Wi-fi control units for scopes

[ApophisAstros]

Wondered if anyone has experience of these, have been looking at Primaluce Lab EAGLE2, seems to tick all the boxes,
Roger

[NoelC]

No, but I did use my pier head PC under wifi for a while, but fell out with the concept after loosing connection mid-slew. 
Does the Eagle2 work point to point (as a local hotspot), or via a hub?  I found the hub connection to my observatory too tenuous, so went back to wired (which works well).  Currently using TPLink AV1300 ethernet over mains, which is solid and good speed.  Using Win10Pro remote desktop to control remotely as well as local control. After wifi experiment I felt I always needed local control as well as remote.

[NoelC]

Looking at the Eagle2 (£999), I see it is a PC. It's a really nice unit, and obviously crafted for the purpose (sky and telescope hot product), but aside from the switchable outputs and the mountable box, it's just a PC. 
I'm using a Beelink mini PC (£170) it runs PHD, APT, CdC without a problem and has 3 USB 3.0 ports + ethernet and wifi, but I have to turn the peripherals on and off manually and you can't screw scopes into it.

[ApophisAstros]

Thanks Noel,
According to the blurb,its not a PC but EAGLE2 combines, in one device, a powerful computer (not a miniPC!) with Windows 10 Enterprise operation system (more stable and compact version than everyday computers)
Roger

[RobertM]

What about the Beelink pc (there is a version nearly as powerful as the low end Eagle) and a mount hub pro ?  That allows you full control (if you want).

For the price of the Eagle you could also get a reasonable "NUC" sized PC of a good spec and an Astro centric Ethernet controlled switch (like the Dragonfly),  whilst it may not be the all in one solution you're after it would be a lot more flexible.  I'm also not convinced about needing the Enterprise version of Windows 10 - I can't remember the last time mine crashed.  An Enterprise version of some of the buggy Astro software, that I could agree with !

What are you trying to do ?

Robert

[ApophisAstros]

im looking to eradicate  cables , and this does that for usb and power and has its own wifi point.and a nice ssd drive that can save images till you transfer to Laptop,its made for astrophotography,

Roger

[Carole]

It looks good Roger, but rather expensive @ £1360.00 , you could buy a CCD camera for that price.

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Yes but that's more cables , and i can get that next and still room for it on the eagle.
Roger

NB . Thanks for moving to Technical , Rick.

[NoelC]

If your aim is purely to eliminate cables - head mounted, I have to agree it's a neat solution (at a cost).  But on that point, you will need to buy the Eagle power cables to connect it all up at £30 to £70 a shot (or import cheaper alternatives).  If you head mount it; does the heat output from the unit affect stability?
As mentioned; wifi can be problematic - how far is your router? What about when not at home, will it run it's own hotspot?

I tend to save to a fast SXD card directly, then just unplug it to take the data with me afterwards (so size of SSD is not so critical).  I don't believe the power of the computer is critical, as all it has to do is run PHD, everything else is in background until the exposure is finished. 
I assume you've seen the other forum chatter?
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/617575-experiences-with-primaluce-eagle-2/

[ApophisAstros]

Thanks for that Noel, still pondering. I am sort of sold on it i think.
Roger