In August 2009 I bought this Motorised Alt/Az mount, mainly to be used as travel mount for my Coronado PST and the OTA of my Skylux scope. Here is a review written by QCUIAG Founding Father Dr. Steve Wainwright. Note: a more advanced model [with GoTo] of this mount is known as Orion TeleTrack GoTo Altazimuth Telescope Mount My own initial experiences with the Acuter Merlin Motorised Multi-Function Mount are quite negative, alas. And you should not buy it abroad because of high shipping costs in case of warranty. [Note: this mount is not marketed in The Netherlands, where I live.] The replacement under warranty solved the problem, however it did cost me Euro 40, because the UK supplier only delivers within the UK so I had to pay for the shipping costs [both ways]. Hopefully the replacing mount will not let me down.

	September 5, 2009. This is the first time I actually used my new mount for imaging. Site: Ile d'Oleron, France.
	September 5, 2009: from another angle.
	Prominences in the South-West. September 5, 2009 13:18 - 13:19 UT. Imaging: Coronado PST first time on Acuter Merlin Mount with Televue Powermate 2.5x operating at f/25 [focal length 1000mm] and Philips Vesta SC3a B/W webcam, Baader Infrared Blocking Filter.

• You absolutely must know your latitude as this is necessary not only for the first time set up but also when you change from using the Mounting Platform to the Dovetail clamp and vice versa. In the following procedure I describe how to set up the Acuter Merlin mount for use with the Coronado PST for imaging purposes [Northern Hemisphere]
• Assemble the tripod with Fork Arm and Mounting Platform, with the PST installed on the Mounting Platform
• Make sure the assembly is level: use the bubble level
• Power ON
• Use the Hand Controller to put the PST in perfect horizontal position (use a water level to ensure this); the top index now must read Zero.
  Note: if the top index is not exactly zero you must correct this by disassembling the dovetail [which is very easy to do], release the big 15mm nut a bit and manually put the dovetail clamp in the correct vertical position. Verify that it is correct now.
• Power OFF
• Power ON: the mount assumes that you are at index zero [which you are !!]; now use the Hand Controller to move to your latitude: try to be as exact as possible [this is very important for imaging] and confirm by simultaneously pressing the Slow and Fast ["SET LAT"] buttons on the Hand Controller
• Power OFF
• Power ON: use the Hand Controller to:
  • put the PST in perfect horizontal position
  • with the Fork Arm at the East side of the mount
  • make sure that the PST points exactly North: in daytime use a compass to find out where North is
• Power OFF: the whole setup is now in Home Position with the index is at zero, the latitude has been set and the PST is horizontal and pointing North; the Fork Arm is at the East side of the mount.

• Power ON: as always after a Power ON the mount assumes that it is in Home Position and if you have followed the above to the letter the mount indeed is in Home Position: ready for business !
• Use the Hand Contoller to aim the PST at the Sun; when you are happy simultaneously press Guide and Slow ["TRACK"] buttons to start tracking. When the tracking has started you will see some drift: this is caused by the slack in the the gear train of the mount. Use the East/West [4 & 5] buttons to reposition. For the rest please see the manual.
• For your convenience: here are some pages of the Instruction Manual: Front Page, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5 and Page 6

Here follows my experience with the Merlin Acuter Mount: I was unfortunate and got a faulty one ...

While imaging the sun I always have to forcefully guide manually so on November 19, 2009 I made these tests [click on the image on the left] and I informed the UK supplier who contacted UK importer. The replacement under warranty - which took 2 months - solved the problem, however it did cost me an additional Euro 40, because the UK supplier only delivers within the UK so I had to pay for the shipping costs [both ways]. The mount is not marketed in The Netherlands [where I live] Hopefully the replacing mount will not let me down.

	Start of the 12 hour tracking test. Please note the picture in the background, which will serve as reference
	End of the 12 hour tracking test. Please note the picture in the background, which serves as reference
	The head has rotated roughly 47 degrees during the 12 hour tracking test

February 3, 2010 Drift during 30 seconds [mouse in/out to see the drift]. The drift in RA is almost nil, which means that the new mount is tracking very nicely. The drift in ALT [upwards] is caused by poor polar alignment and has nothing to do with the mount as such. Note: I tested from indoors, through the trees ...