Customer Reviews
Really pleased with the performance of the rotator, operates perfectly
The only issue is that in the dark I managed to loose on of the tiny white screws that hole phone and polariscope holder Suggest you supply spares in future
Lo he probado recientemente y me encanta
Estoy muy contento con su pequeño tamaño y peso
The Nomad fixes all the issues I had with my original MSM star tracker and adds an extra small but beneficial feature. My biggest issue with the original MSM was that the ball head attachment always came loose. This has now been corrected with the new geared attachment base. Second, the laser now attaching directly to the Nomad without the need to carry an extra bracket is great. The added benefit of the Nomad being smaller is also huge, as I routinely hike and camp out in remote locations. This makes it easier to pack and carry when weight and space are a premium. Keep in mind that Nomad does not have all of the other functions of the original MSM tracker. However, this doesn't bother me, as I have only ever used it as a star tracker.
During a few years I have used the MSM rotator. For landscapes it is good bit for astronomy it did not operate always perfectly.
The new Nomad is a delight to use. Very easy set up. Just one button and perfect operation. I made quite a number of 30s photos of the Orion nebula and did not notice any trails whatsoever. Ik think that especially for milky way photography the Nomad will be very suited: low weight and easy setup.
The ball head attachment does not slip al all, I always had trouble with slippage on the original. The screw in laser pointer mount is a great improvement over the previous flimsy attachment bracket. I never used the pano rotator mode so not having it is no loss.
El nuevo MSM NOMAD es más compacto y ligero que el Rotator y muy sencillo de usar. Estará siempre en la mochila para las salidas nocturnas.
Another post since it appears only 1 picture can be uploaded!
The Nomad tracker and wedge works very well. I managed to image nebulae in Orion with 180x15s subs with a 105mm telphoto on an APS C sensor and with a SV220 dual band filter. The tracker perfomed well with a stable drive, very minor trailing occured on 30s exposures. The attached image has been cropped to the main nebulae, but the original included part of Barnard's loop.
As noted by another reviewer the altitiude/declination pivet bolt on the wedge is fully threaded which introduces backlash and play during adjustment. I replaced mine with a cut dwon M6 bolt which has an unthreaded portion, as illustrated. This is a cap head screw but does not slip when the handle is tightened. This plain shaft gives better worm engagment and cuts down the backlash play considerably. MSM should consider this simple upgrade.
It's pretty standard, at least in Ohio, you purchase some new piece of astronomy equipment and you are guaranteed six weeks of clouds .... and besides, it has been really (really) cold.