My NJP is future-proofed.
According to Texas Nautical, nobody but me has yet requested the new, updated polar scope reticle for the NJP. The old one is good until 2015, so I suppose it will be a little while before people really start getting desperate.
But this means, of course, that I’m (possibly? probably?) the first person in the Western Hemisphere (North America, certainly) to have one of these. w00t!
Here’s a photo of the thing:
Yes, the image is a little ghetto. But, eat your heart out, Tak owners! 04026 is some good.
Now I just need to get an updated version of TakAlign, and I’m golden…
Hi There,
I’ve been reading your NJP saga with great interest. I also have and NJP which exhibited the same polar scope issues as yours. Unfortunately my mount turned out to have a bent shaft which is pretty amazing in itself, given how stout that thing is.
However I am just curious if Takahashi completely replaced the polar scope or just the reticle. I was actually able to disassemble my mount and remove the polar scope from the dec assembly. It just unscrews. So I was thinking that if at Takahashi they still have the polar scopes I can get a new one and swap it out.
I am curious to hear more about your repair.
Thanks
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for reading!
I love my NJP; it’s wickedly accurate, possibly the best astronomy purchase I’ve ever made.
I hadn’t tested the new reticle under the stars when I made this post — I’m still having similar problems with the polar reticle being out of alignment with the polar axis. I can still drift align the mount, of course, and if I can ever get the reticle working properly, it’ll be good for the foreseeable future.
I think that the NJP’s stoutness is its downfall — the mount tends to injure itself during shipment unless extreme precautions are taken. As long as you never, ever ship the mount, it will work perfectly forever.
I’m fairly certain that they only replaced the reticle. Texas Nautical had to ship the polar scope to Japan to get the new reticle installed, though; there’s apparently an optical alignment jig that only exists at the factory.
I don’t think they sell just polar scopes; I was given the impression that the polar scope is built into the polar axis in some way.
Enjoy your mount. It’s a keeper!
Best,
Jimbo