really pushing it staying outside the vehicle trying to find and frame targets. It may be a little bigger with wires galore for autoguiding and connecting to a laptop, but the time saved will hopefully be worth it! Thank you, Nico, for continuing to make awesome reviews!

Alas, as much as I would like to complain that the Benro is as pricey as a standard goto equatorial mount I recently purchased, there is much to be said for the interoperability of mounts with smart phones, tablets and the like. Good job as always with the comparison!

I think the results will be those ones : the SA will have a better tracking in the end *but* Benro really paved the way to new clever mounts were you’ll not have to bother align or have a laptop to do the tracking, tons of cables and tens on minutes to install. It’s really a game changer for astro enthousiasts. The GoTo mount really needed a kick in the butt to up their game and tech. Can’t wait to see this one !

I'm a backer of the Benro project (backer 680) and have had cell/astro version for about a month now. The software is still going through changes/updates, so I expect things will improve, as well as see more options. For me it is a perfect fit... I'm *not* a deep sky photographer, rather a landscape and wide field person and like your take on its use for deep sky. It is a perfect fit for me so far and I'm very pleased with its operation, even though the software is not yet matured.

Nico, thank you so much for this! I am waiting for an 85mm lens (Nikon Z 85mm f1.8 S) to come for widefield shots and I have the GTi. Good to see this comparison and see the capabilities of the mount with an 85mm lens.

I have the AZGti converted to EQ mode as my light setup, but it has seen better days as I took it apart a few times and I think it has a huge backlash, plus it wasn't really intended for astrophoto (said by SW on their website). To me, who will be looking for a light setup and since I also own an Asiair Plus, the SW GTI is a the logical upgrade. The asiair unit easily goes beyond the Polaris tracker's app interface and ease of use and compatibility. Having said all this, I am I'm keeping a tab how the Benro device develops and becomes more widespread, we can only win from more competition around in this hobby.

I just got the sky watcher one can’t wait for the tripod to come so I can use it with my Nikon p950!

Great video Nico :) I decided to buy the Benro Polaris Astro edition, simply because it’s more portable that a normal Astro tracker. I have tried it out properly, only aligned it to one star and the GoTo feature works really well. I had trouble formatting a SD card in that I kept getting a “format failed” error. I eventually went into disk manager on Windows11, deleted the partition on the SD card and then formatted to FAT32 (file explorer kept asking if I wanted to format, but you just ignore that). This time the SD did format and you can then update the firmware. NB you need to connect the 3rd axis (via the supplied cable) for the Polaris Astro firmware to update (otherwise it updates the 2-axis firmware). I too had problems with a canon M6 MkII, when connected to the mount. On turning on the screen on the camera goes blank after a few seconds. I originally thought the battery was low, but unplugging the lead, the screen stays on. Like you, I have a wired intervalometer and power the camera and mount with a typical dual USB output power bank. BTW I am going to use a Samyang 135mm F2 lens with an EF to M camera adapter to the Canon M6 MkII. I am in the process of printing out a Bahtinov mask on the 3D printer (definitely worth getting a 3D if you are an Astrophotographer btw). Hopefully, I can get some decent images from Tenerife which has a latitude of 28deg compared to my South Coast of England 52deg latitude :) . I don’t expect to see any new targets but the Orion, Seagull etc, should all be a lot higher in the sky???

I'm a headshot photographer, but kudos to yall. Always appreciate 🙏 the craft. And amazing images

Living in the equator where it’s always not possible to do visual polar alignment to both NCP and SCP, might mean this Benro Polaris is a perfect solution for me to venture into DSO astrophotography and while traveling by plane (as I live in big city of Bortle 9 sky). Am wondering if it can work well with William Optics Red Cat 51?

Oooooo this nicely fills a ultralight niche for me

The Benro Polaris is neat, but, seems that Astro was a tacked-on feature. I suppose if you're a photographer that does a lot more than astro it may be worth it. If you primarily do Astro I'd stick with the Star Adventurer. I do like the way the Benro aligned though it would be neat if more astro companies could incorporate something like that into their mounts (I know most mounts don't have 3-axis, but maybe it could calculate how far off polar alignment and help you get a close alignment without a polar scope).

i think if they could utilize the Celestron StarSsense smart phone dock to their system it would be a breeze for star tracking. It's so simple, convenient and accurate. It has got to happen soon.

Great video! Newbie at deep sky astrophotography just started a few weeks ago my next purchase is a sky tracker rather than a new lens I have the (18-200mm kit lense). What is the big difference between the GTI and the 2i pro is the auto guiding with the gti vs the regular star tracking with the 2i pro worth the extra cost?

Hi nice review, thank you !!! Was waiting for such a review because I've the Polaris and was thinking the that the GTi was much better and was even considering it. But meanly busy with landscape-astrophotography so will definitively stay with it. By the way also the Polaris can perform dithering and it worked for me. There is also a possibility to do tracked pano's (even with the number of images for each part of the sky you choose). But the setup is rather difficult (easy for normal pano's). An update please Benro !

This is a super helpful video. I am interested in trying to get shots with a 159-600mm lens. The Benro website claims that this is within the limits (the lens is under 5 lbs, the camera is 1.5). However, I am still wary. Can you offer any insight into whether this seems strong enough to handle this much weight?

I don't know... I think anyone getting into the hobby right now, the star adventure just knocks it out of the park. Yes the Polaris has it's use cases, but for the nuts and bolts of AP, the Star Adventure gives you an introduction to all of it. Polar alignment, payload balance, and guiding all cross over to the bigger mounts so developing those skills right at the start are important. Just my opinion though, and the Polaris has its place.

In the Polaris, does the top mount rotate at all? If not, it should, even if it's only 90 degrees. As-is, it's great for longer lenses that have their own Arca-Swiss compatible mounting foot, but the clamp channel needs to be transverse to accommodate a camera in an L-bracket. (I know it comes with a mounting plate, but to many photographers, that's a kludge compared to the L-bracket they leave on their cameras all the time, as do I.)

Gonna make a purchase decision after this video 😂

Hi Nico Carver ,like your astro videos

Polaris is so so easy and quick, and as you say, I think it’s optimized for Wide field / Milky Way. But I have been doing deep sky on it after watching your videos, I decided to push it with a Fuji 200 f/2, about 6lbs including camera, and found limited to 15-20 sec before star trailing. Do you think this is because of the weight?

Very good review. I have a 400mm Canon lens I acquired decades ago with a view towards making my fortune with wildlife photography (fail) but have wondered about using it for astrophotography. The Skywatcher is rated for 11 pounds - I imagine the 400mm f/5.6 with a DSLR attached is pushing the limits of the mount a bit hard.

Hi Nico, this is a very good review for both devices, is there any newer revision on the Benro Polaris Astro Edition, have there been any upgrades to both the device and the app that you know? Thanks!

I would love the GTI, but I haven't seen one in stock here in the UK since the first youtube videos showed up :( Guess I'll just have to stick with the good ol' standard Star Adventurer for now.

And if your in the s.hemi you can get totally frustrated with the polar alignment because the reticle image for the south pole can only be rotated via the RA 190 degrees so it's only good for 6 months of the year. The reticle image is not independent of the RA position.

Give Benro time. I suspect there will be more capability on offer in future releases. But for portability... wow. That's hard to beat. I'm going for the GTI for myself though.

Now I want to see a tiny strain wave mount so it can be even smaller then these but hold up to say an 80mm scope.

Adam, great video. I'm new to this and am looking at getting the Benro Polaris. My question is I have a good but older camera system. It's is an Olympus E620 system. However, it is a 4/3 camera system. I have a Sigma 105 mm f2.8 lens and an Olympus 40-15-0 f4-5.6. Is it possible to use this system for astrophotography? I'm having trouble finding an answer on the internet. Probably not going to the correct place. I also have a Nikon D5000 but do not have a lens to use for astrophotography. Can you help me? Thanks

if you are cluless and haven't done this stuff yet, I guess I will have to go with the benro (if i was in the market). Wonder how heavy of a telephoto lens it can use. Nikon got some big heavy telephoto lenses.

What about 200-600mm lens without long exposure but just stacking +100 shots? Would it work for the Benro mount?

The fact that the gti can do 2 minute exposures really well whith not the best polar allignment is just amazing to me O_O

The automated Panorama is like they can do track-pano ie. Milky Way Arch ? Thanks

Thank you for this review of the GTi, especially. What is the alignment that Southern Hemisphere a/photographers align to, as compared to Polaris?

Hi Nico, thanks for the interesting comparison! Do you think the iOptron SkyHunter qualifies as "Hi-Tech GO-TO Star Tracker"? If it does how does it compare to the Polaris and the Star Adventurer GTi? If it doesn't, why? It seems to be a better version of the AZ-GTi. Thanks in advance!

Wouln't an SW Az GTi with a eq bracket do as good or better? It would be cheaper than the SW you were looking at. I have the az gti and it points a lot better than my heq5 pro. I think I may have to reset the heq5 pro everytime it is used. Got frustrated with it and haven't touched it in 6 months. Will try it again if I am ever off work when the weather is good. Great channel. I have learned a LOT from you.

Well, I'm an owner of the GTi since Aug. Got a lot of hassle wit it, but finally I know a bit better. Few things to point out. The app is partially useful. Things not working with the app: 1st: bulb mode - as soon as the phone turns off the screen, it goes to haywire, better to forget taht feature 2nd: do not star align, it makes traking worst. Meesed up two good clear night. Polar align it well, and it will be able to track 2-2.5 min easily at 200mm with good balance. Otherwise it will be a mess no matter how many stars it's aligned. Almost 3 min can be pulled out at 200mm with some gain of salt, so it's a bit better than the regular Star Adventurer 2i, which I was able to do 2min @200mm, after it drifted. The mount works well with NINA, but also can be used with Kstars-Ekos but it needs an EQMOD cable, so Raspberry with like Astroberry works. At the moment can't say about it's performance with guiding, since currently trying to solve my power issues. I'm hiking with it and everything else, so big power tanks ar out of questions, and trying to balance out my power banks to give power but not turn off, but if I solve that I'm eager to try out with guiding up till 600mm.

All these new fangled gadgets people get! LOL I just recently upgraded my old Edmund Scientific Heavy Duty Equatorial mount with digital setting circles and I can't believe how well it works! 4 second accuracy on each axis which after setup and alignment puts any object in a moderate power eyepiece!

Very nice comparison! I would be very interested in your opinion about the Omegon Minitrack LX3 / 4 as these are wayyyyyy much cheaper and lightweight, fully mecanical also and intend to be travel mount as well :)

Very nice thanks The first statement for me is important… “you don’t need a telescope “

Polar alignment on synscan devices (assuming the help guide is the same for all models, but certainly for the GTi) recommends the Two Star Alignment before doing a Polar Alignment. Three star alignment is not recommended in the help guide!

Any chance of a review of the iOptron SkyHunter? Seems very similar, but I cannot find any head-to-head comparisons.

Easy answer - always GTi :)

Hey Nico, ive managed to get 60 second subs with a canon f4 300mm lens. Some users in the facebook group have done moon tracking with 150-600 lens. Benro is looking into 2 star alignment to improve tracking accuracy as well. Hopefully then it an get into the 3-4 minute range. Btw there is also USB mode which allows you to regain control of your camera even while plugged in which i use for focusing and checking images on the camera.

Aloha everyone, can anyone tell me if the Nikkon D3200 is good for start, I only have the kit lenses, no sure if buy another lenses or buy a better camera more suitable to AP, my question is so I don't waste money, planing to buy a tracker in a near future. thank you, and thank you Nico for your tutos.

What do you think about the Sigma fp's performance for astro photography?

I’ve been a star trekker for many years

Hi Nico great channel 👍🏻 would the redcat 51 with dslr be ok on the benro ? . cheers

What adapter did you use to con ect your camera?

A little off topic, but if you'll indulge me, I'd like to know the setup/hardware you use to mount the DSLR... I generally do deep sky but would like to take a stab at some Milky Way shots. I'm thinking a my dovetail place with the appropriate length 1/4-20 isn't the way to go, but I don't know what is (or the right search term for B&H or like store). I appreciate any assistance.

Has the Benro updated the connect to include more catalogues?

I have the Benro and love it, my only issue is the star catalog is sparse, which means having to star hop to get to most object I want to photograph. Had a few problems at first but once I got the hang of it I’m getting good images with my canon r and 500mm IS L lens. I had a EF 400mm IS L and a doublers that I liked better, but after dropping it and having it repaired once, lousy repair broke on its own a second time, I invested in the 500 Rf. This lens is difficult to manually focus and wastes so much time, and no doubler yet. With the Benro I found that if you recenter a few times before you starting the shoot it stays centered much better than if you don’t.

thank you for the review. i have q quistion. i only do milkyway shoots . after you do polar alignment how you can turn the camera to to milkyway ? is this by hand or goto . of it is goto what is the name for it in the app.

has anyone figured out what snap cable to buy to connect the SA GTi to Sony A7X cameras?

@Nebula Photos what hardware did you use to connect your DSLR to the GTI. I can’t seem to find anything good. I have a dovetail bar but nothing to attach the camera to it?

How do I balance with just a camera and lens? The counter weight is 5 lbs and my setup is just a camera and lens

So I haven't seen a review of the GTi that talked about it yet, but I've still not gotten it to successfully align with 1 star, 3 star, multiple times through 3 star alignments. It either says alignment failed or its about 90 degrees off, or much further. Last time I did a 3 star alignment, the 2nd and 3rd stars it tried to point at the ground. Which then means GoTo won't get you anywhere near your target. I've also noticed the SyncScan app doesn't appear to work without internet, when I was out in the mountains last week, it had a completely different polaris position than the PS Align app, which btw, had the correct position as as soon as I set it from there it stayed exactly where it should have been the rest of the night.

I always have problems identifying the stars, anyway to do some plate solving

Can you align the benro manually? My concern is if you need the app to do it and don't have a signal or wifi available

Nice video, I just got the GTi a couple days ago and can't get it to track. It will "go to" correctly, at least close, but will not track. Do you have any ideas on what is wrong, probably user error, but frustrating none the less. Thanx for the info,

Can you provide a link to the matching dovetail used for the lens collar on the git? Thanks!

I was confused with these two. I think I made my descision it will be the GTi. In the price of one Polaris I can get Gti and MSM and work seperately on my landscape and astro needs.

What brand/size vixen plate do you recommend between gti & Canon R3 with 100-500mm lens?

What is up with the color cast?

If the benro ever gets under 900€, imma buy it. I think it has 2 star alignment now and a lot of features were added to it via updates. But 1200€ is just to steep for me.

I think you really should’ve done 2 star alignment in the Benro to better assess its capabilities. It’s driving 3 axes with no polar alignment other than the rough phone alignment thing it does.

Hey Nico sorry for this of topic question, but do you plan on doing a review on the sigma FPL? I see that you have been using it, and I am curious about your thoughts on it. Thanks for all the great videos.

i just bought the EQ3-2 because it costs less then both of these, is a full EQ goto mount with 5kg of counter weights.. and with tweaking people have had it tracking at 0.4 arc seconds..

How is the Benro with lucky imaging? Is there instability in any of the axis?

Hi, I'm a brand new owner of the GTi but I have an ASIAir already and an unsupported (ie I have to manually set up exposures and dither) mirrorless camera. Do I still have to do the 2 or 3 star alignment with the Skywatcher app, and which should I use for finding targets, the ASIAir's or Skywatcher's? Thanks!

I have no problem connecting both of my Canon DSLR to Polaris with Live View on. Tested with up to 5000mm which it started to have issue tracking. No need to do Polar alignment and just use a 1-star alignment when Polaris is not available. You do want to align to a star close to your target to help with fine tuning. Benro will be coming up with a 2-star alignment. Not sure if both stars need to be on opposite side of the Meridian or not to improve alignment.

If you are in the Southern Hemisphere where there is no South Star to get your polar alignment the Benro is a game changer

I'd get the Star Adventurer GTI because Sky-Watcher has never let me down, but the expected delivery time in my area is November-December 2023 so that's a nope from me :^)

Will they hold the 200-600 with an A74 though?

thanks so much for all your videos! Unrelated question, but which mic do you record these videos with? I see no mic in the frame, but yet it sounds like you're getting the proximity effect with a nice low end to your voice. Just curious!

I liked the review but what you failed to point out is the massive weight and size difference between the two. The Benro Polaris is so much smaller and weighs only 1/4th of the SW-GTi. So this is where the Benro as a travel kit really shines in my opinion.

Can you do solar imaging with the Benro Polaris? Is anything special needed to do that? Could be nifty for solar eclipses.