I wanted to update this thread. Last week I had the iOptron Cube Pro outside. First issue I realized was Starfi didn't have enough reach to connect to the AP in my basement from the backyard. The Astroberry connected fine so I removed StarFi and reconnected to mount with a serial connection. My first telescope on the mount was my Orion ST-80. I had the mount in AltAz mode and acquired a one star alignment with Polaris. At the time of first light I did not have a CCD camera. I was just testing visually and with my old Pentax DSLR. First thing I noticed was the tripod didn't have enough height to comfortably view through the eyepiece so I ordered an 8" pier extension. Early in the evening I was able to align the telescope with Jupiter, attach my 3x barlow and 7mm eyepiece. I was able to see Jupiter... The 3x Barlow with 7mm eyepiece did the trick. No longer a bright white orb with the Galilean Moons, I was able to see a pale white Jupiter with faint orange bands. Last time I tried this with a manual mount I couldn't track fast enough. I'm looking forward to see how much more detail I can get with using a Planetary Imaging Camera.

Next test was attaching my old Pentax K-x DSLR with a 200mm telephoto to the mount. Set to full zoom. I used the INDI Pentax-Native driver. I aligned the same way, with Polaris. I went into the house, logged onto an Astroberry VNC session Opened Kstars, Got into EKOS, started up my Driver Configuration.. and targeted the Orion Nebula. I got it. The picture isn't good enough to share because I had other issues.. image was black and white and a upper limb of a birch tree in my front yard was obstructing part of the view.. But I am starting to get used to the work flow.
Also exposure time was limited because I was in AltAz mode and no guiding camera.

I ordered a ZWO ASI120mm guiding camera, fixed the black and white issue, Ordered a SV305 planetary camera. I have Astroberry configured so the CubePro II GPS drives the system location and time. I am going to use a hotshoe to 1/4" mount for the SV165. And when I use my ST-80 I will use the SV165 in the finding scope slot. I was going to use the SV105 as the guiding camera but it didn't look like it was sensitive enough and did not support long exposure times.

I also ended up getting a Meshed Wifi Hotspot extender to enable Starfi connectivity in my yard. I'm hoping the weather is good this weekend so I can get out there and test.

If any of you decide to buy an iOptron CubePro II.. be sure it has the 8408 controller. That's the one my mount came with. I've had no issues with INDI. You can also find used StarFi adapters. I got one for $35.00.. it works fine. And during the cold winter months if you want wireless control or maybe you would want to share the experience with friends with a noVNC Session

This hobby is going to be a nice distraction from the Pandemic.

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Hi Fredrick,

I've have an iOptron CubePro w/8407 hand controller on the way. I was wondering has the switching in and out of auto guide mode been added to the INDI control panel ? I'm starting to build up rig.

Thanks

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I wanted to start off with a mount that was small and portable and could function as an AltAZ or GEM.    I  ended up getting a iOptron Cube Pro and a used StarFi module.  It should be here soon.
The INDI project got me excited about backyard astronomy again.   Do any of you have experience with the iOptron CubePro ?   I figured at first I am going to use it as is to view Jupiter and Saturn.  With the simple tripod I stuck with the 20mm eyepiece.  With a sky tracking mount I'll use a 3x Barlow and 7mm eyepiece.  Can't wait.  

I plan on adding an Orion Apex 102mm telescope to the collection.  It looks like it's light enough for the mount.

 

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