Roger Pittock I am all for civilized tones. I am not trying to upset anyone, especially ZWO. I have stated repeatedly that I am a very happy user, that I think they have an amazing product, with great features and above all the price is right. I just want more from it. A lot more.
Now to answer your comments in order.
When I say "it requires a human to be present" I do not mean the S50, I mean the app. I do not know whether the firmware has a sleep mode or not, if it does then all I would have to do is put the S50 on the ground, turn it on and tell it to run a script, which would include wake-up and sleep commands at set times, level and calibrate commands, goto RA/Dec commands, start and stop acquisition at set times, and so on. I do not think this is too much to ask for, scripted automation that would not require a human other than placing the thing on the ground and turning it on should be relatively easy to do and would go a very long way in making the S50 more desirable and easier to use for a wider range of people. Imagine a classroom of kids in the school parking lot at 2AM trying to use the S50 and you will understand what I mean.
The lady is very voluble and says a lot more than powering up and shutting down. Like starting calibration, starting enhancing image and so on. Too bad I am not there to listen to her. I sort of hear her saying things but I cannot really catch what she really says from the house. My usage mode is this: I put the S50 on the ground, I press the start button, then I run into the house and do everything from there. At the end, I shut it down and run outside to pick it up and that's it. Unless I have to move it during the night, which I do, because of trees and buildings and seeing different parts of the sky from different spots around the house, I never spend more than 30 seconds outside. And it is not just the cold, I expect to have to do the same thing in the summer because of mosquitoes.
About not needing automation, maybe you don't, but I definitely do. I do not know what you mean by "level bubble with the app", you have to do that in solar mode but definitely not in Stargazing mode, which is what we are talking about here. Like I already mentioned, I just place the S50 on the ground, I turn it on, then I run into the house and that's it, unless I need to move it. I do not mind about a human setting up the S50, you obviously need one to do that, what really bothers me is the constant need for a human to use the app - I would rather sleep than select a target, press start, then watch paint dry for half an hour, just to press stop and select the next target and then repeat. Try to do this for hours, in the middle of the night, and you will see what I mean. The first time I did that it was fun, now it's just tedious and takes away from enjoying an otherwise excellent product. I would rather prepare a list of targets and times to start and stop the captures before hand, then just start the thing and go to sleep. I do not mind leaving the unit outside after it finishes and picking it up in the morning, I am pretty sure nothing bad would happen to it.
And as I mentioned, I want more. Not just automation, but remote control. I want to be able to set one or even a few S50s in secure locations with Internet access around the world and be able to control them through automated scripts from anywhere. The current ZWO usage model is that every S50 lives alone, never in contact with its brothers, with its owner faithfully by its side at all times, pressing buttons on the app and listening to pleasant female voice messages. That may work for you, but it does not work for me.
