Pegasus NYX-88 Review: I Built an Almost Wireless Astro Rig
Pegasus Astro NYX-88 review after real astrophotography testing with a full Pegasus-based imaging setup. In this video I test the NYX-88 harmonic drive mount, look at guiding perfo...
The Space Koala Astrophotography by Luca Bartek
Appreciate the video Luka. Can you do a video on tracking with a long focal length telescope on a harmonic mount? I always thought you need an eq mount for that.
harmonic mounts *are* (or can be) equatorial - I have been using harmonic mounts equatorially exclusively since 2021 with all my long-focal length telescopes. If you're thinking of classical german equatorial mounts - sure they are more precise, but in return, harmonic mounts guide much faster, so you can still achieve excellent tracking!
I have never used an harmonic mount. I own eq6-r only. Can you do o video how it achieved accurate tracking w long focal length telescope. Thanks. @the_space_koala
In Greek mythology, Nyx (/nɪks/ ⓘ;[2] Ancient Greek: Νύξ, lit. 'Night')[3] is the goddess and personification of the night ✨
push PULL? how is it pulling?
not really push-pull, push and "push against it", I guess
Awesome, I've been looking hard for a review on this mount.
Very well done, appreciate this video!
I'm afraid I would no longer touch pegasus products with someone else's bargepole. Their aftersales support for older products is very poor. Their firmware update for my older style powerbox bricked it and it now doesnt boot. pegasus showed a brief flicker of grudging help when i first contacted them, but then they ghosted me and im left with a bricked powerbox. I'm not the only one either according to a brief search of forums. very disappointing in a hobby where manufacturers and retailers normally go above and beyond to keep their customers happy. nice products, but you're on your own if they fail or their own firmware update bricks them.
I read online that mid-upgrade bricking can happen and that you were supposed to contact the company to fix it. Sad to hear it doesn't always actually get resolved
@the_space_koalayeah I did what I could, but it became apparent that they were trying to shut down the conversation. As not under warranty and only my word that their update killed it (but it happened the very second I started the update so....), I could only rely on their goodwill. Which it turned out, I couldn't rely on. The thing needs 'reflashed' apparently but they squealed that they'd need the box to be physically there for them to do that and not worth the postage etc...😮 Not worth it to them that is. So Sybony got my next powerbox sale. Not sure when the message will finally sink home to small businesses that every customer is important; disgruntled customers shout louder than happy ones and sticking only to their minimum legal requirements re repairs , is not the way ahead for a company's longevity. Especially when THEY caused the damage!
You've got hoverflies😊🐝 You do know that one of them is a professor at ETH Zurich who was very interested in your setup😊 As was I!!😊
there was also an alpine marmot that you can hear at the beginning, he was trying to be the main character
The mount looks so sweet. Especially with the saddle powerbox. I've been shopping for a mount for a remote observatory, strongly considered the NYX-88 but I think I'm probably going with a AM5 just because of an already existing relationship with ZWO. But the NYX would be great for another mount at home Great review as always!
thanks Naz, tbh they're both great mounts!
Thanks for the video. I see you run a USB connection from the saddle to the imaging PC. How does the 12 volt power get to the saddle? Does it come off the side of the mount itself? I have been waiting for the apparent mount issues to sort themselves out as there were a few when it first came out.
yes there was a 12V 10A power going up into the saddle from the ground. The mount has a power out port which I think you could use to power it directly, but I didn't have that cable
Do you think the saddle power box has sufficient ports for everything you would want? Filter wheel? Autofocuser and such? For me, here in Australia, the NYX-88 with the saddle power box is AUD$4579 and the NYX-88 without the saddle powerbox is AUD$3899. Its definitely cheaper to get the saddle powerbox with the 88 as a package but if I bought the 88 on its own the ultimate powerbox would only be AUD$120 more than the saddle powerbox.
you have 4 USB ports on the saddle powerbox. Assuming your deep sky camera also has a 2-port USB hub, it is likely to be enough as you then have 6 in total: - main camera - guide camera - filter wheel - mount - focuser - flat panel if you have one If you also have anything else like a camera angle adjuster, it's no longer enough.
I really enjoyed your thorough review of the Pegasus Astro equipment, Luca!😃
I am very interested in the SmartEye + NYX-88 combo, would you say the Askar FR600 is an optimal scope choice to push this hardware to its limits or would you recommend another scope instead? (something like the Sky Watcher 100mm Esprit ED Triplet APO for example)
the FRA is a petzval system, so if you don't add the reducer you don't have to worry about the backfocus. If you want to use the SmartEye in visual, then this is a good idea because using a diagonal you have no way of measuring the backfocus accurately, and surely you still want to have a nice flat image to look at! I have never used the 100mm Esprit so I can't say anything about it in particular
@the_space_koala What I dislike and I am very surprised most people don't seem to care is immersion. I just don't like looking at screens. At all. I feel it kills the magic. This is where a digital eyepiece like the Pegasus SmartEye makes perfect sense. You get all the benefits from EAA while keeping the immersion and mystery alive because you are literally viewing the night sky via a 90 degree immersive high resolution digital eyepiece. It's exactly the same feeling as looking via a regular eyepiece. A screen kills this immersion and feeling.
Wow another nice toy I wish I had. It can carry 14Kg ( I usually recommend only max.2/3 of advertised max weights ), but did you mention max weight with a counter weight ?
yes they say 20kg with the counterweight
Greetings from Brazil! Great review
Another great review Luca ! I’m currently using the ASIair but I’m curious as to what onboard computer you use for guiding on that setup ?
here I used my Primaluce Eagle 4 Pro, which is just a regular Windows computer. I did not use it with the ASIAIR as PLL strongly recommends using the PPEC algorithm for RA guiding, but the ASIAIR uses hysteresis in RA
Ah thanks . Would really like to see a review of the Prima Luce eagles . You do outstanding reviews.
thank you for saying that! Mine is a really old one though
🥰🥰🌌🌌👀olho🏔
I wonder if zwo will ever have one of those flat panels
oh gosh I hope so! It would be cool if it worked with the ASIAIR
@the_space_koalaI would definitely buy it. I would also buy the AM7 pro with automatic polar alignment. These 2 things are what I want. I keep bringing this up on astrophoto YouTube channels hoping someone talks to zwo about this.
oh the automatic PA, the next big thing... everybody seems to be wanting it. From what we have seen in recent years on the market, ZWO is likely not going to be the first one to do it, but hopefully when they *do* do it, it will be a 1-click alignment within the ASIAIR.... oh, one can dream :D
Great video!
Good info for this mount. Thanks, Luca! 👍👍
She is the hottest astrologer on YouTube!!.