Sky & Telescope - May 2023 - 68

S&T Test Report
with my Canon camera. Although I
wanted to use the 92-mm refractor for
longer exposures, the 50-mm guidescope
put the payload well above the weight
capacity of the mount even before adding
the necessary counterweights.
As with any equatorial mount, there
is the issue of the meridian flip when
slewing to targets on opposite sides of
the sky. This little mount's Go To system
understands when it needs to reorient
itself when switching from targets in the
east and west. However, it will happily
track past the meridian until it runs the
camera into the tripod if you allow it.
This feature is both useful and a slight
concern. It's desirable to be able to track
past the meridian uninterrupted for
hours, but you have to be careful not to
let it impact the tripod and potentially
damage the right-ascension gear.
Using a small mount like this for
imaging, I also had to be mindful of
cable snags. Adding a guidescope meant
I had two USB cables and a power cable
for a cooled camera dangling from the
back of the mount. Cable management
is important with any mount, especially
a small one for which it doesn't take
much to impede its tracking abilities.
After comparing the use of the
SynScan hand controller with the
app-based approach, I became aware
of the potential downsides of this new
approach. It's an attractive way for the
This image of M13 in Hercules was recorded with the author's Astro-Physics 92-mm Stowaway
refractor on the GTi. One hundred 15-second unguided images were stacked to produce
this result.
manufacturer to significantly reduce
hardware costs, but I found making
small adjustments to a telescope's position
with a touch screen to be a clumsy
user experience. I'd rather look in the
eyepiece and have tactile buttons to feel
and press while centering objects. I was
very grateful that I could use the SynScan
hand controller from another SkyWatcher
mount on the Star Adventurer
GTi when I used it visually. However,
I found the mobile app to be perfectly
suitable for imaging.
And the Verdict Is . . .
The Star Adventurer GTi is an excellent,
light-duty mount. Small and lightweight,
it's ideal for both wide-field and
telephoto lenses, especially if you like to
travel light. It's also quite usable with
a small telescope for long exposures
under computer control. I also found
the Star Adventurer GTi to be easy to
use for quick observing sessions with
my favorite small refactors. The Go To
function is especially useful. It will be
my newest companion on any future
camping and dark-sky travel adventures.
¢After decades of lugging heavy gear to
star parties, Contributing Editor RICHARD
WRIGHT enjoys travelling light.
tAutoguiding the GTI produced nice round stars, as shown
in this stack of 2-minute exposures of M31 captured with the
setup shown on page 67. The author used the mount connected
to Software Bisque's TheSkyX Professional to run both the autoguider
and imaging camera (below).
68 MAY 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE

Sky & Telescope - May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - May 2023