Re: [APML]: Anyone Autoguiding a G-11 with a Pictor XT?

[Wil Milan <wmilan@airdigital.com>]

The Astro-Photography Mailing List
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Joseph O'Neil wrote:
> 
>         The very last thing I want to do is start anotehr thread on "how bad S&T
> is now" type of thing, but I have to say that any equipment review by any
> authoeur in either Astronomy or S&T, well I take such articles with a very
> large grain fo salt.

I find S&T and Astronomy useful and interesting magazines, and I
read them cover to cover every month. But their product
evaluations do seem very much skewed to make the products look
good, particularly the products from the big advertisers (Meade,
etc.). This despite the reviews being done by very knowledgeable
folks such as Alan Dyer. 

I don't like it, but I know that's the way it works. I used to
write for special-interest magazines, and in that business one
soon learns not to trash the products of a major advertiser. One
even learns to couch any bad news in ways that gloss them over:
"The optics on this 12" scope would not split Epsilon Lyrae, but
the viewing position is so comfortable that viewing any double
star is a pleasure." Or, "We found the polar scope to be off by 2
degrees, which is more than adequate for visual use even at high
power." 

So yes, those reviews are often very skewed. But if you learn to
read between the lines for the hints the writer was able to slip
past the editors, sometimes some useful information can be
gleaned.


Wil M.      
mailto:wmilan@airdigital.com
Astrophoto web site: http://www.airdigital.com/astrophoto.html
---
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars which You have set in place, 
what is Man that you are mindful of him, 
or the son of Man that you care for him?"  -- Psalm 8