A camera, a lens and one motor against the rotation
A star tracker is the smallest thing that can be called a mount: a single driven axis that turns a camera at the rate of the sky, so that a lens can be left open long enough to record what the eye cannot. It is the cheapest genuine entry into astrophotography, and it produces wide-field images — constellations, the Milky Way, large nebulae — that a telescope on a heavy mount frames too tightly to show. The figure that governs everything is payload, and here the honest number is not the one in the listing but the combination of camera, lens, ball head and, if fitted, counterweight. A tracker loaded near its limit needs a better polar alignment to reach the same exposure length than the same tracker loaded lightly. Polar alignment is the skill the whole device depends on; the methods differ, from a small polar scope to a phone application that shows where the pole sits, and how good the method is decides whether exposures of a few minutes are realistic or whether thirty seconds is the ceiling. Read the tracking rates offered — a half-sidereal rate lets a single frame compromise between sky and landscape — and read how the device is powered, because a tracker that takes USB power can run from the same bank as the camera. Weight and folded size matter, since these devices exist to be carried. We compare payload and counterweight, tracking rates, polar alignment method, power source, weight, and head fitting.
Motorized tracker · Wi-Fi with the SAM Console app · deluxe equatorial base · fits photo tripods · wide-field, time-lapse and telescopic use
Sky-Watcher's Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack: a motorized portable tracking platform with Wi-Fi control from the free SAM Console app and a deluxe equatorial base, for Milky Way, eclipse, time-lapse and small-telescope use on a photo tripod.
Best for: Camera-based night sky photography on an existing photo tripod
≈ $469
4 kg (8.8 lb) axial, 2 kg (4.4 lb) lateral without counterweights · 500 g (17.6 oz) · ESP32 on 5 V · star pointer to −10 °C (14 °F)
OrionU's dual-screw steel-shaft star tracker: a 500 g carbon-fiber PETG body carrying 4 kg axially and 2 kg laterally without counterweights, with a high-brightness polar pointer, ESP32 control on 5 V power and a 3/8-inch tripod fitting.
Best for: A camera and short lens carried a long way, where every gram and every counterweight counts
≈ $122
±10 arcsec periodic error over 10 min · 1:101.25 gear train · 1.4 kg carrying 4 kg (8.8 lb) · Wi-Fi, open source · three polar alignment methods
OGST's single-axis tracker: a 1.4 kg mount carrying 4 kg, with a stepper motor and 1:101.25 gear train for ±10 arcseconds of periodic error over 10 minutes, open-source Wi-Fi control and polar scope, phone and star-pointer alignment.
Best for: A camera and a 300 mm lens under a dark sky, for someone who wants the tracking error on paper
≈ $326
Sidereal, lunar, solar and time-lapse speeds · 20 hours on 4 AA · 22.4 oz in the bullets, 23 oz in the title · LCD menu
SLIK's ECH-630: a compact motorized star tracker with sidereal, lunar, solar and time-lapse speeds, an LCD menu and up to 20 hours on four AA batteries, about the size of a 24-70 mm lens, with an optional SMH-250 polar head.
Best for: Backcountry night photography where batteries must be replaceable and the speed switchable
≈ $440
Published payload decides what sits on the tracker. A heavy telephoto leaves the stated limits quickly.
Published tracking rates say whether the unit compensates at anything other than the sidereal rate, which changes the use.
Weight is a star tracker’s whole reason to exist against a full mount. It is the figure that justifies the compromise.
A small drive placed between tripod and camera, compensating the sky’s rotation during the exposure.
Published payload bounds the weight, not the focal length. The longer the focal length, the more visible the tracking faults.
The regimes the unit offers, published by the maker. They correspond to different targets in the sky.
The published method says so: polar scope, app, or rough sighting. The precision obtained follows directly.
It becomes so with an off-center load. Its presence or absence is published entry by entry.
The published power source spells it out. Cold reduces the endurance of any cell.
The published head fitting decides what screws on. It is the mechanical point to check before buying.
It carries neither the same load nor the same focal length. This site publishes both families' characteristics separately.
A star tracker trades load and focal length for the weight of the pack. The polar alignment method then decides how long an exposure stays usable.
The column is shown only when four instruments in five publish the figure. Below that, it would be comparing the absence of numbers.
| Model | Price | Polar alignment method |
|---|---|---|
| OrionU Dual-screw steel-shaft tracker (QIO113) | $122 | High-brightness star pointer, stable down to −10 °C (14 °F), stated |
| OGST Single-axis tracker (QIO112) | $326 | Optical polar scope, smartphone alignment or star-pointer alignment |
| SLIK ECH-630 (618-803) | $440 | Optional SMH-250 micro-adjustment head |
| Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Wi-Fi Photo Set | $469 | Deluxe equatorial base for setting the polar angle |
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for telescopes and observing optics and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure in this table names its source.
Most recent revision in this category: November 7, 2026.
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.
