My Vixen GPD2 German Equatorial Mount Problems

Well if you are a Vixen shrill, a Vixen Optics Customer Service Rep, or a Vixen Japan Customer Support person you're likely not going to like some of what I have to say in this write up. Call it what you like but it is the tail of my troubles with my brand new Vixen GPD2 mount, Vixen Optics Customer Service, and Vixen Japan Customer Support. Both Vixen Optics Customer Service and Vixen Japan Customer Support were given several communications/opportunities to make things right on my Vixen GPD2 but did absolutely nothing to offer a remedy to the defects & poor quality control. The best I received from either Vixen Optics Customer Service and Vixen Japan Customer Support were a lot of apologies, and the eventual admission the mount did have a problem out of the box.....! AFTER I fixed the problems myself, and sent them pictures of the defect at the root of the problem, along with a "by the way since you did fix this yourself the warranty is void". If you have any interest in further details of what was communicated via all of the e-mail over several weeks it is posted as it was received and sent Here from Vixen Optics Customer Service and HERE from Vixen Japan Customer Support. The only missing communication is the second one I had with Mike Fowler of Vixen Optics Customer Service via telephone communication. Enough dwelling on this aspect of the troubles & problems I had with my Vixen GPD2 brand new out of the box and on to what those problems were.

I received the Vixen GPD2 on the afternoon of August 20, 2006 just after 3:00 PM, and after unpacking it went about the business of fitting a set of Meade Autostar drives to it from a Meade LXD75 mount. Actually there isn't much of a "fitting" to it, the two mounts' gears and designs are pretty much identical, basically just bolted the Meade Autostar drives onto the Vixen GPD2 the same as they went on the Meade LXD75. I put the Vixen GPD2 on the 'place of honor' on my permanent pier on The Star Deck. I went through the usual motions of calibrating the Meade Autostar drives to the Vixen GPD2 mount, then placed all of the rest of my gear on the mount for use. After getting all of the equipment secured onto the Vixen GPD2 I set about the task of balancing the mount, and found the R.A. axis to be unreasonably tight. I had worked on an older Vixen GP mount prior to owning this Vixen GPD2 and had knew their axis were a little tighter than the Chinese Clones I have dealt with in the past, but this GPD2 was so tight with it's free spin clutches released mode I could off balance by as much as 10lbs with no change in the attitude of the R.A. Axis.

I thought this a bit too tight, but simply used the old balance points from the Meade LXD75 to set up the balance of the Vixen GPD2... same load so the balance should have been close enough. When the Sun set and the darkness fell I went about the process of setting up for a drift alignment after doing a quick and easy Simplified Kochab's Clock alignment using the Polar Finder Scope. It was during the process of getting a star centered for the drift alignments that I noticed the Vixen GPD2 had horrid back lash in both axis. Even at slew speeds of .5 degrees/second it would take 4 - 5 seconds for a change of direction. The back lash was bad enough that Stark Labs PHD Guiding was having a struggle calibrating to guide when I tried to autoguide after finishing the drift alignments. After fighting with PHD Guiding for a few calibration attempts I gave it up for the night, knowing with the backlash as bad as it was "out of the box" the mount would simply not perform well enough for the PHD Guiding to properly calibrate it. PHD Guiding is a pretty capable guiding application, it has given some outstanding guiding performances with my Meade LXD75, but the backlash issues I was encountering with the Vixen GPD2 were worse than anything I had experienced with the Meade LXD75. I knew this was not right & that something was amiss with the Vixen GPD2.

The next morning, August 27, 2008 I e-mailed Vixen Optics Customer Service at support@vixenoptics.com, and was pleasantly surprised by a very prompt return message from Mike Fowler of Vixen Optics Customer Service that same morning. Mr. Fowler expressed his disappointments and apologies over the problems I was having with the brand new Vixen GPD2 right out of the box. In the E-mail message Mr. Fowler gave me his telephone number and requested I give him a call to discuss the issues with the GPD2. I called Mr. Fowler on my dime that same afternoon to discuss the issues with him, in our phone conversation Mr. Fowler stated after talking with me he was comfortable with me doing the necessary adjustments/repairs to the mount to get it working properly, based on the knowledge and experience I had with this type of mount. I went ahead that day and did the necessary adjustments to the Vixen GPD2 as Mr. Fowler & I had agreed too.

The next outing with the mount the backlash issues were resolved and the problem with the overly tight R.A. axis had the first attempt at resolution. I had to back the R.A. Axis nut set screws off and turn the R.A. Axis lock nut counter clockwise ever so slightly to relieve what appeared to be an excessively over torqued Axis nut. It was during the process of releasing the over tension on the axis nut I encountered a situation that gave me the first hints of what and where the real issue with the R.A. axis would lie. The small Allen set screws (3 ea.) that work as "locks" for the axis nut to prevent it from tightening or loosening during normal operations were turned down so tight I twisted/bent the first small Allen wrench I had attempting to back them off enough to be able to release the axis nut. After going through one Allen wrench & putting a slight twist in yet another I was able to release the set screws. After I backed the R.A. Axis nut off ever so slightly about 1/16 of a turn or slightly less I reset the locking set screws, albeit not with all my might as apparently whom ever had assembled the mount at Vixen had done. The R.A. axis now was able to be rotated without an unreasonable amount of force in the clutch released position. I remounted everything and readied for another attempt at "first light" with the brand new Vixen GPD2!

The next night out was OK, things seemed to go fairly well, the Axis were slightly stiff as I would have expected from a Vixen GP mount, but I was able to balance the mount within a pound or two..... good enough for a precision mount. I dropped Mr. Fowler am E-mail letting him know it appeared the problems encountered with the mount out of the box had been resolved. So I thought, the next outing I went to change up the photographic equipment to do some planetary photography, which is a much lighter setup than the DSO photography with the 35mm, MPCC, Guide cameras and so forth. I went to re-balance for the lighter setup and the R.A. Axis had returned to the same condition as it had come out of the box with. Sometime during the previous night things had slipped back into an unfavorable situation. I once again went through the process of revealing the R.A. Axis nut, this time with the intent of backing the R.A. nut completely off by several turns and resetting the R.A. making sure everything was properly secured. It was during this process I encountered what I first believed to be the cause of the returned axis problems. The R.A. Axis nut began to freeze up after about 2 - 3 turns counter clockwise, I bent the pins on my small index face pin spanner while attempting to remove the R.A. Axis nut. This is where I should have said to hell with it and sent the mount back to them, but as I learned later Vixen had already laid the ground work to abandon the mount and warranty on me. I had slight suspicions of this during the initial conversations with Mike Fowler over the phone, and even questioned him on the validity of the warranty should I make the necessary adjustments and repairs to the mount to get it working properly. Unfortunately this was an unrecorded telephone conversation so I cannot prove or back up much of what was actually discussed or agreed upon during that conversation. Suffice it to say I decided all further communications would take place via written communications, which was a reasonable decision as I would have absolutely no proof of the ensuing debacle that took place.

I sent Mr. Fowler yet another E-mail informing him of what I had encountered on the second attempt to repair the mount. I had found some steel fragments (magnetically attractive) between the plastic Axis nut bushing and the mount. At this point I had not yet completely disassembled the mount, but had just removed the Axis nut and cleaned up the nut bushing and bushing contact point on the mount with a small wire "tooth brush" and compressed air. I put the axis nut back on reset everything, and waited for my next outing. Again with the next outing everything initially performed as is should have out of the box new from Vixen Optics, and I sent the E-mail communication linked above to Mike Fowler of Vixen Optics Customer Service. Same as the last readjustment, the problem returned again after the first outing. At this point I was pretty frustrated at the whole situation having had opted to purchase a Vixen GPD2 Equatorial mount based upon Vixen Japan's highly regarded reputation for quality precision German Equatorial Mounts.

I sent yet another E-mail communication to Mike Fowler at support@vixenoptics.com expressing my complete dissatisfaction in the mount. This message was met with silence, I received no return message for a few days after sending it, so I tried yet another message, no reply. I sent a message off to Vixen Japan Customer Support/Info info@vixen.co.jp in which I again expressed my disappointment and lack of response from Vixen Optics, and again received no reply. After several days of no response from any of my 3 messages I wrote a hard copy letter to Vixen Optics and sent it off snail mail expressing my thorough disappointment in the service and product I had received. Also at this point after loosing several clear nights of opportunity I decided I was likely indeed on my own with the mount. I debated sending the mount back to Telescopes.com for a complete refund under their satisfaction guarantee, but did not. The problem was with Vixen Optics Customer Service & Vixen Japan Customer Support not Telescopes.com, sometimes I am just too damned honest! I had initially received a two-fer from Telescopes.com, they had sent me two Vixen GPD2 mounts for the price of one. I contacted Telescopes.com and made arrangements with them and sent the extra back..... guess I should have opened both of them and used them kept the best one huh??! Not my style, but it would have saved me from the lemon I received from Vixen. Anyhow as stated I did not have issues with Telescopes.com they are with Vixen Optics Customer Service and Vixen Japan Customer Support.

After waiting several more days for a response from either Vixen Optics or Vixen Japan I just went ahead and fixed the trouble with the Vixen GPD2. The problem with the Vixen GPD2 boiled down to the set screws that are used to lock the R.A. Axis nut in place and keep it from becoming too loose or too tight during the normal rotations of the axis during use. When I completely disassembled the Vixen GPD2 to examine it for the cause of the problem is when I found the set screws having been so badly over tightened from the Vixen plant had caused the problem. The set screws had bored down into the R.A. Axis threads so deeply the threads had been ruptured and small pieces broken off, hence some of the "steel fragments" I found during the second repair attempt. The fragments were a small part of the problem but not the root cause of the continually returning problem. The damage to the R.A. axis threads and shaft was deep enough to have created a "memory point" on the threads and shaft. To set the Axis nut torque to the proper tension for the axis to turn freely enough to balance, yet not so loose as to cause flexion in the axis was just off of the deeply scarred area of the threads. Every time I reset the nut and set screws the set screws would slip back into the original scarred point on the axis threads causing the a reoccurrence of the original problem.

The cure was relatively simple for me to perform, I performed a slight "mill back" of the single thread in the damaged areas removing the "memory point" from the axis, then polished the threads out with a 6" wire wheel brush on my bench grinder. This worked like a champ, the mount was returned to service after the completed repairs and has not had a problem since, it is now performing as one would have expected the Vixen GPD2 to perform. This however was not the end of the Vixen Optics, Vixen Japan debacle, it was several days after I had sent the hard copy letter to Vixen Optics I received an apologetic communication from Mike Fowler via E-mail stating my messages had been deleted as Junk Mail.......! Hmmmm, nothing in the header of the e-mails had changed from the very first messages received and responded to promptly, why had this subject title been ear marked as junk??! I sent Mr. Fowler a reply stating I had given up on them and performed the necessary repairs myself, included pictures of the problems, and the problem was now fixed. Mr. Fowler sent a happy reply that all was well & stated he would forward the information and pictures to Vixen Japan, you'd of thought that would be the end of it.... nope!

I had joined the Vixen Optics Yahoo User Group several months before I made the final decision to purchase a Vixen GPD2 and had posted a couple of messages there prior to making my purchase no problems. After I had gone through the process of working the bugs out of the Vixen GPD2, I stopped by the group to post a fairly positive message with the a link to the first successful Astrophoto I was able to obtain with the mount slightly over a month after I had received it and put it to task. After working the bugs out of the mount I had finally achieved a result the mount should have been capable of, found HERE. Results prior to the completed repairs can be found HERE. Well, I guess my e-mails had once again been marked for deletion as Spam, my message was blocked, and upon e-mailing Mr. Fowler to ask why I once again began receiving the silent treatment, at this point I am forced to ask.... is this any way to treat a customer?? I attempted to send the owner of Vixen Optics, Brian Deis bvdeis@mrstarguy.com an e-mail expressing my complete dissatisfaction with his company Vixen Optics, Customer Service and the treatment I had received for having been unfortunate enough to have purchased a Vixen telescope mount with problems brand new out of the box. I never to this date have received anything from Mr. Brian Deis by way of apology, or even a response, after one hard copy letter and a direct e-mail... to me this says a lot about the man, the company, and any concerns for the customer.

Well after the e-mail to Brian Deis expressing my disappointment in Vixen Optics and their Customer Service, I did finally receive a sarcastic reply from Mr. Mike Fowler stating to once again give him a call via his phone on my dime if I needed to resolve any problems.... he'd be happy to help. No thanks Mike I prefer to keep any future communications after the results of our first conversation "in writing"! It was after the last message to Mr. Brian Deis along with a second e-mail from me to Vixen Japan at info@vixen.co.jp along with a link to my last News & Updates article from October 13, 2008 that I finally received a reply from Vixen Japan's Customer Support. Basically Vixen Japan Customer Support started off by calling me an incompetent idiot, apologized for ignoring my earlier message, and denying warranty on the Vixen GPD2 Equatorial Mount with the problems and trouble. Vixen's Customer Support ended up being forced to eat their words as to the causes of the problems apologizing for their incompetency and then telling me they were so happy I was able to make the necessary repairs to get the mount into proper working order.

Well I've come to a couple of definite conclusions from this debacle with Vixen Optics, Vixen Optics Customer Service, Vixen Japan & Vixen Japan's Customer Support.......... They are both real good at writing apologies, cannot be trusted real good, and will tell you about anything in the end to get rid of you. I will not myself ever purchase another new product from Vixen again, and would recommend no one to. The Vixen Equatorial Mount I received had problems and trouble out of the box, but once I fixed the problems on my own it has proven to be a very good mount for an economy class mount. No I do not consider the Vixen GP & GPD2 mounts to be mid-class level mounts, they are still a 144 tooth worm gear based mount, The GPD2 has Bronze Worm gears and steel axis shafts which puts it on top of the class, but still by design and function in the economy class. With that said, I would definitely say if you can find a GPD2 or any other Vixen product used, for a reasonable price it would likely be a good product at the used price. Why pay for a new product, when all you are getting is the potential of a broken promise on the warranty, the used one has already been "user tested and approved".

The saddest part of this whole debacle has been that once fixed the mount has really performed very well and to my original expectations, I am now happy with the mount, but not Vixen Optics. Vixen Optics Customer Service, Brian Deis, Mike Fowler, Vixen Japan, or Vixen Japan Customer Support. The precision engineering was there, the quality of materials was there, and now that I have fixed it the performance is there, but unfortunately the quality of assembly and quality control out of the Vixen plant was not. The truest measure of the quality of a company lies as much in how they take care of customers with complaints, as well as the actually quality of they product the produce. Others have told me of problems they have had with Vixen products, but they either received a satisfactory response from Vixen or just sent the product back to the retailer they purchased it from for a replacement or different product. I don't understand why Vixen Optics Customer Service treated me in the manor I was treated, perhaps Mr. Fowler overstated his authority in telling me it would be OK for me to take care of the problems myself. After the fact the goal became to simply ignore me and when I would not go away duck out of the warranty and try to make me go away......... You know, please don't go away mad, but just go away....... Heck of a way to treat a customer, but I think the situation as it played out pretty much speaks for itself in the end. Mike, Brian, and T. Kawai; I have gone away unhappy with your despicable and dishonorable treatment of my Vixen GPD2 Equatorial Mount problems and myself. Although now happy with the performance I have achieved by repairing your defective product myself, so long as I own it, it will not go away, nor will I credit it with any of the photos that may be acquired while using it. As it has been converted to an Autostar drive and I still own and use the Autostar driven LXD75 on astrophotography, all my astrophotography is now credited to an "Autostar Mount" used to acquire the photo. Vixen has not earned the credit for anything the mount may produce as Vixen Optics and Vixen Japan have basically disowned the mount. I don't consider myself all that great of a photographer, but who knows what my future outings may hold, I get out fairly often when the weather presents opportunities!

Clear Skies!

Mark Jordan
39 47' 06" N. X 85 46' 10" W.