Wedge for precise polar alignment

Overall this is pretty good equotorial wedge alignment tool. The vertical wedge is a slight wobbly even after tightening it but is manageable. Wish the price was a bit lower but overall this thing has been very helpful specially for my Seestar. It helps me set it up in EQ mode in just a couple minutes leaving me much more time to shoot the skies and aligned perfectly for great exposure times. Overall it's built well and feels very sturdy.

The MSM Nomad star tracker is a double-edged sword. At its best, it is an ingenious, highly portable companion that unlocks the Milky Way for hikers and landscape photographers who refuse to carry heavy gear. At its worst, tight manufacturing tolerances on drive components mean quality control can feel like a gamble.
Recommendation: If you prioritize extreme portability and shoot primarily wide-field landscapes, the Nomad is worth adding to your kit—just be sure to rigorously test the tracking mechanics under the stars during your return window.

Everything arrived in time and complets my Setup perfectly.
Love the precise alignment.

Recently I purchased my second 11 lbs. Move Shoot Move EQ Wedge. The first was for my MSM Nomad Tracker, and the second for my Seestar S30 Pro. For over a year I've been using the MVM EQ Wedge and it has been nothing short of perfect. It's made of high quality materials, solid, and operates so smoothly. Without hesitation I recommend the MVM EQ Wedge if you qualify and a company that stands behind their products. Thank you Move Shoot Move!

I was surprised by the size, smaller than I had imagined, but that's not a flaw, as the wedge is quite firm and gave more stability to my setup. The panorama screw seems a bit fragile compared to the others, but I'll check it better in the field. Now it's time to carry out field tests and check for better results.

Before sharing my experience, here are my observed measurements:
MSW wedge net weight: 325g
MSW wedge with 1/4” to 3/8” adaptor: 327g
Panning base: 130g
MSM wedge with panning base: 457g

Making fine tilting and panning adjustments is essential when using the equatorial mode (EQ) for astrophotography. I have bought the MSW wedge with the panning base for setting up a smart telescope in EQ mode. Besides enabling tiny controlled movements using a screw-based mechanism, this package is light, compact, sturdy and reasonably priced. I have found it easy to use the MSM wedge with the panning base to quickly achieve polar alignment.

The panning base is not a must for using the MSM wedge but may be complementary. I have bought the panning base after a friend’s advice and I have not regretted. By considering the direction of force from the weight of the smart telescope, a screw-based mechanism may be more important for making fine tilting than fine panning adjustments. The panning base is not screw-based, but it enables both big (hence quick) and fine adjustments in the panning plane. Without the panning base, the MSM wedge can only make tiny controlled panning adjustments.

Although it has been suggested that the tripod should be horizontally levelled in EQ mode and the MSW wedge may not be used when the latitude is less than 30 degrees, I have successfully used the MSW wedge in Hong Kong (latitude is 22°08′ North to 22°35′ North) by deliberately and slightly shortening the tripod leg pointing towards the North.

If your tripod comes with a ball head that does not allow controlled tilting and panning movements, you may find the MSM wedge and panning base very useful for astrophotography in EQ mode.

I'm overall very satisfied with this product, its only issue is something that is an unavoidable feature when designing for small weight and compactness. Due to how small the wedge is, with the rotator, polar scope and laser attached, it can be tedious to make fine adjustments using the small screws while looking through the polar scope but it is nothing that you can't get used to.

For what it is designed for (more precise alignment while maintaining transportability), it does its job extremely well. I was able to capture a detailed deep-sky image of the Orion Nebula using this wedge, the original MSM Rotator and a 210mm lens, which, I believe is safe to say was pushing the limit of what MSM products are generally designed for.

For shorter focal lengths (85-135 mm), I believe the level of precision this product offers is more than adequate, and for wide-field images with shorter focal lengths, the finnickiness becomes a non-issue. If you are trying to use the MSM wedge and polar scope for proper deep-sky astrophotography, you might be a bit frustrated with the small knobs and how close together everything is but bear in mind that you are using the product for more than it was designed for.

However, even in such cases, you can achieve decent results with experience and some experimentation. This product is adequate for wide-field deep-sky imaging (135-200 mm) and excellent for Milky Way or other types of wide-field astrophotography at shorter focal lengths (35-85 mm).

This is the best wedge I have used with my smart scopes, I already own 3 of these and will soon be adding a forth, as a society we do a lot of public outreach, and these make setting up easy and we always recommend there for use when people are buying Seestars Dwarfs etc, a few images below taken in EQ mode using these.

This wedge is a must have for Nomad tracker! Its very solid and sturdy but at the same time very small! It could be used also for other star trackers such a: Swsa, Fornax and Ioptron portable trackers. Love it for hiking when each kg counts at the end.

I'm totally new to astro-photography. After several years taking some amateur "decent" shots of the Milky Way with my phone, I was disappointed that only short exposures could be used -and even at 10secs one could already see a slight signature of the trails of the stars. I wanted to explore the next level, and a colleague expert in astro-photography recommended the NOMAD tracker. As I was travelling to Patagonia, I wanted something light, portable, and easy to use, so I gave it a try. And in fact, I could take thrilling pictures of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds using my phone on the NOMAD tracker. It is amazing how well it works, how easy it is to align (I also used my phone and astronomy apps to align it), and how reliable it is! It was definitely a game-changer for me. Now I really want to go for more serious photographic equipment and spend more time out there tracking the stars!

Für mich persönlich war es immer ein ziemlicher Aufwand meinen NOMAD auf den Polarstern auszurichten, aber mit dem Wedge von MSM gelingt das super einfach und verlängert die Belichtungszeit auch um einiges, da die Ausrichtung weitaus genauer wird. Ich bin absolut begeistert und voll zufrieden dem Wedge.
Die Milchstraße über der Wüste Ägyptens, 20mm f/1.8, 60 Sek, ISO 200, Sony a7 III.

As i commented the Nomad's light weight and compact size in my initial review, i have taken it with me on my trip to Australia. I have used my Fujifilm X-H2 + XF70-300mm on it and extended the lenses to the largest focal length (full-frame equivalent 450mm), it worked well at least with 20s exposure, just wanted to be safe, and I got most shots usable with fairly round stars. I got my first ever M42 photo! I trust it could certainly work at longer exposure time at this focal length but I didn't have a chance to test it before it got cloudy... Overall I'm really satisfied with this product. Great for travelers and beginners astro fans. But i still urge them to offer a case for carrying it along with all the necessary accessories, which is not easy to find from other places.

After years of using heavy geared heads for astrophotography I decided to try the MSM wedge, both for its lighter weight but also for improved accuracy when polar aligning.

I've been absolutely blown away by this product. It's really well engineered in aluminium alloy and the quality of the product is clear to see. At just over 300 grams the wedge has more than met my expectations in reducing the weight of my setup.

All in all, a fantastic great value for money piece of kit.

I have the V1 wedge, light use and still in new condition - the tilt has developed play (fully tightened lever) in the gears making it unusable due to unreliable polar alignment. Shame, I liked its form factor.

The MSM wedge like the DWARF 3 is very compact lightweight and robust and allows easily precise polar alignment. I fully support its well made design.