Sky & Telescope - November 2024 - 67

is a first for Sky-Watcher, and it follows
a mount design made popular in recent
years by iOptron. It results in a better
distribution of the telescope payload
over the center of the equatorial head,
with a corresponding improvement in
the mount's stability. A disadvantage is
that the mount has a limited ability to
track past the meridian when a telescope
is on the west side of the mount
or point to objects east of the meridian
when the scope is also on the east side
of the mount. For the CQ350-Pro, this
limit is about 7½° (roughly 30 minutes
of right ascension) on either side of the
meridian.
All cable connections for the CQ350-Pro are
on the moving part of the polar-axis assembly.
Those for the mount's power input, SynScan
hand control, ST-4-compatible autoguider,
and USB 2.0 computer connection are located
close to and aligned with the polar axis. As
such, they sweep through only modest-size
arcs as the mount slews and tracks in right
ascension. The red LED partially hidden by the
autoguider cable is unusually bright when the
mount is powered on. The snap port can control
selected DSLR cameras from the SynScan
hand control.
Performance
I did a lot of observing just using the
SynScan hand control to operate the
mount. I do wish the coiled cord with
its RJ45 modular plugs for connecting
the hand control to the mount were
longer, since it comfortably stretches
only about 2 meters. The manual does a
good job explaining the hand control's
setup and operation, with one exception
that confused me in the beginning.
Initialization starts by entering date,
time, and your location, all of which
remain stored in the controller's memory
for future use with the exception
of the time, which always defaults to 8
p.m. on power up. This means you only
have to change the date and enter the
correct time when you start the mount
on another night, assuming your location
is the same. If you're into luxury,
there's a $197 GPS module that plugs
into the SynScan hand control and will
update the necessary information each
time you power up the mount.
Sky alignment of the mount begins
by sending the mount automatically to
its home position, which places the telescope
above the polar axis and aimed at
the celestial pole. And from there you
perform a 1-, 2-, or 3-star alignment.
The more stars you use, the better the
Go To pointing accuracy, especially if
the mount is only roughly polar aligned.
As for that confusion during my first
sky initialization, it was the question
" Renew H.P.O.? " that appeared on the
SynScan display after I finished my
star alignment. There was no mention
of that in the manual. I simply
selected " no " as my answer and went
about observing. Later I figured out
that H.P.O. stands for " home position
offset, " and it enters a correction (if
needed) to correlate the aim of your
telescope with the mount's fixed home
position. This makes the mount's pointing
very accurate when you start from
the home position in the future - an
important feature if the mount is operated
remotely. Furthermore, since I usually
shut down the mount with a park
command, no alignment was needed
when I powered up on a future night
and resumed observing from the parked
position. One nice feature of the park
command is the ability to set a custom
position for the telescope. Because of
the design of my observatory, I used this
feature to ensure the telescope would
shut down in a position that allowed
closing the roof.
Sometimes when using the hand
Left: Large hand knobs for the azimuth and altitude adjustments on the equatorial head allow fine polar alignment motions even when the mount is
fully loaded with a telescope or astrograph. Right: With a bubble level (not seen in this view) built into the mount's base and a precise altitude scale on
the polar-axis assembly, it's easy to quickly position the CQ350-Pro for polar alignment.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * NOVEMBER 2024 67

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Sky & Telescope - November 2024

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