Paid $300 for a star tracker mount that wobbled on every single shot

3 comments

3 Comments

Man, I get it's annoying but $300 isn't that much for a star tracker, you kind of get what you pay for with entry level gear. A little wobble is usually fixable with some careful balancing or a cheap counterweight. Maybe you just need to mess with the setup a bit more before calling it a total loss?

price.ray1mo ago

Funny you say that, a buddy of mine bought almost the exact same tracker a few months back. He spent a whole weekend balancing his gear, watched every YouTube tutorial he could find, even added a homemade counterweight from an old dumbbell. Still got the wobble in his subs every time. Finally he just sent it back and got a different brand, worked right out of the box. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for, but other times you just get a lemon that no amount of tinkering can fix, you know?

lewis.mila1mo ago

Actually phoenix you're kind of right that $300 is entry level but that doesn't mean wobble is always fixable - some of these cheaper trackers have bad machining on the tripod threads or motor gears that no amount of balancing will help. I've seen plenty of people spend hours trying to fix a mechanical defect that just wasn't there from the start, so blaming the user isn't totally fair here. A little wobble from setup is one thing but if it's happening on every single shot no matter what, that sounds like a factory issue that should be returned.