V3 Mini Performance: My Results After Two Months of Testing (Solar & Deep-Sky)
Hello everyone,
Lately, my inbox has been flooded with questions about the performance of my V3 Mini mount. After more than two months of rigorous testing, I wanted to share my detailed results with the community.
Just to be clear: the V3 and V3 Mini are mounts that I designed and built myself. This isn’t a commercial review, but a report on how my DIY project has been performing under both the Sun and other stars.
First Light: Starting with Solar
For my very first tests, I started with a light and simple setup, mounting a Coronado PST on top of the V3 Mini. It was the perfect way to check if everything was working smoothly. I was really happy with the initial results—the tracking was stable, the movements were precise, and the whole system felt reliable from the start. That first moment when you realize a long-term project actually works as intended is truly priceless.
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Pushing the Limits: From PST to Takahashi
After a few successful sessions, I wanted to push the mount a bit more. I had recently acquired my first Takahashi, a scope I’d dreamed of owning. I also built a PST Mod Stage 1, with a huge help from Altair Astro, who provided me with a 120mm ERF.
With this new setup, I spent a lot of time on H-alpha solar photography over the summer. The mount handled the increased payload perfectly, and I managed to capture some great solar images. I was particularly impressed with how portable the mount is—I could easily travel with it and get serious results from a garden setup.
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Performance Under the Stars: Guiding with PHD2
While the solar results were great, I know many of you are interested in deep-sky performance. I set up the V3 Mini for a 25-minute guiding session, and the results were fantastic; the guiding was very consistent. There were a few small spikes, but these were caused by wind—overall, the mount performed exceptionally well.
I also took a live capture of the mount guiding with PHD2, and the graphs showed just how stable the tracking was. Seeing the guiding errors stay so low was a big validation for this project.
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My Final Conclusions
After two months of testing—from light PST sessions to handling a heavier Takahashi setup for both solar and deep-sky work—my conclusions are clear: the V3 Mini is a compact, portable, and reliable mount that has honestly exceeded my expectations. It’s versatile and delivers consistent performance for both solar imaging and deep-sky astrophotography.
For anyone who is interested in the technical details, I’ve made the PHD2 guiding logs from my sessions and the files for both the V3 and V3 Mini available on my youtube channel (Astrophilos). That way, you can analyze the data for yourself or even try building one!
Thanks a lot for reading, and I hope this gives you a good idea of what the V3 Mini is capable of. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!
Clear skies,
You can find my videos about the mount on my youtube channel: Astrophilos
