Having used this well made viewfinder to reduce the bending over during the process of improving the Polaris alignment is extremely helpful. Easy to adjust, and with the 2x magnification switch, it increases the size of the reticle for accuracy. Happy I purchased it to improve the entire process, after all, it’s supposed to be fun!
360° Flex Tilt & Pan Head - Z Mount is an must to have product helping a better setting of camera! Thanks MSM!
Before I bought the MSM Wedge, I used a ball head for polar alignment on my MSM Nomad. However, I could never achieve exposure times longer than 90 seconds at 24mm. Longer focal lengths were even more problematic. The laser, already aligned, pointed exactly at Polaris, but 90 seconds was still the upper limit. Eventually, I noticed that the ball head was often tilted slightly to the right or left. So I decided to order the MSM Wedge, as tilting is not possible due to its design. When it arrived, I was immediately impressed by the workmanship. There is no play in the threads; everything is made of metal, very robust yet lightweight, handy, and small. Practical testing quickly revealed the enormous improvement: exposure times of 5 minutes at 50mm, and of course also at shorter focal lengths, are now easily achievable. Even at 70mm, you can still expose for 180 seconds without any problems. I've had the MSM Wedge for 6 weeks now and haven't found any defects so far. On the contrary, I can only strongly advise anyone who buys the Nomad to buy the Wedge at the same time.
I am new to using IOptron Skyguider Pro, and was having a hard time polar aligning. Then I saw this mention on Facebook, so I decided to try it.
It made it so much easier to get on to Polaris. Got exposures at 180sec!!
My order arrived within a reasonable time and well packed. The Grab & Go Star Tracker is a compact and well built unit. The accessories which came with it seem to be of equal quality. Set up and polar alignment was quick and easy. Due to weather conditions I have only been able to take it out once, but the initial results are very promising. Once I become adept at focusing I believe the images will be stunning. I am looking forward to a summer of stargazing and astrophotography!
I have an older skyguider but this Right Angle Viewfinder fit fine. I have not used it in the field yet but the testing I did do all seems good. Great construction and I feel it will last as long as the guider.
Have had the MSM phone holder for sometime and it is a great product only made better with the recently acquired Phone Mount Adapter to Polar Scope!
Fantástico
So at 53 degrees north, "leeds, west Yorkshire, England" this is essential, as its almost impossible to view polaris through the scope on it's own, which is a bit of an issue.. but the 90 degree scope adapter is excellent, in fact it should come as standard with the sky guider pro, as without it i would struggle to get good polar alignment, so if your of a certain age and live up't north, this item is for you....
A great device, a bit expensive, priced at 170-200 would be an optimal price to better equip a successor and sell it for 250-300.
Easy to use, handy and comfortable. The mechanics are simple, well thought out and above all easy to load. However, there are design flaws, the threads for the camera/ball head mount are made of aluminium, I understand that this reduces the weight, but the longevity is significantly impaired. A brass thread would be appropriate here. THE thread to attach the ball head / a camera or other to the tracker is not good, the screw loosens in 1/5 falls when turning and thus changes the shooting angle at this point a clamp mount could be used which can be connected to the camera or ball head thread not by thread or screws but by positive force transmission. This thread is also too large for telescopes, but with a maximum weight of 3kg there is not much room for the telescope and camera. In this case, as the product is intended for travelling and light equipment, it should also be designed for this. So a smaller thread for the camera or ball head connection(
For polar alignment you need only two positions 90 degrees or 180 degrees on the device. The ball mechanism complicates the process in that it becomes difficult to find these positions. Better device would either have stops at these positions or a hinge with stops at these points
Also wonder if batteries in the tracker interfere with the compas in the phone
The star tracker is amazingly light. I have bought it just recently and it is reliable so far.
Love the ease of use and polar alignment is super easy, even here in the southern hemisphere. For a tracker that fits in the palm of your hand, you can't beat the Nomad for travelling light. highly recommend this tracker!
great mount/decent price. only feedback is that the locking screws are quite large and often get caught my camera/ballhead when I'm trying to tighten them.
I recently purchased the Nomad after building a barn door tracker. Not that the barn door tracker doesn't work, I value my time, and I thought the Nomad was a great investment. I have used for several weeks to take pictures of Orion's Belt with different Nebulas. and I get decent results from my 10 year old DSLR. Definitely a good purchase to get started in the hobby with good results. Its definitely worth the automation of the Nomad to save the frustration of manual captures and barn doors. I recommend the purchase. Equipment is high quality.
The 360 Z Mount is important. Its so great for my astrophotography and allows me to be flexibile in all positions
Connects fast and works great for being small portable
I have now used this on numerous occasion with my sony setup it just takes all the guess work out of focusing and is quick so you can start imaging almost straight away, great product
The gear looks solid and work as it should. As I am a new in astrophotography I can not say anything for sure but first shots shows that it is doing what it should. Now I need only to improve my skills :). I found my next purchase from MSM :P
Great product. Had to order the ball head separately but everything else is included. It is surprisingly quick and easy to use. Some more detailed instructions would have been helpful - but you can just try it out. The results were visible from the first quick try and it works. I am thrilled!
Some detailed information about the products (power, load capacity) would be useful.
Have just taken the MSM Nomad out on a multi day hike where weight was a concern and this little thing not only ticks the box in that category but it’s extremely easy to use/setup. Top notch so far and can’t wait to get out with it again soon.
Is a good tool but needs to be calibrated!!! And is the second I bought! The manufacturer should do that!
Well made and the right height that I needed and works good .
I received my Star Focus Filter several weeks ago. I found it to be be excellent on zoom lenses but not so good on wide angle lenses. Wide angle lenses the image star is too small to get an accurate focus. If there is something else in the sky, eg a bigger object it would pay to focus on that then go to your subject.
Yo tengo esta placa V montada entre el MSM y la rótula donde monto mi cámara. Está bien construida y ahora con la manecilla mas larga queda fijada perfectamente en el ángulo necesario para mantener la rótula a nivel.
Como mejora para mi sería cambiar la posición de la menecilla que bloquea la rotación de la placa hacia un lateral de la propia placa ya que donde está situada ahora queda posicionada frente a la placa arca Swiss del MSM y queda muy poco espacio para poder aflojar ó apretar la manecilla.
Un accesorio de fácil manejo y muy práctico.