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Post by davy on Jun 18, 2015 21:34:53 GMT
Hi folk's. I have just taken delivery of the skywatcher allview, this is my review. Well packaged , nice solid tripod legs, secured by a solid central plate that holds lenses ect and hand control holder.the brackets took a bit of checking via the manual..the problem is the hand controller.. skywatcher gives the big spiel on what it can do with a dslr and video camera and give you a cable to contol your camera but they give you an az controller without the software in the controller..the manual is no use because it assumes that hand controller has the relevant firmware in it..it found a post on sgl prior to buying the mount this was posted three years ago and still has the issue to this date. So first job will be to flash the handset to the allview firmware from skywatcher site. the mount looks very good and stable, one other criticism is it does not come with a power lead as standard. more info to follow..davy
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Post by Dragon Man on Jun 19, 2015 12:05:20 GMT
Thanks for the initial review Davy.
Sounds like they have a few 'out-of-the-box details to get right. I hope you sort it out.
Any photos of it set up yet?
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Post by davy on Jun 19, 2015 12:27:42 GMT
Busy with the band this weekend. .so may be Sunday. .will try and flash the handset on sat night
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Post by davy on Jun 22, 2015 12:20:01 GMT
Having bother flashing the handset. .downloaded the serial to usb driver from the meade website. .download the latest version of the allview firmware ..but my windows 7 64bit laptop and windows 7 32bit laptops show no drivers associated in device manager code 28.. emailed skywatcher and complained that the handset is for an az mount and not the allview ..and said its miss leading in the instructions manual as it gives all the info on the allview firmware. .I akso said ..it's old hat including a serial cable to update the handset when most laptops and computers are usb..false advertising. ..doing my head in
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 22, 2015 14:02:08 GMT
Whew... its hard enough without Microsoft getting involved. As much as I like Win7 over Win8 and Vista, I have to admit that it sure has a lot of device driver issues.
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Post by davy on Jun 22, 2015 19:00:18 GMT
Back on track folks..the answer to the problem is the trusty desk top with its serial port..done all the same as I done on laptop..and it kicked me out. ..tried again...bingo...erased old firmware and and installed allview fimware... what I did find out was it has a version 3 hand controller yet it has a version 4 firmware out..version 4 firmware not compatible with handset v3. So its old stock i have.
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Post by davy on Jun 23, 2015 9:23:58 GMT
Having a bit of a try with the allview mount today..ok im only using my dslr just now but it has great potential to those who dabble in various types of captures. Ive just finished trying out taking panoramic shots.it asks you to move to start point..move the mount to desired point and enter on handset, move to finish point and enter..put in camera settings ..how many in shots, exposure and time between shots and press start..works brilliant.the concept is much the same for video cruise mode select a start point and finish point.then put In how long time wise you want the cruise..I.e 70 degree angle in say 2hrs...well impressive...just cant see any negatives do far..
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Post by johnno on Jun 23, 2015 15:54:54 GMT
Looks a interesting bit of Kit, just had a look on Utube about them, have you hooked it up to a pc yet to control it?
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Post by davy on Jun 23, 2015 19:12:32 GMT
Hi john..no I haven't tried it, to be honest the handset does it all..has an astronomy mode in one section of handset and a photography mode, easy pano mode, preset pano mode and time lapse mode. Its features on the photography side is great and can cross over to video astronomy use as well.
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Post by johnno on Jun 24, 2015 2:04:20 GMT
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Post by davy on Jul 25, 2015 12:02:31 GMT
starting to get kit ready for dark skies. flat getting overrun with scopes n mounts now.. please can i get a medium lottery win to get a cheeky wee house with a back garden the size of shevill's so I can get an observatory.
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