Star Adventurer Mini Pro Kit

I haven’t received it yet. Should if I?

I think this is a very neat piece of equipment. The manual leaves a little bit to be desired that is why we are reviewing it on my blog and going by the numbers to show what we have encountered and that my light make it easier for others to understand. The mount gets 5 stars though. Link to article being done is belowhttp://daveshorizon.blogspot.com/p/star-adventurer_9.html?m=0Clear skies!

The product works great... as advertised. The phone app is wonderful, and makes tracking the sun, moon and stars very easy. The High Point representatives were friendly and helpful... to a point. I told the sales rep what I wanted to do, and that I was using a Nikon P900. He had to look up the camera, because he came back on the phone saying, "Oh, I see... it's the Coolpix P900". He then recommended the Star Adventurer Mini. I noticed that the full size version was only $20 bucks more, and said if I'm going to spend $360, what's another 20 to get the more heavy duty version. He convinced me that the Mini is all that I needed, and I wish now I would have stood firm and ordered the full size one. I was excited to get the product, and spent 4 hours reading all the ... MoreThe product works great... as advertised. The phone app is wonderful, and makes tracking the sun, moon and stars very easy. The High Point representatives were friendly and helpful... to a point. I told the sales rep what I wanted to do, and that I was using a Nikon P900. He had to look up the camera, because he came back on the phone saying, "Oh, I see... it's the Coolpix P900". He then recommended the Star Adventurer Mini. I noticed that the full size version was only $20 bucks more, and said if I'm going to spend $360, what's another 20 to get the more heavy duty version. He convinced me that the Mini is all that I needed, and I wish now I would have stood firm and ordered the full size one. I was excited to get the product, and spent 4 hours reading all the instructions and familiarizing myself with it. It was only when I began to actually set it up with my camera that I realized the P900 doesn't have an input for the SNAP feature, so the Mini could control the shutter release of my camera during the time lapse astrophotography sessions. (Heads up: the SNAP cable doesn't come included with the unit anyway.) I called back the next day and told them the unit wouldn't work with my camera. After checking to make sure I wasn't mistaken, the sales rep said I could return it and get a refund. He said the return department would send an email by the end of the day with some information to include on the return package. The email never came (and still hasn't - two weeks later.) So after a couple of days, I decided to give the unit a try without connecting it to my camera. Turns out it still does the same basic thing. I just align it with Polaris, set the unit to run, and set my camera on one of its own time lapse settings. So while the Mini isn't controlling the shutter of my camera, the end result is the same as far as I can tell. Now the problem is that the Mini is not strong enough to handle my P900 and the Bescor Pan/Tilt Head I have for fine tuning those tight shots. (A ball head doesn't cut it when you're zoomed to 2000 mm and trying to center Jupiter and her moons in the frame. I need the Bescor for that.) So as long as I have the Bescor and P900 inline with the polar alignment axis of the Mini, it works just fine. But if I want to shoot something off to the left or right of the polar axis, the weight of the equipment is too much for the Mini to bear, and it will stop working within minutes.I would love to swap the Mini out for the full version, but I think it might be too late for that now. I will probably buy the heavy duty one on my own, and try to sell the Mini on Craig's List or something.Anyway, aside from never getting the return email, the High Point people were great. And aside from the Mini being a little too weak for my set up, it is a fantastic product, and I'd recommend it to anyone.Mike Boll