Use coupon LAZYGEEK (don't forget!) at the following link to get 10% off on the Stellarmate Pro (limited to the first 100 units ordered!): stellarmate.com/lazygeek Or if you prefer to buy from High Point Scientific: tinyurl.com/4fy4946h I'm still using it after filming this video, the more I use it the more I love it despite its flaws! And I managed to get better autofocus requiring less exposure time since filming :) My Patreon: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek Amazon affiliate: amzn.to/3hTB5Ne Agena affiliate: bit.ly/3Om0hNG High Point Scientific affiliate: bit.ly/3lReu8R All-Star Telescope affiliate: bit.ly/3SCgVbV Dwarf 2 Smart Telescope: bit.ly/3SyChXua Seestar S50: tinyurl.com/3n62hpzx
I spent my 1st year of Astrophotography trying to get Stellarmate to work consistently before switching to NINA which I mastered in a week. So I find your conclusions bang on target, the concept is great but the road to getting it to work with your kit is challenging. Before retirement I was a software test manager so I feel qualified to make these remarks.
And I'm a software product manager, so I think we have the same way of thinking :) If only we could have NINA run on a lightweight LInux with a smartphone app..!
yeah, that is why I went with the ASI air, I already had almost all ZWO shit anyway, except peg astro focus cube, but I just said f it, and bought the EAF, and will also end up with their EFW as well. It's just easier, not worth the hassle of the other options. It's DEF good enough for A LOT of set ups. I can only think if you are using like 4 telescopes on one mount and 8 cams lmfao. or something SUPER bizarre, which those people are likely in an observatory with PC access anyway.
@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten I think that DeepSkyDad's flat panels now work with the ASIair, so if ZWO had got off their butts & offered a good rotator....or rebranded & authorized another manufacturer's rotator....then I may not have switched to NINA and the Eagle (which is awesome & manages power very well). BTW, I'm not sure if DeepSkyDad has got his rotator working with the ASIair..
Im am using the stellarmate package on a raspberry pi and have had a similar experience to what you describe. A lot of initial time/effort investment, but after that it just works. In particular I enjoy the vast range of features and customizability the system offers. After having watched you video I am now quite interested in investing in the stellarmate hardware. Thanky out Cuiv for all the work you have put into informing and educating within the astro photography scene! Truly invaluable.
Exact same experience here. I'm rolling with stellarmate on a rpi4 and am just past the time/effort part and am now in the getting images portion with kstars/ekos.
Ah geez, I was going to roll with Stellermate on a pi4 8gb model. And a beginner.😢 but um ain't gonna let it stop me. Just gotta pick my scope and mount. See a real beginner.
@@mrbutchee1this is my first setup too. I'm highly technical and can troubleshoot almost all things computer related. For me it was a 4 or 5 out of 10 difficulty level, mostly due to the time constraints around multiple nights with only a few hours at a crack on disparate nights. The time in between did allow me to think about what I was doing a little more and come with fresh ideas the next go around.
One of the things I like the most about Stellarmate and KStars/Ekos is that you can connect to your rig remotely directly from the desktop app (due to its Client/Server architecture), no need for Remote Desktop (which is limited in resolution and latency). The experience is way better than by using RDC or a tiny mobile app. I also had the problem you describe with the focus module, also with a Newtonian scope.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Centroid also works ok for Newts. Also don't be afraid to change the algorithm or whatever, from Hypebolic to Quadratic as well as whether it's a single run or multi run focusing method (trying to get to the last FHD number the 2nd time). I just use the fastest one (after trial and error) and try not to focus too many times. The cool thing is, there is also filter offsets can be saved , which is a big relief for us mono camera imagers, I can't believe ZWO still hasn't implemented that in their Asiair.
I really want to give my astro berry another go, first I need to buy a better pi as my old 3b just isn't up to the job really, I think I just never went back to it as I was using my intel nucs with nina
Thank you so very much for reviewing this Product ! A lot of us out here have been waiting on the StellarMate Pro for a few years now and I'm glad Jasem sent a review Sample to you . (I did suggest this to him a year ago !) I'm also glad you get to keep this and continue the Review with Updates on your findings . Jasem really needs someone to produce Video Tutorials on this Product to increase its saturation within the Astrophotography family . I think it is a great Product with a lot of potential ! Cheers /SRK
Hi Cuiv! As a Linux Engineer, I will be looking a closer look at KStars and Ekos! I will give those a trial run and if I like it, I may perhaps purchase the Stellarmate Pro! I already like the fact that I can have a client installed on my PC or device to connect to my rig remotely as if I was there without needing a remote desktop utility! KStars and INDI have evolved quite a bit since I first tried using it but now it seems like a lot of more devices are now supported and more being added all the time! There's a lot ZWO consumers that either don't know or don't care to try anything different as ZWO has a pretty well established ecosystem and that will be a hard nut to crack for other vendors. I am glad you made this video as I share your enthusiasm for open source and open hardware without being locked down to a specific ecosystem! Cheers!
I can see why people go for the zwo though, I'd say it's more consumer based, more plug N play then the astro berry and stellarmate versions, but, I'm a big fan of them
@@cjuk81 Yes this is true but the problem is if you want to use a different piece of equipment with theirs, cameras for example, they don't allow it. So non-ZWO camera users are forced to use Stellarmate or their own computer and software like NINA. The ASIAir only works with ZWO cameras and this is how they lock you in.
@@deep_space_dave yep, exactly why i dont use the asi air, ive mostly used windows and nina, but only becasue i decided my PI3 wasnt strong enough for Astroberry and never upgraded it because of covid and the shortages of the PIs, i do like Nina though, although i might buy a PI5 and see how i get on with either Astroberry or Stellarmate, and then i might look at getting a tellermate pro box, but we shall see
Great review Cuiv! I started my astrophotography journey with stellarmate on a rpi4 because I'm an open source and linux nut so the tinkering was part of the adventure. After about a year, the autofocus made my imaging nights all-consuming (I had to babysit all night). Eventually I put down the hobby until I saw your review of the AstroPC and decided to jump to NINA/windows. NINA has re-ignighted the hobby for me (thank you!) and at some point I may look to dual-boot the AstroPC between linux-stellarmate and windows/nina to keep up to date with the INDI project. Really glad you're branching out and doing these reviews. Well done!
Linux geek here too, but seen as I only had a pi3 astro berry was slow fore, but. Since Nina came out all those years ago I used that on a nuc. I was looking at this stellarmate box a few months ago when it was announced but so far I don't seem the need yet to change from nina
I spent so many hours overhauling the AF in NINA so it would work across a wide range of equipment :) So I know the pain of AF, NINA used to be pretty bad at that until my code contributions lol
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I think I only had the pleasure of using your code, I didn't have a focuser in the early days so it was all manual, oddly, in a way i still miss manual focus too 😊 I would love though to give one of these stellarmate boxes ago though. Do you think you'll carry on using it in future or will you be sticking to NINA?
It's such a shame that there is practicly no hardware that doesn't use windows software. I keep looking for Linux stuff because win 11 is NOT allowed in my living space. I'm getting sick when I think it's close.
Well, I went ahead and got it. My goal is to take my NYX-101 and my Edge HD 8" up into Rocky Mountain National Park and camp out around 10,000 ft in Bortle class 3 skies. Might even be class 2 at that altitude. I have a new F150 Lightning and I can run a single 110VAC extension cable from my truck over to my mount. And run everything from my truck and the Stellarmate Pro. I can't wait to be up imaging next to a small camp fire, drinking a beer and listening to music getting lost in all the stars. It's what I call paradise. ;0)
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Still working out the kinks. But the Donut Buster is amazing. I had my step size at 10 as my tube length on my moonlite focuser is about 1/2" or 12-13 mm. Maximum draw outward is 4375. So 0 is all the way in and 4375 is all the way out. Typically within NINA I would have a step size of around 50. But I had to keep the steps small to stay within the CFZ. And it did better but still had problems doing an Autofocus Run. But after checking the Donut Buster Check box and using the default setting, I set my step size to 25 and it worked amazingly well. It actually finished the focus run and said it was 0.90 confident in the focus. I about did a back flip. I'm going to push it to 50 and see if it works as well. As that will definitely get it into the "Donut Zone". Also..... I noticed the exposure length during the autofocus run would change. I set it to 20 seconds and it started with an 80 second exposure. And it varied over the exposures. 20 Seconds, then 60 seconds and then 48 seconds. Now I have an Optilong Ultimate filter and I'm assuming it's compensating for the lower amount of light due to the filter. I haven't set up a manual Filter wheel, but I think I will. I have to say, you have to enjoy challenge, but there have been times I've thought about selling this, as NINA was just so easy to work with. But I'm determined to get this to work and I'm positive I just need to spend some time with the Stellarmate Pro and I'll be happy I did. ;o)
Good video, good explanation, thanks, but the one thing I was waiting for (timestamp 2:15), which was to see the automated process in action, was missing. Excluding the polar alignment, I would have liked to see the, after the initial focusing, 1) guiding alignment (ie slew South to the meridian and CE, 2) slew to target (approximate), 3) near or blind plate solving, 4) centering the target by plate solving, 5) precise autofocus routine, until the beginning of the imaging run. Basically, the steps in which the telescope goes from a parked position to the beginning of the imaging run.
Glad to see you have done a review of this! I have been using stellarmate for years and it is extremely powerful but you do need to spend time fiddling with it. I used to run stellarmate OS (raspberry pi version) on my ASI Air hardware and it ran fine and even was able to control the power ports Last year i moved over to the Stellarmate-X which is running on a Mele-3q and found a significant boost in performance Have not tried the stellarmate PRO yet, i would be interested to see how the performance compares with the stellarmate-X Also have had nothing but great experiences reaching out to stellarmate support. Jasem is super helpful :D
Thanks for a super in depth review. Really useful. I'm happily using NINA right now on my MeLE quieter, but that scheduler alone peaks my interest and might well make a change worthwhile.
this looks more than interesting, and you got my attention since i am looking at asi air for some time. please make more indepth videos about it. clear skies!
I used to use indigo on Respberry PI. Very complicated to use. Now switched to a mini pc with N.I.N.A PHD2 ASTAP. Very happy and easy to use. Thanks to your clips for all the knowledge sharing.
Great review Cuiv!!! Really interesting and educational. (and honest, like all your reviews) I have a pretty solid setup with a mini-PC / NINA but I am tempted to buy this one, if nothing else to reward those who support multiple manufacturers.
OK, I have had one of these since you first covered it. I found myself lost in the user interface and trouble doing a manual focus of botht he main camera and the guide camera. Now that winter is comming again and the skys are clear (unlike our very couldy summer here in Maryland) I will run any updates to it and try to get it to work again. Support has been 8-12 hours delayed and the support staff seems to always think I have created the problem - sometime true; but the response never satisfied my needs to get it to run. Add to that that the user documentation was laking at best. So, hopefully things have gotten better. I have a new AM5N comming the day after tomorrow so it will be a good time to do a reset and retry.
I am so frickin excited that Jasem et al have come through with this package, I have been dreaming of this for some time. Absolutely great work by the INDI developers!! I'm glad the fire under their ass is burning in this fashion and I can't wait to implement their tech in my setup!
Cuiv you are a legend. Thank you so much for going to this effort to make such an informative video. I am about to make the leap from running my rig using a laptop hard wired with cables, to one of these systems. This information is super useful. I really wanted to get into using NINA, because I like the UI and the functionality. However as great as it is, it still doesn’t support my camera (Nikon Z7ii) despite many attempts on my part to get around the connectivity problem. However my camera works just fine with APT, and by the sounds of it ASIAir will support it as well. Which is kind of ironic. My main issue with the ASIAir is as you say “being forced to adopt a certain ecosystem… to a large degree” so I have also been waiting for something like this to come along. I am a software engineer myself and a massive geek, so I think the Stellarmate will suit me down to the ground. And hopefully its adoption will encourage ASI to eventually open up their platform. All the best, and love the channel.
Wow - shipping was fast. Just received the Stellarmate pro yesterday afternoon (4 days after ordering - impressive). Connected it up in 15mins using a tablet as recommended and using the quick start guide and all seems fine. Noticed that the XT60 to DC is I think a 5525 female connector. Fortunately I had a XT60 female to cigarette plug laying around. Unfortunately I am not a Bortle 9 member and had cloudy rainy miserable skies. Astropheric says “maybe” on Saturday/Sunday night.
Thank you so much for this review! You were very through. I am a long time user of indi / ekos, and I have learned some things from your video that I did not know! I've used it on raspberry 2's intel atoms, and lately on a mele. It suits my use perfectly. I am a software developer and am comfortable fixing issues or adding features if needed so I normally just install indi / ekos on a computer running linux, and am quite happy to use vnc from my desktop or phone to access my telescope. I really do like stellarmate though, and hope that it only increases in popularity as the more people using it, the more polished it will get. I have personally purchased a licence for the stellarmate OS for my raspberry pi and do agree that it is very user friendly, but has some warts. I use my own home brew version as I like to modify the software to my needs.
Wow, thanks a lot for putting so much effort into the review of this piece of equipment! I think it is great that this product exists and that you made this video, because yes indeed, it will help more hobbyists without too much concern with money to get into astrophotography. That said, considering the very high price point and the fact that it isn't really a plug-and-play solution and that a lot of time will sink into configuration and troubleshooting, the DIY mini-PC solution that you discussed is definitely worth considering. In fact, a very similar (arguably better) setup can be built for less than $100 and a couple hours of hands-on time: an old raspberry pi (or other SBC) + an HDMI dummy dongle (for remote desktop) + a DC power distribution box + ubuntu desktop + ekos. I say arguably better because it will be a lot lighter, modular, use a lot less power, and be truly open. I believe that the only missing feature of significance will be the controller for the dew heater (add $90 or DIY in 2 hours).
Jasem does great work on the whole ecosystem (from Indi drivers, to KStars/Ekos, to StellarmateOS, to the mobile/tablet app and now the Stellarmate Pro). I sometimes use the mobile/iPad app on my Apple Silicon MBP but all in all, I usually just use VNC to connect to my RPi5. Thanks for the review, instructive as always, and all the features (dew heater control and all) make me drool and I just might be considering moving from my RPi5/StellarmateOS to the Stellarmate Pro :)
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I like it a lot and it's perfect at what I use it for : Retro gaming; Backyard Astrophoto. It's really much faster than the RPi4 I used before.
Thanks for the very informative video. One significant benefit of this device would be when using long focal length telescopes. As you mentioned in your video, the ASIAIR plus can’t polar align for scopes in the 2400 mm fl region. It will give an error message with respect to the too small field of view. I end up using a reducer to get the scope into the 1500 mm fl region and ASIAIR will grudgingly allow for polar alignment and slewing to target. I contacted ASIAIR to see if they intended to expand database for longer focal length scopes, but that is not in their plans.
Hi Cuiv.Yes I built several INDI servers (SBC, dew control, motor control, USB hub). They are a bit sad compared to this though. The main problem with the DIY ones using a pi or similar SBC are the power control, USB bandwidth and the wifi signal. Also you won't have adroid/iphone interface. This looks like they ironed out all the hardware issues in a compact box. I am tempted. Yes INDI supports every bit of hardware I have from not just ZWO. Of course it is more versatile and hence more complex. Looks like you are sold.
Thanks, a Great Review of the Product. Definitely interested. Also need to ask, what Cameras, do you use on your Scope. The Wedge I like is the AM5, would it come with Straps, to support the Rail, to the Scope. I use a Meade LX200. 10" Thanks bye.. 🍎🍉🍔
Excellent review. I’m curious about how the artificial horizon, and I’m pretty excited about this little device! Please give us updates from time to time on this, if you can!
The touptek mini pc is also released today, which claims that it can support astro gears of all brands instread of just zwo. Looking forward to your review on this new mini PC!
Hey Cuiv, Regarding the price I just added a Pegasus Power Box Micro to my grab and go alongside an asiair mini (about $200 each). The stellarmate more closely matches the higher end version of these products in a single enclosure. From that, I figure its great value. I gotta say the limited output power of the AM5 and the ASIair let the whole ZWO show down. They need to fix this to fight this kind of competition.
Great video, I will actually call it Eagle killer ! because ZWO is stil competitive by price, but Eagle seems clearly replaced with this amazing option
I suspect the developer will address a lot of the initial setup over time. As I use a mini PC and a Pegasus power box, I have no need to replace my existing system, but the all-in-one hardware solution would be pretty appealing if I didn't already have the power box. Also at this point I'm pretty attached to NINA...
You are correct that this is a challenging piece of hardware. Took me the better part of a week to figure out all the port issues I had. But I found the Stellarmate Tutorial regarding the Port Assistant. The port assistant made it easy to fix all the port problems. Just fixed my mount problem. The Port Assistant did it's job, but I had the speed all wrong. I had it at 19200 and it wanted to be at 115200. Once I changed to the faster speed it connected immediately, so now all my hardware, mount, two focusers and two cameras all connect first time every time. Took me a moment to figure out how to get KStars to work. I had failed to turn on the web server and as soon as I did, all the functionality I was missing showed up. So now all I have to do is set up my cameras, and get my auto focus routine in order. I found that Hocus Focus has similar issues with donut shaped stars. I had to change back to NINA as Hocus Focus on the larger stars would show the HFR as 0. And then the next image would be 6.5 and then down to 4.4 and then 3.6 etc . So I do understand how frustrating that can be. I have an 8" Edge HD with a 2.5" Moonlite Focuser. I also use Pegasus Astros SCOPS OAG because I'm lazy and don't want to have to go outside and adjust the focus on my OAG every time I do an autofocus routine. My mount is a NYX 101 and as long as I have a really good calibration with PHD2 and a really good Polar alignment, I can get sub 1 arc second subs at 1422mm all the time. The weather hasn't been co-operating at all lately, so I haven't had a chance to use the Stellarmate in an imaging session yet. But I'm hoping to this weekend.
Yes ZWO does need some competition and I am here for it. I am considering the Stellarmate Pro to replace my AA+ that I will be phasing out due to ZWO crap customer service.
Originally used Ekos and KStars direct Linux KDE PC connection for must be 7-8 years now and moved to 2x StellarMates OS on RPIs a few years ago. Initially earning curve is well worth it. Jassem is a really nice guy and his support is exceptional. INDI is the equivalent to ASCOM but more dynamic.
No. ZWO is running the same stuff in the background they locked it down. They’re in violation of the open source licenses for all this software as well. You see they’re supposed to release the source code for everything that they modified as well as credit the projects that they are using. They provide no notice of the open source software used at all. They’re literally profiting of of the work of others, i.e. theft.
Hey Cuiv. I got the Stellarmate pro. You are right it is not as easy as 123. But I am encouraged and would like to explore using it a lot more. Is there any chance you could make more videos about this and how you setup different things in more details like you did for NINA? Most of the videos for Stellarmate are like 2-6 years old.
i started usingbthe StellarMate OS on a Raspberry Pi and was frustrated with frequent disconnections over WiFi, but that might have been more an RPi problem… this certainly looks like a nice hardware package
Nice Review! I would like to point out you can control your dew heaters with the ASI Air, it requires the ZWO DC Y splitter cable, which has RCA female ends. You can then set up one of the 12v DC out to support the dew heater. It is really nice to see a bit of competition coming at ZWO and the ASIAir.
Stellaramate has been around for years. ZWO stole from a bunch of open source projects to make the ASIAir and is in violation of the licenses for all that software. That is one reason that I do not buy their products. QHY makes better cameras anyway.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Sadly no the ASIAir doesn’t monitor outside temps / humidity. To power your dew heaters with the ASIAir and the Y cable you use one of the 12vdc ports in PWM, you choose dew heater in drop down, and can set it to a percentage power level. I usually just turn them on if I am worried about the dew point. I am powering everything through mains power. Temp and humidity sensor would greatly benefit some who uses just battery power. Again I want to thank you for your dedication, I enjoy your videos very much.
@@ScoobyJoobyJew the airs power is not great. I had to remove my Dew heaters from it and put them on their own controller as I could hear buzzing coming from the air which unsettled me slightly. It got worse over time so felt like I was trying to draw more power than could be supplied. As soon as I removed them the buzzing went away.
@@andrewweller5119 I have had no issues but I will keep an eye on it. Did you happen to note the current draw being reported by the ASIAir? I’ll have double check but in my case, I don’t believe the dew heaters together drew much over 1 amp @ 100%. I use Dew Not heaters.
I started by building a RPi4 box and bought Stellarmate OS. Most of my difficulties were with getting the autofocus to work with my C8. I feel your pain. I eventually moved to N.I.N.A. mainly out of frustration with updates introducing bugs that would wreak havoc with what few clear nights were available to me. In retrospect moving from StellarMate to NINA has an amusing aspect: with the former I was dealing with bugs in the control software but never with the OS. Now I am often dealing with OS issues but rarely with any in the control software.
Hahaha that is such an apt summary! By the way I'm the reason the AF in NINA works so seamlessly on SCTs :) I spent hours building exactly the right code that would work for my Newt, my SCT, my refractor, and multiple camera sensors :)
Really love your channel. I’ve used stellarmateOS and astroberry on raspberry pi. It just reminds me the experience of ccd era 20 years ago i.e. lots of frustrations and setup time before actual imaging. Understand we are spoiled by ASIAir nowadays, i’m really skeptical of Stellatemate platform. Looking forward to your update and long term use of StellarmatePro before I’m convinced it is a product comparable to ASIAir and PC/NINA ecosystems.
I’ve been using StellarMate for years. When you use it on a Raspberry Pi you need to use a powered USB HUB in order to avoid issues. Using a USB wireless adapter helps as well since it extends the range of the wireless. The new StellarMate X and StellarMate Pro controllers however are much more powerful that a Raspberry Pi. BTW. The ASIAir is just a Raspberry Pi running a modified version of AstroBerry. ZWO is literally stealing others work to make a profit.
Sorry to know that! I have been using Stellarmate OS on Raspberry Pi4 since more thatn 2 years now. Infact, I have 3 full systems running Stellarmate OS. Believe me... no hiccups, no issues, quick setup, just fun and photography. And I truly am fan of Stellarmate.
I have the stellarmate software running on my RP 3 and 4 for a few years, and it generally works well if you vnc into it. I was a beta tester. The gui running on tablets and iPad has problems, so I stopped using it. There are also issues where the software upgrades would break a piece of software requiring reinstall of the os or reinstalling a piece of software. I am hoping these issues are resolved. I will start using it soon.
Basically its a stellarmate rpi and a pegasus power box all in one. I have been using astroberry since 2014, but with a lot of frustrating problems. in the last two years I moved from the rpi 4b to a Leibre computer aml 903 based sbc (le potato) with ubuntu 24.02 and Ekos and INDI library installed. I use Ekos for windows in a remote mode from my home. Since this set up never a problem. So Im thinking the Rpi was my weak link. So I would think maybe Jasom is ditching the Rpi for a more robust sbc. Me thinking out loud. Thanks Quiv for all you do for our community.
Too late for me as I’m heavily invested in ZWO but I’m pleased to see this as hopefully a bit of competition will encourage ZWO to improve features on the ASIair
not just features. i would wish, they open if for other brand cameras as well. this is one of the few things I really hate about the asiair. (btw. i own the + and a mini)
I’ve used Stellarmate on a pi and Astroberry ;now use a Pegasus power box and an Intel nuc more flexible Nina or others . This one looks good combining both and without the Windows issues. Ekos takes a bit of learning and I too have had bugs but the author is easy to contact and usually sought things out . Cliff
I used a raspberry with ekos/kstars for about 1 year, then I switched to a mini pc with NINA and.....i will never go back :D I love nina and all its features :D
Dear Cuiv! thanks a lot for the great video. I'm also testing Stellarmate OS on a Raspberry 5 + the new Saddle Powerbox from Pegasus Astro, which is awesome regarding cable management. I just have a huge problem using the Toupcam 2600 with IMX571 sensor. My whole indi profile / image train gets unstable (no gps fix via usb dongle, crashes) when this camera is included. I dont have those troubles using the zwo planetary cam. You have the same Toupcam in addition if I remember correctly. Would you be so nice, trying to connect your train (guider, focuser, all the same) but using the bigger touptec camera? thanks a lot!
Thanks for the support Andreas! I likely won't switch cameras because that's a pain for my flats, but I can try connecting the IMX571 Touptek and see what happens
@@CuivTheLazyGeek thank you! That would be enough.. no imaging Session needed just connecting it via USB together with all the other imaging train & see if everything works (gps, shuttling down Indi and starting again. But I'm also in contact with stellarmate and sent them a bunch of debug log Files. Let's hope for the best 🤙
Hi again. So 2 things I wanted to share with you after working with stellarmate support. For the gps not obtaining a fix under some conditions: a new module will be part of the next image version but can already be installed manually: "sudo apt-get -y install gpsd-clients" 2) occasional crashes of Ekos / Kstars when Spinning up device connections: after compiling and running the nice Ekos debugger tool on Debian bookworm (due newer raspberry 5 OS image .. Jasem added the Ekos debug built yesterday to the default debian ARM repo for easy install) we could figure out that some faulty dark files have been the cause .. after removing them from /home/stellarmate/.local/share/kstars/darks ... Everything looks promising now
I am very happy to see this product. I used Stellarmate for a couple years then switched to NINA due to frustrations with the RPi - the need to coble together the hardware to operate from 12V, to provide more USB ports - and no satisfactory package for it. I am very happy with NINA but miss some of the features of Stellarmate. There are some good ideas in this product which should establish some feature targets for ASIAir and NINA & others.
Cuiv , I have the Pegasus power box and having trouble with it, I was thinking about buying something else and lookinging into the Stellarmate , could I use NINA with it and through its hotspot ? Steve
It should be noted that Stellarmate X is more comparable to the ASI Air Plus. You may also purchase your own Raspberry Pi 4B and load Stellarmate OS which is identical to the pricier systems, but running on RPi hardware---albeit slower, but functionally complete. Excellent review, Cuiv! Got me all juiced up again about mine!
I’ve just switched to a mini pc with NINA after trying ASIAir. ASIAir doesn’t work well with my AVX mount and C8 SCT. Will revisit when ZWO issues next ASIAir software release.
Excellent review, I do love Nina, but I will admit and jealous of the way the scheduler works in that software. I'd appreciate maybe an update in a month or two of the software, it might also be good to basically reset it to factory default and go back through the setup again to see if the setup has improved at all since you first reviewed it. Obviously that's a lot of work, so I can understand if you aren't privy to it. Having said that this looks really promising and I can't tell you how many times windows updates have screwed me over despite me hard disabling them in the system. I'm at a point now where I check for windows updates and process those updates prior to a nights session so I don't get hosed.
Thank you for another great presentation. Based on your pros and cons, my best scenario is ZWO improve ASIAir, like dome control. As my age, most important thing is enjoying astroimaging itself not learning new technologies and how to operate. I also have limited but few unsatisfactory support from Stellarmate customer service team. Maybe you are getting special attention from Stellarmate. I have no complaint with ASIAir so far.
I've been playing around with the SM for years. I bought it when it first came out. Never, not once, did I ever capture one single photon with it. Every update release, I dusted it off and tried again. Still no joy. As you said, I lost a lot of rare clear nights because of this gizmo. I used SGP for a while before the ASI Air was released. I bought the Air and found out the hard way it didn't support my Pegasus, QHY and Primaluce Lab gear. Had to replace everything with ZWO gear. Not too happy about it, but the trade off was that the Air worked right out of the box. Every single time. Now I'm updating my Sky Shed Pod to the new Pod S which is fully automated. Of course the Air won't control it. I bought a mini PC and loaded it with NINA, PHD2 and ASTAP. NINA is a very complex program if you want to take full advantage of all it's functionality. (The Air spoiled me). I was interested in the new SM hoping that all the bugs were worked out of it based on the new platform and integration of KStars and Ekos in one package. And the elimination of having to use VNC to interact with the SM. Looks like they still have a long way to go as far as the bugs are concerned. I really don't want to go down that road again. I found a tutorial that shows how to augment the AIR OS with the Astroberry OS, and opens up the full INDI library. Which also keeps the simplicity of the Air. Thanks for your review on this and all others you've done. But for me, a $600 USD gamble on something that's questionable without some serious tinkering on my part is a hard pass. I've already lost more clear nights because of the SM, I'm in no rush to repeat that again. Clear Skies!
My Mele Quiter 4C began having booting problems 2 nights ago. After cycling on and off 9 times it finally booted. Last night after a dozen times, I reverted to laptop direct control (undesirable by comparison). Have you heard of this problem? I would show an initial start screen with the Intel Logo then go blank - back and forth but never fully boot and never connect to wifi of course
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I found that one can reset the Quieter in a few ways. MELe has a couple of videos on the subject. I used a method that did not delete all my files but it is not consistently establishing a remote desktop. There is also a reset button on the side with the HDMI ports. I don't know what will happen if I do that. In a reply from the manufacturer, a BIOS updat is to be released. She said she would send me the directions to install that when it becomes available. Thanks, Cuiv. - Joe
Here’s another suggestion for you to explore and that’s trying a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB with a metal enclosure (costs have come down now) and running Stellaware OS. I’m going to give a go, as although I have 3 Asiair’s, I use a Celestron dew controller on my HD11. So the Asiair mini on that scope isn’t controlling the dew ring. The Asi2600mc pro can be powered via the Celestron dew heater dc output. I totally agree with your conclusions as when I started, I bought a laptop etc but was totally overwhelmed with NINA and so when the Asiair came along it was a game changer for me. But I since then, I’ve only ever bought ZWO hardware. There are other camera brands that use the same sensors that are a lot cheaper but you just can’t use with the Asiair. I’m waiting for a ZWO field rotator to come out, yet there are others available now, if only there was another way, and perhaps now there is :)
You can control dew heaters with the ASI AIR PLUS, though. It has a powermanagement for its four power outlets. You can step from 0-100% power in 10% increments.
Nice! You do need an adapter for most dew heaters though, right? Also a bit worried about the total available power to the ASIAIR ports - and can they use temp data to change the power to the dew heater automatically?
you do need an adapter, but it's not that big a deal. ZWO's adapter can power 2 dew heaters with one power port and costs like...$10? Doesn't take much power, but I no, I don't believe the temp can be changed automatically, you have to manually set it.@@CuivTheLazyGeek
the dew heaters I had, had a fitting plug. I guess it depends on the brand of the dew heater and the region you buy it in. There is no option to use temp data. I am running a cooled cam, autofocuser, filterwheel, guidecam, 2 dew heaters and Ioptron CEM40 mount via the ASIAIR Plus and I have no problems with the power. It is just around 2.5 A when slewing, less when shooting. @@CuivTheLazyGeek
looks really good and if i hadn't recently bought a mini PC and mounted it on the scope with NINA I might have considered it. Also, I still think the ASIAIR does a great job for around half the price! i still use one of those on my Refractor on the EQ6-R Pro. it works great and just does what it's meant to do. Makes you wonder why all the other bit of software out are so complicated. The storage on the air has never been an issue either. i have it on Ethernet so file transfer and operation is a dream. they need to stop releasing new and shiny things to tempt me. I blame you for my change from ASIAIR to NINA but now that I understand its complexities I love it. so thank you.
Hahaha I'm so glad I could corrupt you into using NINA, maybe I can corrupt you into using this? :D But seriously, if you're comfortable with NINA, keep using it!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I am loving Nina. The only thing about it that I am still having issues with is setting up the auto focus properly as I'm found the step size, in and out settings to be a little confusing. And the routine really doesn't like it when I swap from the.l-pro to the l-ulitmate. On the air i just set the number of steps for the focuser to move for the backlash and it just worked. I am getting there but it's been a journey shall we say.
Great review. many thanks I'm currently setting up INDI on a TV box with Armbios (real cheap hardware), and it looks very usable. I really like it. Stiill dealing with auto AP when no WiFi available an other issues (the hard work of DIY 🙂), but it look very promising I'm now using Kstars/Ekos desktop, but will check any of the tablet/mobile apps. the use is quite similar to Stellarmate except no control over power supplies 😞 Thanks for your review, very useful
Interesting how this pans out. I jumped the other way from Stellarmate (on PI) over to a HP mini pc running N.I.N.A - N.I.N.A on a mini pc has been pretty solid in comparison to my experience on Stellarmate.
Great to see this hardware for Stellarmate and your review. I really enjoy Linux and really wanted to use Rpi and I have tried Astroberry, Indigo as well as Stellarmate OS but ended up in loosing imaging time due to issues. I never went to ASIAIR as I have other devices which are not ZWO so are not compatible with it. Since I went to a mini PC loaded with ASCOM, NINA, PHD2, SharpCap, Astrosurface, Firecap and ASTAP I have not looked back. I now have a Mele Quieter 3Q which has been great. The Stellarmate hardware is very expensive especially for the 128GB version, but I just hope that they have got the bugs out so that it is as reliable as other options. The Stellarmate Pro 128GB does come in around the same price as a Pegasus PPB Advance and Mini PC.
Even though I am in the ZWO ecosystem, This is something I may buy to try out later on down the line. If I decide to go mono, I am looking at OGMA cameras, and this would be great to use with that camera. I will be keeping an eye on this. I may want to switch out my AAP and if I really like the Stellarmate, I can just pack my AAP away or sell it.
Thanks for the video Cuiv. A couple of questions, Polar alignment routine?, I would like to see how you set up the guiding as well What differences is there in the guiding compared to the asiair?
Hi Cuiv, I had bought stellarmate os already based on your earlier video for creating a smart telescope. I was also glad that there is an alternative of zwo asi air, but I had lots of issue earlier like guiding related issue that it can't able to guide. It is still sometime so frustrated that I don't even image in nights because of that. For stellarmate pro, other then the hardware, there is no difference on software side if you bought stellarmate os already.
Great to see an alternative to the ASIAir as I have a QSI camera and a non ZWO focus motor both of which I really like. I use the ASIAir with my ZWO gear and it works well but I really object to ZWO’s attitude. I’m not even sure their use of other people’s code is implemented legally! Hope the bugs are ironed out on this new product soon. Looks really promising.
that looks good, im using an old computer connected to my main computer in the house via remote view, the old computer is on its last legs only a matter of time cant cope with the weather i dont think ( home made obsy) cheers
How does it cope with planetary data frame rate speeds- a real drawback of the Asiair. Can it throw these over wifi so you don’t need a usb3 cable to use Firecapture?
This review is a great review. It might get me back into a very disappointing astro hobby that was full of faulty equipment, at that time. I'll watch this space close. Thanks for the review Cuiv.
Hi Cuiv, love the channel. I have been using EKOS for some years now. Have done some of the driver development on iOptron / PEC for indi. My newt is a F3.7 and i use ZWO narrowband filters. So i know what you mean about focus issues. Just some thoughts for you to speed up focusing. Set you camera binning to max or 4x4, to get brightest stars ... with this i only expose for 2 seconds. In settings => increase your box size to max 256 px ... this allows for larger donuts to be detected. Go full field with Annulus 20% and 80% this give you a better detection surface and avg focus across your image. In Process => Sep Profile 2-allstars is pretty robust and algorithm Polynomial is quickest ... in mechanics => I use a ASI EAF which has a small step size ... Intail step of 100 / max travel 400 / max step 200 ... And lastly know the rough focus position and save it as a preset in your focus driver. then when you start up go to the default focus first before autofocus ... I know this is a pfaff , but these are narrow band filters on a fast newt ... Hope you come right mate.
I did try Stellarmate on raspberry pi 4 but the experience was terrible back then so I moved to Asi Air. Also, what filter did you use? I see quite big halo. I remember your test of Altair Duo 4nm and you commented that you will do a test on a brighter star for the halo, which I haven't seen and I'm planning to get this filter (Ha + OIII).
Curious. I'm new to the hobby and I keep seeing these type of wifi devices. I live in the woods with tons of trees. I have good darkness but limited wifi capabilities as I need to leave my home to shoot. What are yours or anyone's suggestions?
These devices create their own Wifi hotspot - they don't need any other available network. It's a peer to peer connection, it would work in the middle of the desert :)
I bought Stellarmate O.S. in 2019. I used it for about a year and a half. Then later I moved on to N.I.N.A. I still have the Raspberry 4 with Stellarmate, but what I never really liked was the autofocus module. He always had problems. Furthermore, it often refocus between photos. So far fewer images are taken. With N.I.N.A. sometimes 30-40 photos pass before I do it again. With Stellarmate also every photo or every 5. Once they connected with my PC and with the Raspberry via Teamviewer, because that version no longer recognized my HEQ5 PRO. I continue to keep it and update it because Stellarmate OS is paid. I will try to use it again.
There is another way you can access this remote computer (I think not mentioned). You can actually connect to the computer without VNC, you just install kstars/EKOS on your computer, tell it it has a remote slave EKOS by adding the IP address of the stellarmate pro, then you can operate the software on your desktop itself and it sends commands back to the slave computer, and images/info is sent to your desktop (not via VNC). This is most useful for a fast home setup though, where VNC or ideally stellarmate app is better for remote setups.
I wish I could say my experience with Stellarmate support even approached yours. I found them to be non responsive or passing off problems as caused by my hardware being broken - it was not. After weeks of frustration I went back to NINA and have been running without issue.
I like this direction, but think we need a mini PC solution that will allow us to run N.I.N.A, PHD2, ect... but have all the power and usb support this product has.
What is the max. amount of current that the 12V outputs can serve? Is it possible to drive a mount via the 12V outputs? (with the 12V outputs of the ASIair I got trouble if I connect my mount, so I use a separate power supply for it) Does Stellarmate Pro display the actual current of each 12V output port?
Hi, what a really wonderful video. I’m thinking of getting one of these units but can I power it directly from my Jackery battery or do I need to have a cable running to my pc/laptop? At the moment everI have is ZWO which as you know is able to be used over wi-if. The only cables are those connecting kit too the ASIAIR, can I use the sm in the same way?
Nice to know a more complex alternative. Competition is always good for everyone. Being new to astronomy, even as a geek (IT engineer). This hobby has a lot to learn besides tech. I spent my life (30 years) running and solving tech. I can only spend limited time learning about the stars in this new hobby. So, messing with the tech/driver issue will be the last thing I want to do. Less and KISS are my current principles in astronomy as long as I can observe the heaven.
If KISS is your philosophy, then ASIAir is good (IF you are willing to wall yourself into the ZWO garden), or Windows + NINA. My approach is long term laziness: suffer at first, the reap the rewards for a long, long time!
Absolutely love the channel. Thank you so much for the awesome content. Hoping someone can answer this. The Stellarmate pro is presumably a Linux pc under the hood, running Stellarmate OS? So does this mean you can install other software and use it? For example could you install Stellarium and use that to control your mount? Also.. if you access the Stellarmate using the desktop environment, can you change the theme, to make the windows and headings dark red to help our eyes adjust? Or is the desktop interface locked to that light grey, which will blind you while out shooting?
This video is, as always, really helpful. I am waiting for delivery of the SM pro and have purchased the unit to attach it to my vixen bar but could you show/explain how you power the SM.
Hi, Quiv sorry to bother you again but the Astronomy shop here either will not or cannot answer my questions. Can I use the cables from the ASIAIR such as powering the StellarMate from the am5 mount and in the ASIAIR there is a looping in the guide setting is there a similar feature on the SM.
For your flat frames, didn't you want to focus first for that particular filter? Maybe you had left it set up from the night before with the same filter and it was already pretty close to being focused.
I've been looking forward to this review for a while since I spotted it on one of your videos Cuiv, shame there isn't a simpler to use version as there seems to be a lot of head scratching to get it to run. However it does look good & I hope they improve the autofocus when using a Newtonian as I do use one & a RASA which also has the central obstruction. I really hope improvements will be made & we do finally get a successor to the ASi air as it's been a long time coming, fingers crossed & clear skies. Hmmm I wonder if future stellarmate pro's will get the Cuiv stamp of approval?
I've used stellarmate on a Pi and MiniPC and unfortunately, I can't recommend it as a platform. I've had connection issues where the App and server fall out of sync and I'm forced to kill the App to get connection again. I also dislike that the live stacking takes place on the App which means the App needs to download images from the server before it can plate solve and stack.
Use coupon LAZYGEEK (don't forget!) at the following link to get 10% off on the Stellarmate Pro (limited to the first 100 units ordered!):
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I'm still using it after filming this video, the more I use it the more I love it despite its flaws! And I managed to get better autofocus requiring less exposure time since filming :)
My Patreon: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek
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I spent my 1st year of Astrophotography trying to get Stellarmate to work consistently before switching to NINA which I mastered in a week. So I find your conclusions bang on target, the concept is great but the road to getting it to work with your kit is challenging. Before retirement I was a software test manager so I feel qualified to make these remarks.
And I'm a software product manager, so I think we have the same way of thinking :) If only we could have NINA run on a lightweight LInux with a smartphone app..!
yeah, that is why I went with the ASI air, I already had almost all ZWO shit anyway, except peg astro focus cube, but I just said f it, and bought the EAF, and will also end up with their EFW as well. It's just easier, not worth the hassle of the other options. It's DEF good enough for A LOT of set ups. I can only think if you are using like 4 telescopes on one mount and 8 cams lmfao. or something SUPER bizarre, which those people are likely in an observatory with PC access anyway.
@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten I think that DeepSkyDad's flat panels now work with the ASIair, so if ZWO had got off their butts & offered a good rotator....or rebranded & authorized another manufacturer's rotator....then I may not have switched to NINA and the Eagle (which is awesome & manages power very well). BTW, I'm not sure if DeepSkyDad has got his rotator working with the ASIair..
Im am using the stellarmate package on a raspberry pi and have had a similar experience to what you describe. A lot of initial time/effort investment, but after that it just works. In particular I enjoy the vast range of features and customizability the system offers. After having watched you video I am now quite interested in investing in the stellarmate hardware. Thanky out Cuiv for all the work you have put into informing and educating within the astro photography scene! Truly invaluable.
Exact same experience here. I'm rolling with stellarmate on a rpi4 and am just past the time/effort part and am now in the getting images portion with kstars/ekos.
Me too, I love stellarmate, is not for beginners but it has it all and is very enjoyable to use, you feel like a true profesional observatory.
Thanks for the feedback mate!
Ah geez, I was going to roll with Stellermate on a pi4 8gb model. And a beginner.😢 but um ain't gonna let it stop me. Just gotta pick my scope and mount. See a real beginner.
@@mrbutchee1this is my first setup too. I'm highly technical and can troubleshoot almost all things computer related. For me it was a 4 or 5 out of 10 difficulty level, mostly due to the time constraints around multiple nights with only a few hours at a crack on disparate nights. The time in between did allow me to think about what I was doing a little more and come with fresh ideas the next go around.
Thanks!
Oh wow, thanks so much for your support!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek You give so much good advice. BTW. I ordered the Stellarmate Pro 128Gb last night 🤣
One of the things I like the most about Stellarmate and KStars/Ekos is that you can connect to your rig remotely directly from the desktop app (due to its Client/Server architecture), no need for Remote Desktop (which is limited in resolution and latency). The experience is way better than by using RDC or a tiny mobile app. I also had the problem you describe with the focus module, also with a Newtonian scope.
I ended up using "Gradient" as the star detection method, it works much better now
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Centroid also works ok for Newts. Also don't be afraid to change the algorithm or whatever, from Hypebolic to Quadratic as well as whether it's a single run or multi run focusing method (trying to get to the last FHD number the 2nd time). I just use the fastest one (after trial and error) and try not to focus too many times. The cool thing is, there is also filter offsets can be saved , which is a big relief for us mono camera imagers, I can't believe ZWO still hasn't implemented that in their Asiair.
I really want to give my astro berry another go, first I need to buy a better pi as my old 3b just isn't up to the job really, I think I just never went back to it as I was using my intel nucs with nina
I found Windows remote desktop to be very problematic for this purpose. Signal drop out and reconnection issues are a constant problem with it.
Cuiv nailed it - either put in the work or be imaging with the ASIair.
Thank you so very much for reviewing this Product ! A lot of us out here have been waiting on the StellarMate Pro for a few years now and I'm glad Jasem sent a
review Sample to you . (I did suggest this to him a year ago !) I'm also glad you get to keep this and continue the Review with Updates on your findings . Jasem really needs someone to produce Video Tutorials on this Product to increase its saturation within the Astrophotography family . I think it is a great Product with a lot of potential ! Cheers /SRK
Hi Cuiv! As a Linux Engineer, I will be looking a closer look at KStars and Ekos! I will give those a trial run and if I like it, I may perhaps purchase the Stellarmate Pro! I already like the fact that I can have a client installed on my PC or device to connect to my rig remotely as if I was there without needing a remote desktop utility! KStars and INDI have evolved quite a bit since I first tried using it but now it seems like a lot of more devices are now supported and more being added all the time! There's a lot ZWO consumers that either don't know or don't care to try anything different as ZWO has a pretty well established ecosystem and that will be a hard nut to crack for other vendors. I am glad you made this video as I share your enthusiasm for open source and open hardware without being locked down to a specific ecosystem! Cheers!
Spot on Dave! Thank you as always!!
I can see why people go for the zwo though, I'd say it's more consumer based, more plug N play then the astro berry and stellarmate versions, but, I'm a big fan of them
@@cjuk81 Yes this is true but the problem is if you want to use a different piece of equipment with theirs, cameras for example, they don't allow it. So non-ZWO camera users are forced to use Stellarmate or their own computer and software like NINA. The ASIAir only works with ZWO cameras and this is how they lock you in.
@@deep_space_dave yep, exactly why i dont use the asi air, ive mostly used windows and nina, but only becasue i decided my PI3 wasnt strong enough for Astroberry and never upgraded it because of covid and the shortages of the PIs, i do like Nina though, although i might buy a PI5 and see how i get on with either Astroberry or Stellarmate, and then i might look at getting a tellermate pro box, but we shall see
Great review Cuiv! I started my astrophotography journey with stellarmate on a rpi4 because I'm an open source and linux nut so the tinkering was part of the adventure. After about a year, the autofocus made my imaging nights all-consuming (I had to babysit all night). Eventually I put down the hobby until I saw your review of the AstroPC and decided to jump to NINA/windows. NINA has re-ignighted the hobby for me (thank you!) and at some point I may look to dual-boot the AstroPC between linux-stellarmate and windows/nina to keep up to date with the INDI project. Really glad you're branching out and doing these reviews. Well done!
Linux geek here too, but seen as I only had a pi3 astro berry was slow fore, but. Since Nina came out all those years ago I used that on a nuc. I was looking at this stellarmate box a few months ago when it was announced but so far I don't seem the need yet to change from nina
I spent so many hours overhauling the AF in NINA so it would work across a wide range of equipment :) So I know the pain of AF, NINA used to be pretty bad at that until my code contributions lol
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I think I only had the pleasure of using your code, I didn't have a focuser in the early days so it was all manual, oddly, in a way i still miss manual focus too 😊 I would love though to give one of these stellarmate boxes ago though. Do you think you'll carry on using it in future or will you be sticking to NINA?
It's such a shame that there is practicly no hardware that doesn't use windows software. I keep looking for Linux stuff because win 11 is NOT allowed in my living space. I'm getting sick when I think it's close.
Well, I went ahead and got it. My goal is to take my NYX-101 and my Edge HD 8" up into Rocky Mountain National Park and camp out around 10,000 ft in Bortle class 3 skies. Might even be class 2 at that altitude. I have a new F150 Lightning and I can run a single 110VAC extension cable from my truck over to my mount. And run everything from my truck and the Stellarmate Pro. I can't wait to be up imaging next to a small camp fire, drinking a beer and listening to music getting lost in all the stars. It's what I call paradise. ;0)
Sounds like an amazing plan, just make sure to have all the kinks worked out before your trip :D
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Still working out the kinks. But the Donut Buster is amazing. I had my step size at 10 as my tube length on my moonlite focuser is about 1/2" or 12-13 mm.
Maximum draw outward is 4375. So 0 is all the way in and 4375 is all the way out. Typically within NINA I would have a step size of around 50. But I had to keep the steps small to stay within the CFZ. And it did better but still had problems doing an Autofocus Run. But after checking the Donut Buster Check box and using the default setting, I set my step size to 25 and it worked amazingly well. It actually finished the focus run and said it was 0.90 confident in the focus. I about did a back flip. I'm going to push it to 50 and see if it works as well. As that will definitely get it into the "Donut Zone". Also..... I noticed the exposure length during the autofocus run would change. I set it to 20 seconds and it started with an 80 second exposure. And it varied over the exposures. 20 Seconds, then 60 seconds and then 48 seconds. Now I have an Optilong Ultimate filter and I'm assuming it's compensating for the lower amount of light due to the filter. I haven't set up a manual Filter wheel, but I think I will. I have to say, you have to enjoy challenge, but there have been times I've thought about selling this, as NINA was just so easy to work with. But I'm determined to get this to work and I'm positive I just need to spend some time with the Stellarmate Pro and I'll be happy I did. ;o)
@brod5352 hopefully you ont need to charge that Ford lol
Good video, good explanation, thanks, but the one thing I was waiting for (timestamp 2:15), which was to see the automated process in action, was missing. Excluding the polar alignment, I would have liked to see the, after the initial focusing, 1) guiding alignment (ie slew South to the meridian and CE, 2) slew to target (approximate), 3) near or blind plate solving, 4) centering the target by plate solving, 5) precise autofocus routine, until the beginning of the imaging run. Basically, the steps in which the telescope goes from a parked position to the beginning of the imaging run.
Glad to see you have done a review of this!
I have been using stellarmate for years and it is extremely powerful but you do need to spend time fiddling with it.
I used to run stellarmate OS (raspberry pi version) on my ASI Air hardware and it ran fine and even was able to control the power ports
Last year i moved over to the Stellarmate-X which is running on a Mele-3q and found a significant boost in performance
Have not tried the stellarmate PRO yet, i would be interested to see how the performance compares with the stellarmate-X
Also have had nothing but great experiences reaching out to stellarmate support. Jasem is super helpful :D
Thanks for a super in depth review. Really useful. I'm happily using NINA right now on my MeLE quieter, but that scheduler alone peaks my interest and might well make a change worthwhile.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks so much for putting this out there. Another great video. I use the ASIAIR, but I am now seriously considering using the Stellarmate Pro
Glad it was helpful! Just be aware of the caveats I mentioned in the video!
this looks more than interesting, and you got my attention since i am looking at asi air for some time. please make more indepth videos about it. clear skies!
I used to use indigo on Respberry PI. Very complicated to use. Now switched to a mini pc with N.I.N.A PHD2 ASTAP. Very happy and easy to use. Thanks to your clips for all the knowledge sharing.
Great review Cuiv!!! Really interesting and educational. (and honest, like all your reviews)
I have a pretty solid setup with a mini-PC / NINA but I am tempted to buy this one, if nothing else to reward those who support multiple manufacturers.
It's a different philosophy than NINA for sure, but I'm glad it's there and available!
Wow, a more reasonable price vs. the PrimaLuceLab Eagle computers along with the ability to image directly. Great post.
OK, I have had one of these since you first covered it. I found myself lost in the user interface and trouble doing a manual focus of botht he main camera and the guide camera. Now that winter is comming again and the skys are clear (unlike our very couldy summer here in Maryland) I will run any updates to it and try to get it to work again. Support has been 8-12 hours delayed and the support staff seems to always think I have created the problem - sometime true; but the response never satisfied my needs to get it to run. Add to that that the user documentation was laking at best. So, hopefully things have gotten better. I have a new AM5N comming the day after tomorrow so it will be a good time to do a reset and retry.
I am so frickin excited that Jasem et al have come through with this package, I have been dreaming of this for some time. Absolutely great work by the INDI developers!! I'm glad the fire under their ass is burning in this fashion and I can't wait to implement their tech in my setup!
Agree!
Cuiv you are a legend. Thank you so much for going to this effort to make such an informative video.
I am about to make the leap from running my rig using a laptop hard wired with cables, to one of these systems. This information is super useful. I really wanted to get into using NINA, because I like the UI and the functionality. However as great as it is, it still doesn’t support my camera (Nikon Z7ii) despite many attempts on my part to get around the connectivity problem. However my camera works just fine with APT, and by the sounds of it ASIAir will support it as well. Which is kind of ironic.
My main issue with the ASIAir is as you say “being forced to adopt a certain ecosystem… to a large degree” so I have also been waiting for something like this to come along. I am a software engineer myself and a massive geek, so I think the Stellarmate will suit me down to the ground. And hopefully its adoption will encourage ASI to eventually open up their platform.
All the best, and love the channel.
Wow - shipping was fast. Just received the Stellarmate pro yesterday afternoon (4 days after ordering - impressive). Connected it up in 15mins using a tablet as recommended and using the quick start guide and all seems fine. Noticed that the XT60 to DC is I think a 5525 female connector. Fortunately I had a XT60 female to cigarette plug laying around. Unfortunately I am not a Bortle 9 member and had cloudy rainy miserable skies. Astropheric says “maybe” on Saturday/Sunday night.
Thank you so much for this review! You were very through. I am a long time user of indi / ekos, and I have learned some things from your video that I did not know! I've used it on raspberry 2's intel atoms, and lately on a mele. It suits my use perfectly. I am a software developer and am comfortable fixing issues or adding features if needed so I normally just install indi / ekos on a computer running linux, and am quite happy to use vnc from my desktop or phone to access my telescope. I really do like stellarmate though, and hope that it only increases in popularity as the more people using it, the more polished it will get. I have personally purchased a licence for the stellarmate OS for my raspberry pi and do agree that it is very user friendly, but has some warts. I use my own home brew version as I like to modify the software to my needs.
Wow, thanks a lot for putting so much effort into the review of this piece of equipment! I think it is great that this product exists and that you made this video, because yes indeed, it will help more hobbyists without too much concern with money to get into astrophotography. That said, considering the very high price point and the fact that it isn't really a plug-and-play solution and that a lot of time will sink into configuration and troubleshooting, the DIY mini-PC solution that you discussed is definitely worth considering. In fact, a very similar (arguably better) setup can be built for less than $100 and a couple hours of hands-on time: an old raspberry pi (or other SBC) + an HDMI dummy dongle (for remote desktop) + a DC power distribution box + ubuntu desktop + ekos. I say arguably better because it will be a lot lighter, modular, use a lot less power, and be truly open. I believe that the only missing feature of significance will be the controller for the dew heater (add $90 or DIY in 2 hours).
I'm not sure about the lighter and less power part but I personally much prefer to have all that in a single box :)
Jasem does great work on the whole ecosystem (from Indi drivers, to KStars/Ekos, to StellarmateOS, to the mobile/tablet app and now the Stellarmate Pro). I sometimes use the mobile/iPad app on my Apple Silicon MBP but all in all, I usually just use VNC to connect to my RPi5. Thanks for the review, instructive as always, and all the features (dew heater control and all) make me drool and I just might be considering moving from my RPi5/StellarmateOS to the Stellarmate Pro :)
How do you like the RPi5?
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I like it a lot and it's perfect at what I use it for : Retro gaming; Backyard Astrophoto. It's really much faster than the RPi4 I used before.
Thanks for the very informative video. One significant benefit of this device would be when using long focal length telescopes. As you mentioned in your video, the ASIAIR plus can’t polar align for scopes in the 2400 mm fl region. It will give an error message with respect to the too small field of view. I end up using a reducer to get the scope into the 1500 mm fl region and ASIAIR will grudgingly allow for polar alignment and slewing to target. I contacted ASIAIR to see if they intended to expand database for longer focal length scopes, but that is not in their plans.
That's a shame on the ASIAir, but then I get they simply don't want to change what is essentially a money printing machine!
Excellent review. Nothing hidden. Exactly like my experience with KStars/EKOS, the underlying software of StellarMate.
Hi Cuiv.Yes I built several INDI servers (SBC, dew control, motor control, USB hub). They are a bit sad compared to this though. The main problem with the DIY ones using a pi or similar SBC are the power control, USB bandwidth and the wifi signal. Also you won't have adroid/iphone interface. This looks like they ironed out all the hardware issues in a compact box. I am tempted.
Yes INDI supports every bit of hardware I have from not just ZWO. Of course it is more versatile and hence more complex. Looks like you are sold.
Thanks, a Great Review of the Product. Definitely interested.
Also need to ask, what Cameras, do you use on your Scope.
The Wedge I like is the AM5, would it come with Straps, to support the Rail, to the Scope.
I use a Meade LX200. 10"
Thanks bye..
🍎🍉🍔
Excellent review. I’m curious about how the artificial horizon, and I’m pretty excited about this little device! Please give us updates from time to time on this, if you can!
Will do Jeff! I've been using this thing night after night after night :)
Well done. Thanks so much for your Reviews and all other very valueable vids and Information !
Top
Much appreciated!
The touptek mini pc is also released today, which claims that it can support astro gears of all brands instread of just zwo. Looking forward to your review on this new mini PC!
Hey Cuiv, Regarding the price I just added a Pegasus Power Box Micro to my grab and go alongside an asiair mini (about $200 each). The stellarmate more closely matches the higher end version of these products in a single enclosure. From that, I figure its great value. I gotta say the limited output power of the AM5 and the ASIair let the whole ZWO show down. They need to fix this to fight this kind of competition.
Great video, I will actually call it Eagle killer ! because ZWO is stil competitive by price, but Eagle seems clearly replaced with this amazing option
Open source is the main benefit for most to moving to something like this vs price.
Not if you want to use NINA though
I suspect the developer will address a lot of the initial setup over time. As I use a mini PC and a Pegasus power box, I have no need to replace my existing system, but the all-in-one hardware solution would be pretty appealing if I didn't already have the power box. Also at this point I'm pretty attached to NINA...
Stellarmate has had a year already to solve these issues. Will it take another year or two to fix?
Stellarmate has had a year already to solve these issues. Will it take another year or two to fix?
Stellarmate has had a year already to solve these issues. Will it take another year or two to fix?
Stellarmate has had a year already to solve these issues. Will it take another year or two to fix?
Stellarmate has had a year already to solve these issues. Will it take another year or two to fix?
You are correct that this is a challenging piece of hardware. Took me the better part of a week to figure out all the port issues I had. But I found the Stellarmate Tutorial regarding the Port Assistant. The port assistant made it easy to fix all the port problems. Just fixed my mount problem. The Port Assistant did it's job, but I had the speed all wrong. I had it at 19200 and it wanted to be at 115200. Once I changed to the faster speed it connected immediately, so now all my hardware, mount, two focusers and two cameras all connect first time every time. Took me a moment to figure out how to get KStars to work. I had failed to turn on the web server and as soon as I did, all the functionality I was missing showed up. So now all I have to do is set up my cameras, and get my auto focus routine in order. I found that Hocus Focus has similar issues with donut shaped stars. I had to change back to NINA as Hocus Focus on the larger stars would show the HFR as 0. And then the next image would be 6.5 and then down to 4.4 and then 3.6 etc . So I do understand how frustrating that can be. I have an 8" Edge HD with a 2.5" Moonlite Focuser. I also use Pegasus Astros SCOPS OAG because I'm lazy and don't want to have to go outside and adjust the focus on my OAG every time I do an autofocus routine. My mount is a NYX 101 and as long as I have a really good calibration with PHD2 and a really good Polar alignment, I can get sub 1 arc second subs at 1422mm all the time. The weather hasn't been co-operating at all lately, so I haven't had a chance to use the Stellarmate in an imaging session yet. But I'm hoping to this weekend.
now we just need to see what minipc touptek is about to release, zwo really needed some competition
Yes ZWO does need some competition and I am here for it. I am considering the Stellarmate Pro to replace my AA+ that I will be phasing out due to ZWO crap customer service.
There is also a product by iOptron known as the iMate. I know absolutely nothing about it thus far, but it might be another option to look into.
Originally used Ekos and KStars direct Linux KDE PC connection for must be 7-8 years now and moved to 2x StellarMates OS on RPIs a few years ago. Initially earning curve is well worth it. Jassem is a really nice guy and his support is exceptional. INDI is the equivalent to ASCOM but more dynamic.
Hi Cuiv
Do you think this may eventually force ZWO into unlocking their closed system?
No. ZWO is running the same stuff in the background they locked it down. They’re in violation of the open source licenses for all this software as well. You see they’re supposed to release the source code for everything that they modified as well as credit the projects that they are using. They provide no notice of the open source software used at all. They’re literally profiting of of the work of others, i.e. theft.
No, locking the ASIAir is a gold mine for ZWO. You'd need another "easy as 1 2 3" solution for them to even think about it
Hey Cuiv. I got the Stellarmate pro. You are right it is not as easy as 123. But I am encouraged and would like to explore using it a lot more. Is there any chance you could make more videos about this and how you setup different things in more details like you did for NINA? Most of the videos for Stellarmate are like 2-6 years old.
i started usingbthe StellarMate OS on a Raspberry Pi and was frustrated with frequent disconnections over WiFi, but that might have been more an RPi problem… this certainly looks like a nice hardware package
Nice Review! I would like to point out you can control your dew heaters with the ASI Air, it requires the ZWO DC Y splitter cable, which has RCA female ends. You can then set up one of the 12v DC out to support the dew heater.
It is really nice to see a bit of competition coming at ZWO and the ASIAir.
Stellaramate has been around for years. ZWO stole from a bunch of open source projects to make the ASIAir and is in violation of the licenses for all that software. That is one reason that I do not buy their products. QHY makes better cameras anyway.
That's nice on the ASIAir! Can the power to those dew heaters be controlled using temperature and humidity??
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Sadly no the ASIAir doesn’t monitor outside temps / humidity. To power your dew heaters with the ASIAir and the Y cable you use one of the 12vdc ports in PWM, you choose dew heater in drop down, and can set it to a percentage power level. I usually just turn them on if I am worried about the dew point. I am powering everything through mains power. Temp and humidity sensor would greatly benefit some who uses just battery power.
Again I want to thank you for your dedication, I enjoy your videos very much.
@@ScoobyJoobyJew the airs power is not great. I had to remove my Dew heaters from it and put them on their own controller as I could hear buzzing coming from the air which unsettled me slightly. It got worse over time so felt like I was trying to draw more power than could be supplied. As soon as I removed them the buzzing went away.
@@andrewweller5119 I have had no issues but I will keep an eye on it. Did you happen to note the current draw being reported by the ASIAir? I’ll have double check but in my case, I don’t believe the dew heaters together drew much over 1 amp @ 100%. I use Dew Not heaters.
I started by building a RPi4 box and bought Stellarmate OS. Most of my difficulties were with getting the autofocus to work with my C8. I feel your pain. I eventually moved to N.I.N.A. mainly out of frustration with updates introducing bugs that would wreak havoc with what few clear nights were available to me. In retrospect moving from StellarMate to NINA has an amusing aspect: with the former I was dealing with bugs in the control software but never with the OS. Now I am often dealing with OS issues but rarely with any in the control software.
Hahaha that is such an apt summary! By the way I'm the reason the AF in NINA works so seamlessly on SCTs :) I spent hours building exactly the right code that would work for my Newt, my SCT, my refractor, and multiple camera sensors :)
@@CuivTheLazyGeek .. and because of you I own a Mele Quieter2.
.. and the reason I own a RisingCAM IMX571 OSC! Ha! Many, many thanks! :)
Really love your channel.
I’ve used stellarmateOS and astroberry on raspberry pi. It just reminds me the experience of ccd era 20 years ago i.e. lots of frustrations and setup time before actual imaging. Understand we are spoiled by ASIAir nowadays, i’m really skeptical of Stellatemate platform. Looking forward to your update and long term use of StellarmatePro before I’m convinced it is a product comparable to ASIAir and PC/NINA ecosystems.
I’ve been using StellarMate for years. When you use it on a Raspberry Pi you need to use a powered USB HUB in order to avoid issues. Using a USB wireless adapter helps as well since it extends the range of the wireless. The new StellarMate X and StellarMate Pro controllers however are much more powerful that a Raspberry Pi. BTW. The ASIAir is just a Raspberry Pi running a modified version of AstroBerry. ZWO is literally stealing others work to make a profit.
Sorry to know that!
I have been using Stellarmate OS on Raspberry Pi4 since more thatn 2 years now. Infact, I have 3 full systems running Stellarmate OS. Believe me... no hiccups, no issues, quick setup, just fun and photography. And I truly am fan of Stellarmate.
Completely understand! Long term is the most important
Thank you for your detailed explanation of the Stellarmate Pro, Cuiv! You make learning new things easier!😃
Thank you very much for your reply 🙌 it seems like I’ll be able to use my Fuji cameras on this platform 👍 very promising 👍
Be aware that as I recall Fuji uses a very weird Bayer Pattern, that not all processing software will support!
I have the stellarmate software running on my RP 3 and 4 for a few years, and it generally works well if you vnc into it. I was a beta tester. The gui running on tablets and iPad has problems, so I stopped using it. There are also issues where the software upgrades would break a piece of software requiring reinstall of the os or reinstalling a piece of software.
I am hoping these issues are resolved.
I will start using it soon.
Yep, it's so close, and really good, but the ease of use doesn't go to the level of the ASIAir...
Basically its a stellarmate rpi and a pegasus power box all in one. I have been using astroberry since 2014, but with a lot of frustrating problems. in the last two years I moved from the rpi 4b to a Leibre computer aml 903 based sbc (le potato) with ubuntu 24.02 and Ekos and INDI library installed. I use Ekos for windows in a remote mode from my home. Since this set up never a problem. So Im thinking the Rpi was my weak link. So I would think maybe Jasom is ditching the Rpi for a more robust sbc. Me thinking out loud. Thanks Quiv for all you do for our community.
Ahhhhh!!!!! Je le savais !!!!! Je reçois le mien mardi prochain!!!! Tu fais trop bien tes vidéos Mon Cher Ami!!!!
Genial!! Tu vas pouvoir t'amuser quand tu le recevras!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Ah ça c'est certain!! On a eu in très beau ciel hier à Severac (Loire Atlantique) et j'en ai bien profité
On a finalement reçu le nôtre Mon Preciiiieux!!!!,😈😈😈
@@No_no83 woohoo, have fun!
Too late for me as I’m heavily invested in ZWO but I’m pleased to see this as hopefully a bit of competition will encourage ZWO to improve features on the ASIair
not just features. i would wish, they open if for other brand cameras as well. this is one of the few things I really hate about the asiair. (btw. i own the + and a mini)
I’ve used Stellarmate on a pi and Astroberry ;now use a Pegasus power box and an Intel nuc more flexible Nina or others . This one looks good combining both and without the Windows issues. Ekos takes a bit of learning and I too have had bugs but the author is easy to contact and usually sought things out .
Cliff
I used a raspberry with ekos/kstars for about 1 year, then I switched to a mini pc with NINA and.....i will never go back :D I love nina and all its features :D
NINA is awesome :) Windows updates less awesome lol
Very interesting device. Obviously you put a lot of work into the review. Many thanks.
Thanks so much Rick!
Dear Cuiv! thanks a lot for the great video. I'm also testing Stellarmate OS on a Raspberry 5 + the new Saddle Powerbox from Pegasus Astro, which is awesome regarding cable management. I just have a huge problem using the Toupcam 2600 with IMX571 sensor. My whole indi profile / image train gets unstable (no gps fix via usb dongle, crashes) when this camera is included. I dont have those troubles using the zwo planetary cam. You have the same Toupcam in addition if I remember correctly. Would you be so nice, trying to connect your train (guider, focuser, all the same) but using the bigger touptec camera? thanks a lot!
Thanks for the support Andreas! I likely won't switch cameras because that's a pain for my flats, but I can try connecting the IMX571 Touptek and see what happens
@@CuivTheLazyGeek thank you! That would be enough.. no imaging Session needed just connecting it via USB together with all the other imaging train & see if everything works (gps, shuttling down Indi and starting again. But I'm also in contact with stellarmate and sent them a bunch of debug log Files. Let's hope for the best 🤙
Hi again. So 2 things I wanted to share with you after working with stellarmate support. For the gps not obtaining a fix under some conditions: a new module will be part of the next image version but can already be installed manually: "sudo apt-get -y install gpsd-clients"
2) occasional crashes of Ekos / Kstars when Spinning up device connections: after compiling and running the nice Ekos debugger tool on Debian bookworm (due newer raspberry 5 OS image .. Jasem added the Ekos debug built yesterday to the default debian ARM repo for easy install) we could figure out that some faulty dark files have been the cause .. after removing them from /home/stellarmate/.local/share/kstars/darks ... Everything looks promising now
I am very happy to see this product. I used Stellarmate for a couple years then switched to NINA due to frustrations with the RPi - the need to coble together the hardware to operate from 12V, to provide more USB ports - and no satisfactory package for it. I am very happy with NINA but miss some of the features of Stellarmate. There are some good ideas in this product which should establish some feature targets for ASIAir and NINA & others.
Great features. Helps immensely in cable management and looks amazing. It's a hit.
Cuiv , I have the Pegasus power box and having trouble with it, I was thinking about buying something else and lookinging into the Stellarmate , could I use NINA with it and through its hotspot ?
Steve
The stellarmate can't run NINA unfortunately - it would be so nice to have a ready to use smartphone controlled NINA box...
Thx for getting back I know your busy with the channel and watch all your videos ... Stay well hope your weather clears sometime this year
It should be noted that Stellarmate X is more comparable to the ASI Air Plus. You may also purchase your own Raspberry Pi 4B and load Stellarmate OS which is identical to the pricier systems, but running on RPi hardware---albeit slower, but functionally complete. Excellent review, Cuiv! Got me all juiced up again about mine!
I’ve just switched to a mini pc with NINA after trying ASIAir. ASIAir doesn’t work well with my AVX mount and C8 SCT. Will revisit when ZWO issues next ASIAir software release.
Excellent review, I do love Nina, but I will admit and jealous of the way the scheduler works in that software. I'd appreciate maybe an update in a month or two of the software, it might also be good to basically reset it to factory default and go back through the setup again to see if the setup has improved at all since you first reviewed it. Obviously that's a lot of work, so I can understand if you aren't privy to it. Having said that this looks really promising and I can't tell you how many times windows updates have screwed me over despite me hard disabling them in the system. I'm at a point now where I check for windows updates and process those updates prior to a nights session so I don't get hosed.
Yeah NINA is amazing (and I do love the advanced scheduler with Orbuculum plugin) but Windows updates.....
Thank you for another great presentation. Based on your pros and cons, my best scenario is ZWO improve ASIAir, like dome control. As my age, most important thing is enjoying astroimaging itself not learning new technologies and how to operate. I also have limited but few unsatisfactory support from Stellarmate customer service team. Maybe you are getting special attention from Stellarmate. I have no complaint with ASIAir so far.
As long as you're in the ZWO ecosystem and are willing to stay in, the ASIAir is great! Although I wouldn't hold my breath for dome control...
I've been playing around with the SM for years. I bought it when it first came out. Never, not once, did I ever capture one single photon with it. Every update release, I dusted it off and tried again. Still no joy. As you said, I lost a lot of rare clear nights because of this gizmo. I used SGP for a while before the ASI Air was released. I bought the Air and found out the hard way it didn't support my Pegasus, QHY and Primaluce Lab gear. Had to replace everything with ZWO gear. Not too happy about it, but the trade off was that the Air worked right out of the box. Every single time.
Now I'm updating my Sky Shed Pod to the new Pod S which is fully automated. Of course the Air won't control it. I bought a mini PC and loaded it with NINA, PHD2 and ASTAP. NINA is a very complex program if you want to take full advantage of all it's functionality. (The Air spoiled me). I was interested in the new SM hoping that all the bugs were worked out of it based on the new platform and integration of KStars and Ekos in one package. And the elimination of having to use VNC to interact with the SM. Looks like they still have a long way to go as far as the bugs are concerned. I really don't want to go down that road again.
I found a tutorial that shows how to augment the AIR OS with the Astroberry OS, and opens up the full INDI library. Which also keeps the simplicity of the Air. Thanks for your review on this and all others you've done. But for me, a $600 USD gamble on something that's questionable without some serious tinkering on my part is a hard pass. I've already lost more clear nights because of the SM, I'm in no rush to repeat that again. Clear Skies!
My Mele Quiter 4C began having booting problems 2 nights ago. After cycling on and off 9 times it finally booted. Last night after a dozen times, I reverted to laptop direct control (undesirable by comparison). Have you heard of this problem? I would show an initial start screen with the Intel Logo then go blank - back and forth but never fully boot and never connect to wifi of course
I haven't heard of this problem, no... but if it's the Quieter 4C you should still be under warranty no? Please contact them about this issue!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I found that one can reset the Quieter in a few ways. MELe has a couple of videos on the subject. I used a method that did not delete all my files but it is not consistently establishing a remote desktop. There is also a reset button on the side with the HDMI ports. I don't know what will happen if I do that. In a reply from the manufacturer, a BIOS updat is to be released. She said she would send me the directions to install that when it becomes available. Thanks, Cuiv. - Joe
Here’s another suggestion for you to explore and that’s trying a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB with a metal enclosure (costs have come down now) and running Stellaware OS. I’m going to give a go, as although I have 3 Asiair’s, I use a Celestron dew controller on my HD11. So the Asiair mini on that scope isn’t controlling the dew ring. The Asi2600mc pro can be powered via the Celestron dew heater dc output. I totally agree with your conclusions as when I started, I bought a laptop etc but was totally overwhelmed with NINA and so when the Asiair came along it was a game changer for me. But I since then, I’ve only ever bought ZWO hardware. There are other camera brands that use the same sensors that are a lot cheaper but you just can’t use with the Asiair. I’m waiting for a ZWO field rotator to come out, yet there are others available now, if only there was another way, and perhaps now there is :)
You can control dew heaters with the ASI AIR PLUS, though. It has a powermanagement for its four power outlets. You can step from 0-100% power in 10% increments.
Nice! You do need an adapter for most dew heaters though, right? Also a bit worried about the total available power to the ASIAIR ports - and can they use temp data to change the power to the dew heater automatically?
you do need an adapter, but it's not that big a deal. ZWO's adapter can power 2 dew heaters with one power port and costs like...$10? Doesn't take much power, but I no, I don't believe the temp can be changed automatically, you have to manually set it.@@CuivTheLazyGeek
the dew heaters I had, had a fitting plug. I guess it depends on the brand of the dew heater and the region you buy it in. There is no option to use temp data. I am running a cooled cam, autofocuser, filterwheel, guidecam, 2 dew heaters and Ioptron CEM40 mount via the ASIAIR Plus and I have no problems with the power. It is just around 2.5 A when slewing, less when shooting. @@CuivTheLazyGeek
looks really good and if i hadn't recently bought a mini PC and mounted it on the scope with NINA I might have considered it.
Also, I still think the ASIAIR does a great job for around half the price! i still use one of those on my Refractor on the EQ6-R Pro. it works great and just does what it's meant to do. Makes you wonder why all the other bit of software out are so complicated. The storage on the air has never been an issue either. i have it on Ethernet so file transfer and operation is a dream.
they need to stop releasing new and shiny things to tempt me.
I blame you for my change from ASIAIR to NINA but now that I understand its complexities I love it. so thank you.
Hahaha I'm so glad I could corrupt you into using NINA, maybe I can corrupt you into using this? :D But seriously, if you're comfortable with NINA, keep using it!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I am loving Nina. The only thing about it that I am still having issues with is setting up the auto focus properly as I'm found the step size, in and out settings to be a little confusing. And the routine really doesn't like it when I swap from the.l-pro to the l-ulitmate. On the air i just set the number of steps for the focuser to move for the backlash and it just worked. I am getting there but it's been a journey shall we say.
Great review. many thanks
I'm currently setting up INDI on a TV box with Armbios (real cheap hardware), and it looks very usable. I really like it. Stiill dealing with auto AP when no WiFi available an other issues (the hard work of DIY 🙂), but it look very promising
I'm now using Kstars/Ekos desktop, but will check any of the tablet/mobile apps.
the use is quite similar to Stellarmate except no control over power supplies 😞
Thanks for your review, very useful
Interesting how this pans out. I jumped the other way from Stellarmate (on PI) over to a HP mini pc running N.I.N.A - N.I.N.A on a mini pc has been pretty solid in comparison to my experience on Stellarmate.
NINA is excellent for sure - still have it on my other rig!
Great to see this hardware for Stellarmate and your review. I really enjoy Linux and really wanted to use Rpi and I have tried Astroberry, Indigo as well as Stellarmate OS but ended up in loosing imaging time due to issues. I never went to ASIAIR as I have other devices which are not ZWO so are not compatible with it. Since I went to a mini PC loaded with ASCOM, NINA, PHD2, SharpCap, Astrosurface, Firecap and ASTAP I have not looked back. I now have a Mele Quieter 3Q which has been great. The Stellarmate hardware is very expensive especially for the 128GB version, but I just hope that they have got the bugs out so that it is as reliable as other options. The Stellarmate Pro 128GB does come in around the same price as a Pegasus PPB Advance and Mini PC.
Yep, miniPC + NINA works great! Just windows updates can me painful
Even though I am in the ZWO ecosystem, This is something I may buy to try out later on down the line. If I decide to go mono, I am looking at OGMA cameras, and this would be great to use with that camera. I will be keeping an eye on this. I may want to switch out my AAP and if I really like the Stellarmate, I can just pack my AAP away or sell it.
Sounds great! If you do buy OGMA, make sure to use coupon CUIV during checkout for a small rebate!
Are you continuing to use this system? After a few months, what are you seeing as the good/bad of the Stellarmate Pro?
Still using it! Switching between it and NINA - and even when using NINA it's my power distributor :) Same impressions as before
I've finally bit the bullet and ordered the SM pro..
I love Kstars anyway, So should be great
Congrats! If you're already used to KStars, you're going to love it!
Thanks for the video Cuiv. A couple of questions, Polar alignment routine?, I would like to see how you set up the guiding as well What differences is there in the guiding compared to the asiair?
I'll probably show the PAA in an upcoming mount review - for guiding I remember just pressing the start button and it working
Great video I was looking at one of these or the eagle to get out of being in a closed platform.
Thank you!
Great review again! Makes me want to test it!
Hi Cuiv, I had bought stellarmate os already based on your earlier video for creating a smart telescope.
I was also glad that there is an alternative of zwo asi air, but I had lots of issue earlier like guiding related issue that it can't able to guide.
It is still sometime so frustrated that I don't even image in nights because of that.
For stellarmate pro, other then the hardware, there is no difference on software side if you bought stellarmate os already.
Thanks for the feedback! You are right, although it does seem like the software has gone a long way
Great to see an alternative to the ASIAir as I have a QSI camera and a non ZWO focus motor both of which I really like. I use the ASIAir with my ZWO gear and it works well but I really object to ZWO’s attitude. I’m not even sure their use of other people’s code is implemented legally! Hope the bugs are ironed out on this new product soon. Looks really promising.
Yeah I know the feeling about the ASIAir... It's such a good piece of kit but it does stand on the shoulders of giants!
that looks good, im using an old computer connected to my main computer in the house via remote view, the old computer is on its last legs only a matter of time cant cope with the weather i dont think ( home made obsy) cheers
Hope the old computer survives for a bit
How does it cope with planetary data frame rate speeds- a real drawback of the Asiair. Can it throw these over wifi so you don’t need a usb3 cable to use Firecapture?
I doubt it does..
This review is a great review. It might get me back into a very disappointing astro hobby that was full of faulty equipment, at that time. I'll watch this space close. Thanks for the review Cuiv.
Hi Cuiv, love the channel. I have been using EKOS for some years now. Have done some of the driver development on iOptron / PEC for indi. My newt is a F3.7 and i use ZWO narrowband filters. So i know what you mean about focus issues. Just some thoughts for you to speed up focusing. Set you camera binning to max or 4x4, to get brightest stars ... with this i only expose for 2 seconds. In settings => increase your box size to max 256 px ... this allows for larger donuts to be detected. Go full field with Annulus 20% and 80% this give you a better detection surface and avg focus across your image. In Process => Sep Profile 2-allstars is pretty robust and algorithm Polynomial is quickest ... in mechanics => I use a ASI EAF which has a small step size ... Intail step of 100 / max travel 400 / max step 200 ... And lastly know the rough focus position and save it as a preset in your focus driver. then when you start up go to the default focus first before autofocus ... I know this is a pfaff , but these are narrow band filters on a fast newt ... Hope you come right mate.
I did try Stellarmate on raspberry pi 4 but the experience was terrible back then so I moved to Asi Air. Also, what filter did you use? I see quite big halo. I remember your test of Altair Duo 4nm and you commented that you will do a test on a brighter star for the halo, which I haven't seen and I'm planning to get this filter (Ha + OIII).
Likewise wise my experience with stellarmate was some what disappointing , I bought the ASIAIR plus and never looked back such a great product.
As usual....thank you Cuiv
Clear skys 🔭
Cheers and clear skies!
Curious. I'm new to the hobby and I keep seeing these type of wifi devices. I live in the woods with tons of trees. I have good darkness but limited wifi capabilities as I need to leave my home to shoot. What are yours or anyone's suggestions?
These devices create their own Wifi hotspot - they don't need any other available network. It's a peer to peer connection, it would work in the middle of the desert :)
I bought Stellarmate O.S. in 2019.
I used it for about a year and a half. Then later I moved on to N.I.N.A.
I still have the Raspberry 4 with Stellarmate, but what I never really liked was the autofocus module. He always had problems. Furthermore, it often refocus between photos.
So far fewer images are taken. With N.I.N.A. sometimes 30-40 photos pass before I do it again. With Stellarmate also every photo or every 5.
Once they connected with my PC and with the Raspberry via Teamviewer, because that version no longer recognized my HEQ5 PRO.
I continue to keep it and update it because Stellarmate OS is paid. I will try to use it again.
Good luck!
There is another way you can access this remote computer (I think not mentioned). You can actually connect to the computer without VNC, you just install kstars/EKOS on your computer, tell it it has a remote slave EKOS by adding the IP address of the stellarmate pro, then you can operate the software on your desktop itself and it sends commands back to the slave computer, and images/info is sent to your desktop (not via VNC). This is most useful for a fast home setup though, where VNC or ideally stellarmate app is better for remote setups.
Wow, what a great and super in depth review, how did it get to almost 50 mins?
I wish I could say my experience with Stellarmate support even approached yours. I found them to be non responsive or passing off problems as caused by my hardware being broken - it was not. After weeks of frustration I went back to NINA and have been running without issue.
I like this direction, but think we need a mini PC solution that will allow us to run N.I.N.A, PHD2, ect... but have all the power and usb support this product has.
Something like the AstroPC Pro I reviewed on the channel before? :)
What is the max. amount of current that the 12V outputs can serve? Is it possible to drive a mount via the 12V outputs? (with the 12V outputs of the ASIair I got trouble if I connect my mount, so I use a separate power supply for it) Does Stellarmate Pro display the actual current of each 12V output port?
Thanks Cuiv! Will you be doing a video on the polar alignment routine? I’m curious how it compares to NINA’s. 🙏
Maybe as part of a review of a mount I'm working on!
Hi, what a really wonderful video. I’m thinking of getting one of these units but can I power it directly from my Jackery battery or do I need to have a cable running to my pc/laptop? At the moment everI have is ZWO which as you know is able to be used over wi-if. The only cables are those connecting kit too the ASIAIR, can I use the sm in the same way?
Just power it from your battery, and your laptop or phone can connect to it over wifi
Nice to know a more complex alternative. Competition is always good for everyone. Being new to astronomy, even as a geek (IT engineer). This hobby has a lot to learn besides tech. I spent my life (30 years) running and solving tech. I can only spend limited time learning about the stars in this new hobby. So, messing with the tech/driver issue will be the last thing I want to do. Less and KISS are my current principles in astronomy as long as I can observe the heaven.
If KISS is your philosophy, then ASIAir is good (IF you are willing to wall yourself into the ZWO garden), or Windows + NINA. My approach is long term laziness: suffer at first, the reap the rewards for a long, long time!
Absolutely love the channel. Thank you so much for the awesome content. Hoping someone can answer this. The Stellarmate pro is presumably a Linux pc under the hood, running Stellarmate OS?
So does this mean you can install other software and use it? For example could you install Stellarium and use that to control your mount?
Also.. if you access the Stellarmate using the desktop environment, can you change the theme, to make the windows and headings dark red to help our eyes adjust? Or is the desktop interface locked to that light grey, which will blind you while out shooting?
This video is, as always, really helpful. I am waiting for delivery of the SM pro and have purchased the unit to attach it to my vixen bar but could you show/explain how you power the SM.
Hi, Quiv sorry to bother you again but the Astronomy shop here either will not or cannot answer my questions.
Can I use the cables from the ASIAIR such as powering the StellarMate from the am5 mount and in the ASIAIR there is a looping in the guide setting is there a similar feature on the SM.
For your flat frames, didn't you want to focus first for that particular filter? Maybe you had left it set up from the night before with the same filter and it was already pretty close to being focused.
Contrary to what you've heard, small focus changes don't matter at all for flat frames (I've got an older video on the topic)
I've been looking forward to this review for a while since I spotted it on one of your videos Cuiv, shame there isn't a simpler to use version as there seems to be a lot of head scratching to get it to run. However it does look good & I hope they improve the autofocus when using a Newtonian as I do use one & a RASA which also has the central obstruction. I really hope improvements will be made & we do finally get a successor to the ASi air as it's been a long time coming, fingers crossed & clear skies.
Hmmm I wonder if future stellarmate pro's will get the Cuiv stamp of approval?
We shall see! I now have the AF figured out, and the SM Pro is still sitting atop my Newt, imaging night after night! Right now it's a workhorse!
I've used stellarmate on a Pi and MiniPC and unfortunately, I can't recommend it as a platform. I've had connection issues where the App and server fall out of sync and I'm forced to kill the App to get connection again. I also dislike that the live stacking takes place on the App which means the App needs to download images from the server before it can plate solve and stack.
Same here. Worst experience ever
yes, the mobile app and stellarmate OS have always been buggy on the RPi. Get ready to be a beta tester if you go with this!
I bought one last week and now I am setting it up. I did get the 10% off. Thank you 😁