RE: [APML] STV - Is it worth it?

[Mike Schexnaydre <mschex@earthlink.net>]

I actually think that the ST-4 is very fairly priced.  I have worked
on circuit board design / debugging and software development for major
computer companies for around 15 years now.  I can tell you that
hardware design and test is EXPENSIVE.  Some of the test equipment
needed just to troubleshoot modern circuitry costs $10,000 - $20,000 US
for one instrument.  Software to do board layout and auto-routing
such as ViewLogic again costs many tens of thousands.   
SBIG is not a non profit organization or a charity -- they are a business
and want to make a reasonable profit on the goods they sell.  The
astrophotography market is TINY compared to any other consumer
electronics market -- ( hundreds to thousands of units, not
millions).  All of their development costs have to be spread over a
small number of units.

Also -- writing software for an auto-guider is not as easy as you might
think.  Writing a simple auto-guiding algorithm that performs poorly
is easy, writing one that will work under a variety of circumstances with
a rich feature set is quite involved.  


While the STV is feature overkill in my opinion  ( too complex, too
big, too power hungry ) it is reported to be an excellent
auto-guider.  I do hope that SBIG will replace the ST-4 with a
modern surface-mount technology version -- the control box could be
TINY  (also ditch the relays and go solid-state).  
<<< hopefully you are reading this Michael Barber :^)
>>>

Surely you must be joking about the Meade auto-guiders -- they are a joke
from every account I have read.  I have seen a picture of one
somebody took a hammer to :^)


Mike Schexnaydre

At 08:33 AM 5/9/2001 -0400, you wrote:

> I myself have borrowed
> both units and like neither of them.  Why?  COST.  I have
> always loved astronomy and astrophotography, however, in recent years I
> have found the gadget thing to be getting out of hand.  While
> technology must move forward, I have found myself frustrated at the silly
> costs some of these companies have been charging for items (especially
> autoguiders).  I really wish SBIG would make a simple, higher
> quality autoguider like Meade has (sigh).  Believe me, I love seeing
> new stuff, but the prices of these items really leaves a bad taste in my
> mouth.  I wonder how much profit SBIG makes on their units?
>
> -Bill 
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: steve banbury
> [mailto:banburys@sonic.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 2:12 AM 
> To: astro-photo@seds.org 
> Subject: Re: [APML] STV - Is it worth it? 
>
> Hi Jim--thankyou for your assessments! 
>
> Having read and reread your "how to's" for the ST4
> countless times, I consider 
> your input invaluable. 
>
> I believe I read some comments on the SBIG list relative to
> the star field 
> errors during a cal run, with the sense of it being a
> recommendation to reduce 
> the length of the cal as it only needed to move a few
> pixels. As I recollect the 
> default is 10 sec. The same comment applied to not having
> ithe independent axis 
> correction times available on the ST4.  If even you had
> difficulty, that makes a 
> relative novice like me very nervous! 
>
> With the ST4 it was my understanding that it is desireable
> to try to do as long 
> a cal run as you can achieve without falling off the chip,
> rather than doing the 
> shortest. 
> The STV and the ST4 seem to benefit from different operating
> techniques. 
>
> I have had trouble with my ST4 when there were a lot of
> stars in the field. I 
> had to either move the guidescope, or reduced the
> integration times so that 
> fewer stars would register on the ST4. Doesn't this work
> with the eFinder? And 
> have you tried using a long camera lens instead of the
> eFinder? 
>
> Thanks again for your insight--Steve 
>
>
> Jim Janusz wrote: 
>
> > Hi again, 
> > 
> > I've kind of stayed out of this thread to see what the
> consensus would be. 
> > I of course own both an ST-4 and an ST-V.  I have
> over the last few months 
> > spent a good deal of time using the ST-V with my custom
> OAG and the 1260mm 
> > AP 180EDF.  Here are a few of my opinions.
>
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