Brand
A GoTo mount and a finder, both specified in detail
Explore Scientific is an American brand. On this site it has two products, on two shelves.
The iEXOS-100-2 PMC-Eight is a GoTo equatorial with a tripod at about $300. Its listing describes clutched dual-axis worm gears on belt-driven stepper motors, a polar sight hole through the RA axis, the ExploreStars app for Apple, Android and Windows tablets, and a controller with eight independent CPUs. It does not publish a payload.
The 8x50 illuminated straight-through finder is the opposite: the most complete specification on the finder scopes shelf. A 6-degree field, an open-center reticle with scale marks at 1.5, 3 and 4.5 degrees, red illumination with a variable dimmer on two AAA batteries, a roof prism for a correct image, 55 degrees of apparent field, 16 mm of eye relief, a 7 mm exit pupil and 15.9 oz.
The two listings show the brand at both ends: one figure-rich, one that leaves out the mount’s most important number. Read the payload question before buying the mount.
8x50 · 6° field · correct image (roof prism) · red illuminated open-center reticle · 16 mm eye relief · 15.9 oz
Explore Scientific's 8x50 illuminated straight-through finder: a 6-degree field, a roof prism for an upright correct image, a red illuminated open-center measuring reticle, 16 mm eye relief and EMD coatings, with bracket.
Best for: Centering faint objects, where a dark crosshair on a dark sky is unusable
≈ $180
GoTo equatorial · belt-driven clutched worm gears · polar sight hole through the RA axis · ExploreStars app · eight CPUs claimed
Explore Scientific's iEXOS-100-2: a GoTo equatorial mount and tripod with clutched dual-axis worm gears on belt-driven stepper motors, the PMC-Eight controller, the ExploreStars app and a polar sight hole.
Best for: A small imaging setup that has to be polar-aligned quickly and driven from a tablet
≈ $300
Any figure written into the body of this page was true on the day it was written. The amount shown next to each instrument is requested from the retailer as the page loads, and it is that amount, not the text, that stands.
