u/BlubberyGiraffe

Just curious what people’s experience has been with ZWO customer service/RMAs?

I’ve been having pretty severe star trailing issues with my Seestar and spent quite a while doing controlled testing across different modes/exposure lengths. What’s frustrating is that ZWO keep attributing it to environmental factors like wind, despite the tests being done in very calm conditions (~6 km/h wind in a heavily sheltered garden).

What’s confusing is that some of the worst results actually came from 10s Alt-Az exposures, but support are simultaneously saying the 10s tests indicate the hardware is functioning normally. That contradiction is what’s making me uneasy about sending the unit in, because it feels like the conclusion has already been decided before inspection.

Have others generally had good experiences with them when it comes to actual hardware faults?

Hi Guys

I'll keep it short. I have gotten into astro over the last year or so and having originally got a DOB (Skyliner 200P), I realised pretty quickly that it was DSO that I enjoyed, particularly the image processing portion. I picked up an s50 last year and have enjoyed it, but I have since realised that it's had a fault this entire time that I am currently speaking with ZWO on (tracking is a mess, failed subs over 20s and star tracking/blurry photos every 3/4 subs on 10s).

So I have built out a sort of 'dream rig' based on the many recommendations I have seen here and honestly, I am just looking for someone to either confirm it's a good setup to aim towards, or if it's too excessive a jump from the Seestar. This is what I have put together:

• Scope: Askar FRA400 Astro graph - €1325
• Tripod: ZWO TC40 carbon Fibre Tripod - €385
• Mount: ZWO AM5N Harmonic Equatorial Mount • €2212
• Main camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Duo • €1927
• Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus 256GB • €332
• Autofocus: ZWO EAF Standard (5V) • €239
• Power supply: PegasusAstro Power Supply 12V/10A Europe 2.1mm • €79
• Dew heater: NEEWER USB Dew Heater Strip • €30
• Dual-band filter: Optolong L-eXtreme • €323

Any advice would be appreciated. The goal is to focus on Nebula and Galaxies.

Hey guys,

I posted the in the Seestar subreddit the other day regarding issues I have been having with my Seestar s50. I have been emailing ZWO since February and been troubleshooting. After talking with a few of the people there, I implemented some measures to try and improve my sessions. I purchased shock absorbers to put at the feet, moved the Seestar away from any possible vibration or anywhere I'd be walking.

I have been doing testing throughout the last few months and last night, did 4 controlled tests, which I uploaded and sent off to their customer service.

I suppose just for the sake of knowing (and if you're bored/curious), could I possibly get some feedback on my test results? I have the 4 tests labeled and only do 50 per test. I have a feeling I know what's going on, but I would really appreciate a second opinion, as I am dreading ZWO coming back and blaming something I have been doing, which has become a fairly consistent response from them.

If nothing else, it's 200 free fit files for the needle galaxy! Thanks a bunch -

https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/1dcb39d1-4128-48af-a7d3-d3b830f229df

Hey guys,

I posted the other day regarding issues I have been having with my Seestar s50. I have been emailing ZWO since February and been troubleshooting. After talking with a few of you, I implemented some measures to try and improve my sessions. I purchased shock absorbers to put at the feet, moved the Seestar away from any possible vibration or anywhere I'd be walking.

I have been doing testing throughout the last few months and last night, did 4 controlled tests, which I uploaded and sent off to their customer service.

I suppose just for the sake of knowing (and if you're bored/curious), could I possibly get some feedback on my test results? I have the 4 tests labeled and only do 50 per test. I have a feeling I know what's going on, but I would really appreciate a second opinion, as I am dreading ZWO coming back and blaming something I have been doing, which has become a fairly consistent response from them.

If nothing else, it's 200 free fit files for the needle galaxy! Thanks a bunch - https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/1dcb39d1-4128-48af-a7d3-d3b830f229df

Hi All

I have started accumulating a decent amount of subs as I have been using the Seestar and I am interested in trimming down on some of the worse subs. I usually remove any with satellites and clouds before transferring from the Seestar, but there are still some that are not to the same level as the better ones.

As I am getting better with processing, I am wondering if it's better to use 100 top quality subs instead of 100 top quality and 200 okay ones, I feel like it might be hindering me.

I have tried using the Blink tool in Pixinsight, but it's very manual and when you're looking at hundreds of subs, it becomes very monotonous.

Are there any blink tools that allow me to quickly assess which of my subs should be removed?

Hi Guys

So I am one of the many people impacted by the annoying issues with star trails. Hearing the s50 is being discontinued does little to increase my hopes that ZWO will do much to address it.

I have spent hours tinkering with the Seestar. Buying various different tripods and doing different methods. Last night I did a level calibration first, before starting EQ and it doesn't seem to have done much. I have noticed a few odd things since I started EQ back in January and wanted to see if I am just being paranoid, or just not understanding how it all works.

• I am finding when capturing 20/30 second subs, the Seestar will occasionally freeze at 0 seconds, add the sub to the live stack while capturing the next (but staying on 0), but because that is often followed by the first failed frame, I am paranoid that there is a software glitch?
• I am noticing patterns where the Seestar start failing to capture 20+ second exposures. It seems that it'll either happen immediately, or in sequence. It'll do fine for 5 subs, then fail 5.
• I was able to capture Bode's last night at 63° with barely any failures, 30 second exposures too. I then trialed a number of other objects which were higher than 30/40 degrees and they had varying levels of success, but I actually feel like I was getting more success with 30s than 20s, which makes zero sense
• I am noticing when looking through my fits files, that every 4 or 5 frames, one of the photos always looks a little blur. It's as if the Seestar is constantly struggling to align every few photos and as a result, one or two photos will always get ruined.
• When you remove the fit files from your seestar, do you just delete all the folders in 'MyWorks', or do you delete everything? I delete everything inside the 'MyWorks' folder, but I still have the other 2 folders left untouched (which take up very little space)

I just want to make sure that I am not causing this issue. I am beginning to get frustrated with the amount of time I spend setting up EQ, only to have to get 10s exposures.

Thanks!