Voyager advantages over NINA

No. I have both for my remote telescope. There may be some edge cases where Voyager may  be better suited but NINA 3.0 is capable of pretty much every function Voyager is and then some.

Not so long ago Voyagers main selling point for me was it's safety monitor capabilities but NINA has matched that as well. Voyager is a fine program but it is imo quite dated and full of small annoyances. NINA does things you just can't do in Voyager unless you pay for the Advanced version which last time I checked is $500+ USD.

Voyager Array works better for me for two scopes. Voyager advanced is awesome for scheduling if you have a fixed setup - NiNA has a comparable plugin but that pales in comparison.

Personally, I find support via Discord a mess, but that‘s a matter of taste more than of functionality.

When I had any problem, support by Leonardo Orrazi has always been extremely quick. He also implemented quite a few functions that I asked for.

If you are remote and trying to automate things night after night, Voyager is exceptional : it just always works, never crashes. Dragscript is superb in my view. I tried NiNA and didn’t like it

Thanks Fredd! May I ask you why didn´t you like NiNA?

I started the automation dance a long time ago when Meridian Flip was a huge thing to perform. I started with SGP and I was successful but focusing was not reliable so I switched to CCDAutopilot to use FocusMax, I was successful but CCDAP had some limitations, hard to add new targets, framing was painful, dated interface, etc. Then I started using NINA, at that time NINA was not a mature piece of software and at that time it had fewer features than SGP, so I rapidly dropped and switched to Voyager.

For 2 years I ran a remote rig with Voyager completely unattended, I had a perpetual script that took care of everything, imaging, computer housekeeping, quality assessments, uploading captured files, etc. The last year with that rig,  I tried the newly released scheduler and the whole thing became something very close to a service.

I hadn't tried enough the recent versions of NINA to be able to pinpoint real limitations, but it looks like NINA one way or another is capable of doing everything that Voyager is capable of. One thing that is very nice about Voyager is reliability, it never, and I mean never crashes. Another nice thing about Voyager is DragScript, with this tool, you can tailor your Image capture to your very specific needs or workflow, no need to adjust your workflow to some templates.

One important difference is that Voyager is designed to automate a working system, so, if you try to use Voyager for a casual imaging night or use it to debug a system (collimation, polar alignment, etc) the software might get in the way.

Cheers,

José

The standard NINA AF would be comparable to Voyager's LocalField routine. There is a plugin that gives more advanced AF options called Hocus Focus but I have never used it because the standard method has been bullet proof for me.


I originally switched from NINA to Voyager Array back in 2021 when NINA briefly lost the ability to synchronize dither. I returned to NINA when that functionality came back. The second time I switched back to Voyager was when set up at a remote observatory because at the time its safety monitor functionality was vastly superior. Then the Sequencer Powerups plugin came out and put NINA right back on par with Voyager.

NINA also has a plugin that gives the same functionality as RoboTarget scheduling.

If you're planning on running a tandem setup Voyager Array has the edge IMO but for standard automation Voyager Standard and NINA 3 are quite even in functionality and reliability.

Rafael Sampaio:
Is there any real advantages of using a paid software like Voyager, instead of the free NINA?

NINA is excellent, and the fact that it's free is a major plus. It undergoes continuous improvement month by month, and the community is open and welcoming. However, there is room for enhancement in its logging capabilities, and the API interface for communication with other tools could and should be improved

Voyager is stable and thoroughly tested, but it suffers from a clunky and outdated user interface.
Additionally, its basic version doesn't provide any significant advantages over NINA.
Despite having a free forum that is excellent for positive feedback, regrettably, users often experience a patronizing attitude, feeling consistently treated as unintelligent newcomers.

Jose Mtanous:

Reg Pratt:
The standard NINA AF would be comparable to Voyager's LocalField routine. There is a plugin that gives more advanced AF options called Hocus Focus but I have never used it because the standard method has been bullet proof for me.

Is there something in NINA equivalent to Robofocus or FocusMax?

Cheers,

I don't think so. Hocus Focus may be able to but I've never used it so couldn't say.

Jimmy P. J.:
Despite having a free forum that is excellent for positive feedback, regrettably, users often experience a patronizing attitude, feeling consistently treated as unintelligent newcomers.

This reputation is exactly why, after I downloaded Voyager and NINA, I stuck with NINA. I felt like, if I am paying for software, I am also paying for courteous service; I don't want to feel like using something I am paying for is a privilege. The Voyager interface was off putting too. Plus, while NINA does have advanced sequencing capabilities, the basic sequencer was a perfect transition from SGP and great for casual imaging, which is what I do. I don't have a fixed set up, so don't need a whole lot of complexity. Plus, the add ons in NINA like 3 point alignment and Hocus Focus for tilt and back focus are great. The few times I have needed help, I just posted either here or on CN and people answered by questions. I did not join Discord - I really don't want to join a platform I am not a member of already if I don't need to.

I do ageee with above comments about V. "support" forum; however, Leo is quite responsive when directly emailed to.
I stick to Voyager because I got used to it and never ever failed on me, contrary to SGP or Nina.

Voyager is better suited for remote unattended stations, and its autofocus feature is excellent; NINA 3 has more features (through plugins); both Voyager and NINA can meet the needs of astrophotography well, but it depends on individual usage habits and experience. I use Voyager Advanced for remote shooting and NINA for equipment adjustments. These two pieces of software are already excellent, the key is whether we can proficiently use either of them.

Re above question, it is NINA’ s interface that doesn’t work for me.
On voyager, I have more than 2000 hours of imaging where night after night, I capture multiple targets, including complex mosaics, have excellent focus and perfect management of roof opening and closing depending on weather events. It just works in a really stable way. I also used advanced which selects targets based on criteria you set. That also worked very well but you lose a little more control.

I have just gone through this question myself (here) and decided for Voyager.  Both products are probably equally great solutions for most situations and differences are in the details. For me the use-case is a remote observatory that I want to be able to run 'robotic': Feed it with a list of targets and the system turns itself on/off each night when conditions are right.

For me the deciding factors were:
- Client/server architecture with the Web-interface, which makes it very easy to quickly check on your phone/tablet what's going on, without having to boot up Remote Desktop style applications.
- Target manager. I've seen videos on both the Voyager and NINA solutions for this and liked the Voyager solution more.
- Focus on reliability with many years of field-testing/polishing and almost exclusively happy users
- Focus on automated execution of everything

Drawbacks are price (the real goodies are in the advanced version) and not ideal for the occasional testing/exploring. 

Service so far has been excellent, with very responsive developer and an extensive user community/forum.