Well all, I’ve made my decision and I believe it’s time to put this to bed with a full review of my choice, the SV405CC by SVBony. Primary reason is sensor then cost.
First, I will state this, I am in no way affiliated with the company nor am I receiving any compensation for this review. It is simply a complete review of my purchase including the time I was required to work with support when the camera failed almost two months after purchase and a quick assessment of the camera while it was working.
I opted to purchase the SVBony 405CC cooled camera. It’s based on the IMX294 sensor, a ZWO ASI294 clone, minus the onboard hub. I chose the sensor first and the researched the cameras next. I found the SVBony version late December and ordered it in January. First, it worked fine for about six weeks before failing on downloads from sensor. Ok, I’ve been buying electronics now for over 40 years, sometimes you get a lemon. I made contact with SV Bony through the only channel I found at the time, Amazon Seller Messaging, where I bought the camera at. (shhh, lame system, but it worked 🙂 ) Started working with Kelly, problem seemed to occur after an upgrade, so tech support recommended downgrade, easy enough to do with the tools. However, no tools were available on SVB’s web site, welcome to using MS Word as a compression container because Amazon doesn’t support uploading a zip file but does a MS Doc file! (Shhh, 🙄 ) Other weirdness from Amazon but you can work around if needed. I needed; Kelly delivered. After getting the files to me, I performed the downgrade and things worked briefly then the camera failed again. I let Kelly know this and after no communication from his tech, he agreed to replace the camera. I got a brand-new camera yesterday, now all I have to do is return the old one to China. Little expensive but more than willing to do it, I got a new camera in its place. All of this took place over about a little over two week one delay for Chinese holiday and another almost week delay because of no response from tech support to Kelly. Every time I posted; a response was received usually within 12 hours depending on time zone.
Quick snapshot. There’s no real documentation, the latest drivers, both ASCOM and Windows are available for download. All other links and tests to confirm camera is functional are through third party apps, the preferred choice to SVB Tech support is SharpCap. With the camera I would recommend keeping any old software around if you do any upgrades. Good thing I did. I managed to get a couple of shots out of it before it failed. I’m sure I can get better out of the new one. Would I recommend the camera, yes. Would I recommend the company, yes.
Clear Skies,
Chris