As many of you know I had some tough times in my choice of astrophotography equipment after coming back into the hobby with an entire new rig at the end of 2022. I chose, because of such a strong marketing effort the company that seemed to be what everyone was using - ZWO. Unfortunately after several issues with multiple products over the course of an entire year culminating with a complete breakdown in communication for months I finally decided to share my experiences.
The goal of the channel is to help folks achieve better astrophotography through education and community. In most cases to do so with positivity in mind. It was very difficult to have a video sharing negative experiences. It felt bad even though I gave them every out imaginable even saying in my last communication that was ignored I will report this to the community as I feel a sense of duty to do so.
A positive experience was the outcome though. After several months sending emails, working through video calls and regular ones. I came to a small but very deliberate group of companies I have come to know and completely trust. They have all been amazing and sent me out their gear to try so I can not only report my findings (honestly). But also know how to diagnose and help you guys with any potential issues you may run into it.
It was a lot of hard work, many of the companies I reached out to just weren't a great fit but a few were. They had a few things in common. Very open to communication and feedback. I wanted to make sure I could share all of your feedback from the field so we could use that to come out with the best product innovations going forward. They back up their product when something goes wrong and take care of it in a timely matter. Of course most importantly they bring a high performing product line up to marketplace and are passionate about the hobby themselves.
So I am happy to announce that line up which you can also find on the "Partners of the Channel Page" which consists of the following:
- Continuing to work with Agena Astro and Telescope Live - both links help support the channel. Agena Astro offers the fastest shipping and most effecient service I have found in Astrophotography. Telescope Live offers the best remote data at a very reasonable price especially with the 50% off promo link!
- Telescopes - Stellarvue Telescopes, handmade scopes based in the USA using the best glasses and materials put together and tested one at a time before leaving the factory with a strehl report of .98 or higher!
- Operating System and Accessories - Primaluce Labs, they offer the best all in one solution to run Nina or any open source astrophotography software with loads of extra features you CANNOT find on a mini PC. They also have some of the best quality Focusers, Flat Panels, Hardware, and other accessories for your rig.
- Mounts - Losmandy, offering old school craftsmanship with modern technology with their latest update to the 6th version of their Gemini software. I have been using their G11 for a while now and love its accuracy and dependability!
- Cameras - OGMA, with the lower price monochrome bundles in astrophotgraphy the owner Juan is focused on offering US based high quality customer service while making the hobby as affordable as possible and still keeping the quality where we all need it to be! They are a super humble and newer company and I look forward to seeing them grow.
- Additional Accessories and lightweight mounts - Pegasus Astro. From power boxes, to camera rotators, to filters these guys pretty much do it all and are an awesome group to have on your team to fill in any gap in your rig with some of the best technology out there.
Going forward these are the companies I will be recommended. No money exchanged hands. The ONLY reason these relationships happened is because in my opinion after taking months painstakingly reaching out to several companies in each category these guys were the best combination of value, performance, and customer service. There may be cheaper options in some cases but it's always less expensive in the long run to get the right gear the first time, I know from experience!