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Has Connectivity Improved With SkySafari 7, iOS + SkyWatcher SynScan WIFI Adapter? (Answer: Read On!)

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

I've recently noted the version 7 of SkySafari Pro was available on iOS.

I do have a AZEQ6 mount, from SkyWatcher, and I'm considering since few months the purchase of the WIFI device from SW (SkyWatcher SynScan WIFI Adapter). But until now, I was quite reluctant, because of some technical constraints. People having the same material explained to me they had to:
1. install SynScan on an iPhone. The tool has to be launched on the iPhone, and never stopped (and cannot be run in background)
2. Open SkySafari on an iPad, and connect to the SW Mount, via the SynScan app running on the iPhone

I'd like to know if the connectivity has been improved in the version 7, and if (hopefully), we can now easily connect from SkySafari, runnning on an iPad, without the use of another intermediate device.

Thanks in advance for your help and your reply.

Regards,
Cédric

Date Votes

5 comments

  • 0
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    Keiron Smith

    Albireo Jamie

  • 0
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    Jamie

    hi Cédric

    The Skysafari team have listened to all my feedback and have made a number of improvements and bug fixes. With an AZEQ6, an Iphone and with synscan wifi I can confirm you can run synscan pro in the background and run SS7 without the need for two devices.

    Im not sure where you got that advice from, i know in the past it was the case that you needed to run the two devices when synscan wifi first came out, but thats since been resolved.

    Im finishing off some testing today to see how the latest build performs. Either way im confident in the product working.

    regs Jamie

  • 0
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    Albireo

    Hi Cédric,

    I understand your hesitation, as that was the reason why I put off purchasing my AZ-GTi for almost a year.

    Nevertheless, I can confirm Jamie's comments for that AZ-GTi for which by default SynScan is the only controller (it doesn't come with a hand controller).

    I'll just add that SkySafari 7 Pro will automatically start SynScan (or SynScan Pro, if you have it installed instead) upon connecting to a SynScan mount, even if SynScan wasn't running in the background.

    It will do this whenever it needs to, including if SkySafari itself falls off the iOS Background App Refresh bandwagon.

    So, outside of doing the initial star alignment (for which you must use SynScan), I've been able to use SkySafari as my only interface for the AZ-GTi — a major blessing, as you will appreciate.

    I haven't made the above comments on CloudyNights yet because the current beta build (1027) hasn't yet made it into production (presumably as 7.0.1). But once that happens I'll post something on CN.

  • 0
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    Cédric van Moeseke

    Excellent news, thanks to both of you for your feedback :-) 

  • 0
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    Albireo

    Just be aware that I don't have an AZEQ6, for which there are more degrees of freedom to have problems with. Jamie's work will be the one to follow in that regard.

    And there is still a UI bug that SkySafari 7 Pro triggers in SynScan on occasion, and even a SkySafari crash that seems correlated with whether it's connected to a SynScan mount (no ticket yet, as I can't reproduce reliably).

    But these are not deal-breakers, which is why I can finally have SkySafari 7 Pro my platform of choice to control my AZ-GTi through the SynScanLink profile. I just posted to CN about the AZ-GTi, in fact.

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