I found a very useful website

[Joe]

This website shows how different EQ mounts perform against each other. Hope this helps.  

https://www.darkframeoptics.com/blog/mount-performance-charts-1

[+Ibbo]

I would have a good look arround before trusting them with any mount.

[Bottletopburly]

On 17/03/2018 at 16:50, Joe said:

This website shows how different EQ mounts perform against each other. Hope this helps.  

https://www.darkframeoptics.com/blog/mount-performance-charts-1

I’m sure the chap that runs this joined this forum a little while ago 

Is this from experience? Steve 

rother valley are advertising mount upgrades now too 

Edited March 19, 2018 by Bottletopburly

[DarkFrameLtd]

On 3/17/2018 at 20:24, Ibbo said:

I would have a good look arround before trusting them with any mount.

Thanks for sending the 30 or so people to my website Steve, which is how I detected this thread. ;-)

In three years, over 500 people in 19 different countries have trusted us with their mounts. So to paraphrase Ricky Gervais, just because you have an opinion doesn't make you right.... It certainly doesn't read as a positive comment, does it?

The performance tables are there so people can make an informed choice, not just about mount tuning, but to compare any mount available in the UK. That data is comparable and verifiable against other sources on the web, plus our own customer data. It can save a lot a of time, but only tells part of the story of how any mount performs. It's just data.

The fact is our customers test the mounts and run them in to see how well they work, and report back if they don't. With a 2 year worldwide warranty, any issues with our mount tuning can be resolved. But I keep seeing comments on similar UK forums with no proof of some of the things that are said we haven't done, and it all seems that it was heard or read somewhere else. I don't see any evidence, so I do wonder why this is happening and don't see any justification for it.

But people prefer reading bad things than good, and it's a fact you can't please everyone all the time. 98.4% our mounts don't have a problem. We do our very best to sort out the rest. Mostly, I get to hear or read the bad stuff, hence this response.

I like the fact that RVO do what they do, as it also adds another choice of upgrade services out there, but their build methodology and practices are different to ours. But the HEQ5/EQ6 tuning is a small part of what we do. Either way, we have proven through customer data that mount tuning works, but any DIY efforts must proceed under caution. After all, these mounts can when properly tuned track a star to a 1/10000th of a degree and that can't be done with a hammer, as depicted on some YouTube videos!

If any customer has a problem with one of our mounts, and either data or images support that issue, then we have recalled those mounts at our cost, from places like Florida or Amsterdam. They should also get in touch with us first, not head to their nearest forum. When I invest up to 14+hours in a mount with testing, then I learn more from failure, than from anything else. But like most of the cottage industry that the UK Astronomy businesses are, we are a limited resource and can be easily overwhelmed with orders at certain times of the year. So it makes sense not to do the same mount twice. 

I ask that any comments made about any UK company are more considered, as there are livelihoods on the end of those comments, rather than hiding behind the 'we have to let others know, so they can make an informed choice'. There can be fake reviews, as there can be fake opinions.

Unless it's a genuine customer review or opinion than it shouldn't be taken as read.

Dave

 

[+Ibbo]

I would say again have a look arround before sending a mount to Dark Frame or anybody else for that matter.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Ibbo

[Bottletopburly]

 Found Rother valleys pricing if anyone’s interested https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/services.html

 

darkframeoptics pricing for the Eq6

https://www.darkframeoptics.com/product/skywatcher-eq6-neq6-hypertune-service

other pricing for other mounts too , you just need to browse to the relevant mount on their website