Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi
The ultra portable Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi star tracker mount
This is another piece of gear I plan on writing up a more substantial review for very soon, and for good reason! There’s many great features to talk about with this star tracker from Sky Watcher.
Many folks turn to the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i (or similar) for their first star tracking mount. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, in fact, that was my first star tracker! But allow me to recommend the GTi, if you have just a little extra cash on hand.
If you plan on doing Milky Way photography, the smaller Star Adventurer 2i is perfect. For anything else, I think the Star Adventurer GTi solves a number of pain points.
For a few extra dollars, you get several upgrades. The polar scope illuminator is actually integrated into the body of the mount (unlike the dim, clip-on light that comes with the Star Adventurer 2i). You will also find that the equatorial wedge is quite a bit more sturdy and takes adjustments more precisely.
Overall, the design seems to be more robust than other star trackers in its class but the real kicker is this mount’s GoTo ability! The GoTo ability uses the SynScan app on your mobile device or connected computer and provides three full catalogues of stars, deep sky objects and more.
The app also provides multiple ways to polar align. These features cut out much of the frustration and give you precious time back to gather astro data instead!
That being said, I believe there is invaluable experience to be gained by manually finding and framing your target; it can really help you learn your way around the night sky.
However, in my opinion, you might have more fun doing that with an affordable Dobsonian telescope while your camera is running on a separate rig, but hey, to each their own!
One small downside is that this mount only allows for an 11 lb (5 kg) payload, which is the same as the Star Adventurer 2i. However, this might not be an issue for you. I haven’t had any problems using this mount with a DSLR, small telescope, guide scope and guide camera (though, any more gear would certainly be approaching the limit).