Upgraded from SkyTrackerTM, the Pro is more compact, small enough to fit on your palm, better precision, silent tracking, it even has a built-in rechargeable power source that runs for up to 24 hours of continuous operation. The improved precision polar scope maintains a fine engraved reticule, now features adjustable illumination with eight brightness levels. Using with our smart phone app, quick and accurate polar alignment is just a joy. The SkyTracker Pro features four tracking rates, 1X or sidereal, 1/2X for sky and landscape, solar and lunar. All 4 tracking rates work in both northern and southern hemispheres. We have also added a quick slew mode with both forward and reverse to help quickly reframing your image without disrupting the cameras position. We have made big improvements on the SkyTracker Pro’s removable alt-azimuth base, which features a precision bubble level, degree markings for the altitude and a built-in post for the azimuth control. You can also mount the SkyTracker Pro head (without the base) directly to any standard photographic tripod with 1/4” or 3/8” threads. The SkyTracker Pro is certainly a must have tool for any photographer interested in astroscape or wide field astrophotography.
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2022
I actually have the predecessor model called Sky Tracker, but my experience should apply to this one as well. As a landscape photographer who uses this mainly with normal to wide angle lenses and a DSLR, this device works great and is reasonably small. The main experience I want to share is how to get the Sky Tracker repaired, if it should break. I had a really good experience with the iOptron folks, who were very flexible to send me a replacement part first, then to diagnose the error for a part I sent in. The Star Tracker is built in a modular way, with parts that are easy to replace. Together with the excellent support, that made it easy to fix and extended the lifetime of my Star Tracker hopefully by many more years.
The tracker is really difficult to set up. Polar alignment is very tricky, and you need to have prior experience. Otherwise, you have to spend hours to figure out how to align the tracker.
I have had this tracker a month and it has worked without any sort of problem. It carries my Canon T7i plus 100 mm lens just fine. I now have many successful nights of pictures, including comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.
I purchased one of those wind-up trackers and it was fussy to use, but the worst part was that the tracking was irregular. This device was more expensive, but well worth the extra investment. It has been solid and reliable.
My only minor complaint is that I find the red illumination in the polar scope is often too bright, even at the lowest setting.