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I have a ZWO 071 which has performed well. However I had a technical issues and needed some support. I went through my supplier who has a large presence in AP. ZWO responded to their request and gave me an email address to use. I never got an answer after repeated request. Can anyone comment on ZWO technical support. I have a friend who has a QHY and he has gotten excellent technical support and service. Can anyone comment on the quality of QHY versus ZWO Thanks Bruce Williams |
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get both  |
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Hi Bruce, You can send an email to ZWO's support again. |
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Bruce Williams: Hi Bruce II reported this post to Zwo and they replied that you have to send again an email to this address [email protected] when I had a problem they responded immediately |
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| I had a problem with a zwo 1600 a couple of years back, and reported it on their support forum. Not only did they get back with me, but Sam, the CEO worked with me. Logged into my camera remotely via my computer to fix it himself |
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I'm glad to hear others have had good tec support from ZWO. I did send my request twice to [email protected] but never heard back and checked my spam filter to confirm I hadn't recieved an email from them. I will remain open minded about ZWO tec support. |
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| Always that need support, ZWO worked very fast. Sam, Sean, all answered in at least 2 days. Excuse my little English. Hugs: Maicon Germiniani |
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| I can confirm that ZWO‘s technical support is excellent. I had a problem with the TEC of my 071 Pro and got in touch directly with an engineer of ZWO. He responded me on a dayly basis, i.e. I had continous contact with him and together we could solve my problem. |
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| I have the 071 also. Curious what the issues have been. I can’t cool mine too much or else I get crazy noise patterns... |
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It was dust. I was trying to determine if it was on the sensor or glass cover protecting the sensor. I blew it off but it kept returning. Eventually discovered when i tried to blow it off it was lodging to the side on the cover. I eventually removed it. It's an excellant camera and you can cool it too much creatimg ice. |
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| Mirko, at what temp do you start to get ice / crazy patterns with the 071? |
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Robert Huerbsch: im okay if I cool less than 10 degrees ambient. I try not to get below zero. If I go too far say to -10 or even -20, I get problems. |
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However, maybe there is somebody who can compare ZWO vs QHY? Both have some very similar cameras, so i'd be interested in this question. Beneath service, also image quality should be of concern, especially for CMOS sensors producing amp glow. From my experience, i can report quick and regular answers when i had some issues with my QHY, mostly by Qin Xiao Xu who seems to be the founder of the company. |
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I've had experience with about 3 ZWO cameras and 8 or 9 QHY cameras. There's a reason that the ZWO stopped at 3. I had an ASI071 which would frost up (seems to be a common issue) and it wouldn't cool below -25C delta even at 100% (spec is -35C). Even trying to cool it down over an hour's time it frosted up. I never even got to use it to take an image due to this. Then I had an ASI1600MM - same issue with frost (it would develop after running for a while though), but that would at least cool to spec. Nothing more frustrating than losing hours worth of data due to frost. The third was an ASI120MM guide camera which would just hang periodically, kind of defeating the point for guide corrections. On the contrary, I have not once seen any kind of frost or condensation on my QHY - probably because they actually design them to specifically prevent this. I cool the QHY down to -35C delta (sometimes it will even cool above spec) in about 5 minutes or less. I will never buy or recommend ZWO. They may have good technical support, but so what if it's got issues like that. QHY also seem to have better designed amp glow and dark current control. I've seen some side by side pics of darks somewhere on an ASI071 vs a QHY168C and the QHY looked much cleaner. |
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| I've got the ZWO 1600, ZWO 290 Mini, QHY 183C and QHY183M. I like both companies. The long and short of it is: Cooling is superior for QHY cameras. They cool down a lot faster and can easily reach your target temperature whereas my ZWO 1600 really struggles to get down to -20°C in the summer for me. On the other hand, ZWO cameras are far easier to get the spacing right with, have a more secure connection and the built-in hub is extremely useful for me. Getting the spacing right with QHY cameras is like pulling teeth. The other downside is that the T-ring attachment on my QHY cameras is held on the camera by four tiny screws. On both my QHY cameras, the screws have come loose, causing camera tilt. I can't seem to find a permanent solution for this other than coating the screws in Loctite and hoping for the best. The T-ring connection on the ZWO is built into the body of the camera, do there's no way it can come loose. The bottom line is both companies make some great cameras. If I had to choose between a ZWO 1600 and QHY163, I'd go with the 1600 for the simple fact that you can use 1.25" filters with it and you can't do that with the 163. But for cameras with smaller sensors, both are great picks. If you suffer from heavy dew and really warm summer nights, go with the QHY. If you have limited backfocus (e.g., need to use a coma corrector) and would find a built-in hub useful, go with ZWO. |
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| I believe QHY heats the clear glass above the sensor and ASI uses desiccant tablets. Going below 0C = Frost with the 071 I’m testing, going to try and dry the desiccant tablets out and reinstall. |
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Zwo typically responds within 2 days for me. Hopefully they will respond to you I too have the dew/frost issue on my 071mc pro. In the winter I cool to -10C and in the warmer seasons I cool to 0C and it's worked out great! The additional cooling doesn't seem to make much difference in the thermal noise past 0C for my climate so I've been tempted to just cool to 0C year round. I have slow-cooled to avoid the pattern noise and get it down further but I also favor not running the cooler too hard. I was told by peers to just microwave the desiccant tablets for a few minutes and replace but tbh haven't been bothered. I'm not saying it isn't a problem that should be solved but I've got other priorities at the moment. Good luck!! |
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If you have to avoid cooling then what's the point of even having it? Especially when the cameras are the same price (actually I think QHY has gone cheaper than ZWO now). Personally I find a big difference between 0C and -15C, and the dark current charts back that up as well. It's about 1/3 the dark current at -15C as at 0C on my camera. In fact with the ASI071/168C, it is 1/6th the dark current at -15C (0.00075) that it is at 0C (0.0048 ). Rob you're right that the QHY has heaters built into the glass window; it is a thin circular board in front of it. ZWO really needs to get it together - this frost and cooling issue - it's criminal that they are able to sell this stuff with these cooling issues that don't meet spec and what's even crazier is that people are actually okay with that and keep buying them. Why would they bother to fix it when people will buy it anyway? |
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Jarrett Trezzo: To clarify: I'm not avoiding cooling, I'm reporting actual temperature values and not differences from ambient. In both cases the difference from ambient is anywhere from 0C to -30C on any given night. I look for a constant temperature I can reuse for the whole season. Regulated cooling is of value in itself to those of us still relatively new to to the hobby. |
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| Looks like the 071 has been discontinued, wonder if it’s because of the cooling issues? |
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Robert Huerbsch:I'm not seeing that. Link? |
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Robert Huerbsch: def not its still a current camera some people have had a few issues with cooling .. more ice or dew but its certainly not the wide spread case I fixed my issues with a warming of the dessicant tabs and cooling to 0c for a start early in my session and then deep cooling in a 2nd stage - no more issues since QHY vs ZWO - personally I found QHY drivers to be unstable and their support to be lacking plus you always needed to buy extras to get it to mount to something. With my ZWO everything is always in the box and Sam and the teams support is fast and never had any issue with any ZWO product apart from USB cables which were replaced FOC within days. I think its very much a personal choice but I can say my ZWO purchases have all been superb. Cheers Simon |
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| I live in FL, humidity is insane. Not having heated clear glass is a serious limitation. I own both QHY and ZWO. When I had an issue with my QHY guide cameras USB connection, they immediately express shipped me the replacement part from Taiwan and it arrived in 3 days. QHY dint even ask me for a receipt! That = service |
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| btw there is an incorrect statement above as well - the ASI071MC Pro has a heated window too - you can turn it on /off in the ascom driver |
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My 2 cents : have been using 7 different cameras from ZWO. Some banding problems on the 178 MC, some icing isues with the 294 MC Pro but fixed by changing the tablets. Support is OK. To help with making your opinion please take a look at my images ;) PS : not sure this is englishly correct <3 JF |
