Not had the opportunity to use this item yet because as anyone interested in astronomy and astrophotography will know, as soon as you buy a bit of kit it causes the clouds to conspire against you. That said the tracker and mount are reasonably easy to set up and looks like a well made bit of kit. My only niggle is the polar alignment scope (bought separately). The scope is well made but the light attachment and its holder are flimsy and easily fall off at the slightest touch. In the dark this isn’t ideal, which is exactly what happened to me and I stood on the plastic ring which holds the polar aligner in place on the mount and broke a piece off.
As always FLO were quick to dispatch my order and always give really good customer service.

The Pro Pack contains nearly everything you need to take fantastic images by day or night using timelapse or long exposure shots. The mount is accurate and most importantly compact - so small you will happily grab and go when otherwise you'd have to plan and certainly not want to go off the beaten track. The whole thing weighs just a little more than a full water bottle.

The only snag, is the polar alignment scope does not have an internal illuminator - yet the rough sighting sights do and there's an active LED on the body too. So, they include a flimsy dimmable add on which you gently squeeze into the mounting rail slot. It is very easy to drop it and it can fall out, and sadly you can't simply rotate the dial to switch it off. This means you have to remove the battery compartment lid and remove it or place a bit of plastic inside.

I'm going to try to come up with something, I have a 3D printer and have a dimming LED circuit in mind with a pot which has a switch. I've already got one flat battery.

So, if you are wavering - definitely get this one for starry adventures, its excellent, but be prepared to have a spare CR2032 to hand.

I'd rate this as 5 stars all night long if they sorted the polar illuminator.

The Star Adventurer Mini (SAM) is a portable highly compact mini-tracker that does exactly whats it's supposed to do. Designed principally for wide-field and time-lapse astrophotography I have been using it to capture deep sky objects (DSO). The precision of the tracker is good, but exposures more than say 60 seconds using a 100mm lens are going to yield a slight amount star trailing. There is a snap connector which lets you connect your DSLR directly to the SAM. This is very convenient if you don’t want to carry a laptop with you everywhere.

The overall build quality and size of the SAM are both excellent, with the device fitting comfortably into the palm of your hand. This makes the SAM ideal for travel. Although the tracker can run on 2 AA batteries I have been using the micro USB port to power up the device. The polar scope that comes included is sturdy, but I do have my reservations about the illuminator. The illuminator that attaches onto the polar scope is made of low quality plastic and if dropped is more than likely to shatter.

One of the main features that attracted me to the SAM was its wifi capability. Once you get to grips using the basic app that comes with the SAM the whole wifi experience is a fairly pleasant one. The app also comes with a polar clock utility which makes polar alignment a breeze. If you do decide to purchase the SAM you will need to go the Skywatcher website and download the latest firmware update. Skywatcher provides detailed instructions on how to download and install new firmware, but make sure you are using a good quality data USB cable. If you do have any issues installing the update it will be due to the USB cable.

The most salient feature of the new firmware update is the “dithering” option. Although I am new to astrophotography, the dithering feature may eliminate the need to take dark and flats in order to reduce noise during image stacking. I have tried this on the “Crescent Nebula” and the results have been very pleasing.

The SAM does have limitations, for example, the maximum payload is 3kg and at most, you will be able to get a DSLR and a good quality lens on the mount without having to balance. I purchased the pro package, and with the L-Bracket included you get very close to the 3kg limit. I am intending to purchase an HEQ5 in due course, but for the moment the SAM has proven to be a very good purchase.

Please follow the link below to see some of the DSO images that I have taken using the SAM. My set up is fairly basic: Canon 650D (Modified), 100mm Samyang Prime Lens and the SAM.


https://stargazerslounge.com/profile/61927-gwalles/?tab=node_gallery_gallery


As I mentioned before, I only started astrophotography in April 2019 and am an absolute beginner. With this in mind, the SAM provides a good basis to start Astro-imaging without having to pay a fortune on equipment. The SAM only does the basic of Astro-imaging operations and if you are looking at getting into guiding and having a larger payload you are better off going for its bigger brother the Sky Adventurer or iOptrons Sky Guider Pro.


Pros:
Lightweight and compact
Dithering capability in the latest firmware update
Wifi-enabled
Build quality is excellent
Configurable to wide-angle and time-lapse orientations

Cons:
Payload capacity is only 3kg
The polar illuminator is flimsy
The polar viewfinder is not necessary
Snap cable to connect to DSLR, not the greatest quality

Skywatcher Downloads


http://skywatcher.com/product/star-adventurer-mini-wifi/

Had an opportunity last night to test the sky watcher star adventurer first off I must say getting polar alignment was so easy with the supplied polar scope and the sky watcher app I downloaded to my iPad next I attached my dlsr to the sky watcher star adventurer I powered it all on my iPad had no problems syncing with the device, I used the shutter release cable I purchased as an extra pointed at Vega using a dlsr bahtinov mask I got good focus and then moved to m32 I did 10× 30 sec exposure and I have to say it tracked perfect no each pic showed no trailing am very happy with this project 5stars