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Polemaster purchase

QHYCCD QHY PoleMaster QHYCCD PoleMaster Polar Alignment
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IrishAstro4484 avatar
IrishAstro4484 avatar
I'm considering getting a polemaster but id be curious to see what the feedback is on the forum.

I've always struggled getting precise polar alignment in a timely fashion.

The polemaster peeps claim you can get up to 30 second polar alignment accuracy within 5 minutes.

I'd be interested to hear feedback good/bad or otherwise.
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Sean van Drogen avatar
Sean van Drogen avatar
It really depends on what other gear you have available. Polemaster or the Ipolar all work very well in getting polar alignment. However I think for most people since the introduction of NINA 3 point polar alignment addon they became obsolete
Eddie Bagwell avatar
Eddie Bagwell avatar
I use the PoleMaster and can get an accurate polar alignment in less than 5 minutes. SharpCap has a polar alignment tool included with the Pro version that I hear is also very good.
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Gamaholjad avatar
Gamaholjad avatar
Both the polemaster and inbuilt pole alignment sharpcap do the job perfectly. I use both and once you've got it you'll never look back. Aligning is quick once you have used the software a few time.
Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
Three point polar alignment in NINA has basically made my Polemaster obsolete.
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IrishAstro4484 avatar
IrishAstro4484 avatar
Arun H:
Three point polar alignment in NINA has basically made by Polemaster obsolete.

*** Well it does when you don't have a clear view of the poles.

I've used the NINA 3 points alignment and drift alignment in PhD2.

Not sure I've ever gotten within 1 minute in 5 minutes or less though. 

***
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar
I’ve used many methods: Polemaster camera with the QHY software and SharpCap, NINA’s plug in, and drift alignment.  The only one I would not do is Polemaster with the QHY software.  The other approaches all work fine and I most often use the Polemaster with SharpCap in my observatory.  Quick and very accurate.  I only check it 2-3 times a year.  Of course, the NINA plug-in works great too and works when you can’t see Polaris. The Polemaster camera itself is excellent.
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Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
I've used the NINA 3 points alignment and drift alignment in PhD2.

Not sure I've ever gotten within 1 minute in 5 minutes or less though.


Having used both Polemaster and NINA, I'd say that the alignment with NINA is better, as judged from guiding results and what PHD2 reported to be the polar alignment error on using guiding assistant. If you are planning to buy the Polemaster as an improvement over NINA, I think you'll be disappointed. I also agree with Bruce that if you use Polemaster, use it with SharpCap. I migrated from Polemaster with QHY software  (which was nowhere close to 30' claimed and frequently buggy and would freeze) to Polemaster with SharpCap, to NINA using my imaging camera and scope.
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IrishAstro4484 avatar
IrishAstro4484 avatar
Arun H:
I've used the NINA 3 points alignment and drift alignment in PhD2.

Not sure I've ever gotten within 1 minute in 5 minutes or less though.


Having used both Polemaster and NINA, I'd say that the alignment with NINA is better, as judged from guiding results and what PHD2 reported to be the polar alignment error on using guiding assistant. If you are planning to buy the Polemaster as an improvement over NINA, I think you'll be disappointed. I also agree with Bruce that if you use Polemaster, use it with SharpCap. I migrated from Polemaster with QHY software  (which was nowhere close to 30' claimed and frequently buggy and would freeze) to Polemaster with SharpCap, to NINA using my imaging camera and scope.

*** Thanks for the feedback. I'm curious, how long does it take you to polar align with NINA?

I struggle with it at times and I suspect it's because my initial polar alignment isn't very good. 

***
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Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
On the order of 5 minutes or so. If I am setting up from scratch, I simply make sure Polaris is visually aligned with the RA axis - no special tools, just eyeball it. Then run NINA, usually the reported misalignment is on the order of 3 degrees or so. Get it to about 30' or so, then re run NINA from this point for a better alignment, since it is a better starting point.
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JohnHen avatar
JohnHen avatar
I am using sharpcap which works excellent. In general, it is wise to use the hardware that you already have (your scope and camera) and do the PA with software. As others have mentioned, NINA is another software solution that works well. There are many more options. If you have a 10Micron, for example, you can use MW4 etc.
CS, John
Gamaholjad avatar
Gamaholjad avatar
Bruce Donzanti:
I’ve used many methods: Polemaster camera with the QHY software and SharpCap, NINA’s plug in, and drift alignment.  The only one I would not do is Polemaster with the QHY software.  The other approaches all work fine and I most often use the Polemaster with SharpCap in my observatory.  Quick and very accurate.  I only check it 2-3 times a year.  Of course, the NINA plug-in works great too and works when you can’t see Polaris. The Polemaster camera itself is excellent.

I agree the qhy software works, but use the camera with what ever capture software.
Dan Brown avatar
Dan Brown avatar
I had all kinds of software issues with my polemaster. It would work for a few seconds then the view would freeze. Now I use sharpcap with my guide camera, works great.
Dan
John Hayes avatar
John Hayes avatar
There are a lot of good ways to achieve precise PA.  In my view, there is a place for the Pole Master...and it is strikes me as a somewhat self-centered notion to declare it obsolete.  I recently used a Pole Master to align my 20" in Chile (which isn't running NINA) and it achieved PA to within less than 20" (ref:  https://www.astrobin.com/vkldjq/B/).  There are certainly other ways to do this but I wouldn't discourage trying the Pole Master.  It is fast, it is easy, it is accurate, and over all I've had a very good experience with it.  

John
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Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
John Hayes:
There are a lot of good ways to achieve precise PA.  In my view, there is a place for the Pole Master...and it is strikes me as a somewhat self-centered notion to declare it obsolete.  I recently used a Pole Master to align my 20" in Chile (which isn't running NINA) and it achieved PA to within less than 20" (ref:  https://www.astrobin.com/vkldjq/B/).  There are certainly other ways to do this but I wouldn't discourage trying the Pole Master.  It is fast, it is easy, it is accurate, and over all I've had a very good experience with it.  

John

Hi John - respectfully - my post was a sharing of my experience, so in that sense it is certainly "self centered". I would say that, held to the same standard. most posts here are "self centered" since they generally consist of sharing a single person's experience. I did not claim that the Polemaster was obsolete for everyone - perhaps my typo, using the word "by" instead of "my" misled you? If so, that's my mistake and I will make the correction in my post. It is certainly true that I have not used the Polemaster in a year, so for me, in my "self centered" view,  it has become obsolete. I certainly respect contrary viewpoints.
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Nick Grundy avatar
Nick Grundy avatar
i've been using sharpcap pro for a long time now. I have ipolars built into 2 mounts, but I felt they were never as accurate so I kept using sharpcap. I've tried nina 3pt pa as well and it seemed good. 

My only issue is that lacking a clear benchmarking tool, I don't really know which method is most accurate
Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
With regard to accuracy - all these methods use plate solving of some kind (even the original Polemaster software which is a form of manual plate solving). So they should be similarly accurate, given the constraints of the optics and mechanics of the mount. I don't know the basis for the 30" claim that QHY makes - if it is based on optical resolution, the use of a larger aperture optic through SharpCap or NINA should, in theory, be able to improve upon it. 

The original ask was whether Polemaster would give faster polar alignment compared to an alternative method. At least in my experience, that hasn't been the case, with both SharpCap and NINA giving results in a time comparable to Polemaster and with NINA having the added advantage of not needing additional equipment and also not needing a clear view of the pole.
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John Hayes avatar
John Hayes avatar
Arun H:
John Hayes:
There are a lot of good ways to achieve precise PA.  In my view, there is a place for the Pole Master...and it is strikes me as a somewhat self-centered notion to declare it obsolete.  I recently used a Pole Master to align my 20" in Chile (which isn't running NINA) and it achieved PA to within less than 20" (ref:  https://www.astrobin.com/vkldjq/B/).  There are certainly other ways to do this but I wouldn't discourage trying the Pole Master.  It is fast, it is easy, it is accurate, and over all I've had a very good experience with it.  

John

Hi John - respectfully - my post was a sharing of my experience, so in that sense it is certainly "self centered". I would say that, held to the same standard. most posts here are "self centered" since they generally consist of sharing a single person's experience. I did not claim that the Polemaster was obsolete for everyone - perhaps my typo, using the word "by" instead of "my" misled you? If so, that's my mistake and I will make the correction in my post. It is certainly true that I have not used the Polemaster in a year, so for me, in my "self centered" view,  it has become obsolete. I certainly respect contrary viewpoints.

I wasn't try to insult anyone but I would suggest that simply reporting something along the lines of:  "I've found something that I like better than Pole Master so I don't use it any more for the following reasons" as a way to provide a more helpful response to the OP without saying that the product is obsolete.  As far as I can tell, the Pole Master product is still on the market and as I said, it works quite well.   Under the right circumstances,  it can be a very useful tool.  There are certainly a LOT of other ways to do PA so it's best to directly answer the question by simply telling the OP why you like them better and/or to provide specifics about why you don't like the Pole Master.

John
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Arun H avatar
Arun H avatar
John Hayes:
"I've found something that I like better than Pole Master so I don't use it any more for the following reasons"


Hi John, while I agree that my initial response was not detailed, I did provide significant additional detail in follow up comments. For the record, I still keep my Polemaster and still carry a  SharpCap license. It is always nice to have a backup. In this case, it appears that the OP was looking for an improvement in speed over his current method (which he hasn't specified) At least in my experience, that hasn't been the case as compared to SharpCap with guide camera or NINA's 3 point alignment. If the OP has a guide camera/scope, a $25/year SharpCap license would give him same or better functionality than Polemaster for a fraction of the price (I think PM costs $270 or so); same with NINA without the subscription fee.
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Jacob Heppell avatar
Jacob Heppell avatar
When I bought by 10" newt, I bought a polemaster with it also but these days I use sharpcap from my QHY268M about 99% of the time. The only time I use the polemaster camera is if I'm struggling to get a rough alignment as the wider FOV of the polemaster gives me a better chance in that regard. Even when I use the polemaster camera, I always use it through sharpcap and not the polemaster software.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the polemaster is obsolete, but if I was purchasing my newt today, I wouldn't worry about the polemaster as there is a big difference in the price of the polemaster vs a subscription to sharpcap.
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IrishAstro4484 avatar
IrishAstro4484 avatar
Nick Grundy:
i've been using sharpcap pro for a long time now. I have ipolars built into 2 mounts, but I felt they were never as accurate so I kept using sharpcap. I've tried nina 3pt pa as well and it seemed good. 

My only issue is that lacking a clear benchmarking tool, I don't really know which method is most accurate

*** My understanding is that drift alignment is considered the gold standard and it uses the most direct measurement of polar misalignment (i.e declination drift...) ***