First Impressions

This is a very small, lightweight, and portable star tracker.  It's so portable that I can even fit it inside my pocket!  For those of you who already have a star tracker, like the Star Adventurer, you are probably tired of lugging that thing around!  The Star Adventurer itself weighs over 2lbs, and that's not including the latitude base, camera mounting block or declination bracket, etc...  The MSM Gauda can easily fit in a small backpack and be carried on long hikes or overnight trips into the backcountry.

The device itself is very straightforward.  On top, there are a number of icons which show the various tracking speeds.  There’s also a South and North option, depending on your hemisphere.  You can easily switch between the tracking speeds by clicking the button on the left.  If you want to turn on/off the tracker, just hold down the right button until the lights come on.

One of my favorite features of the MSM is that it comes with a green laser pointer, provided you choose the correct bundle (currently 'Basic Kit B').  This laser pointer will allow you to do an accurate polar alignment in seconds, without having to mess around with a polar scope! 

Configuration Options

The MSM can be configured a few different ways, but here’s how I prefer to do it.  I attach an arca-swiss plate to the bottom of the tracker.  The ¼ screw on any arca-swiss plate should screw in perfectly.  At this point I can attach the tracker to my ballhead.  However, I do need a second ballhead to attach the camera to the tracker.  I personally use a Benro IB-2 for this task, and it does a great job.  You don’t want a big and bulky ballhead here, as it will only cause problems.  You’re much better off with a small, lightweight ballhead.

You will need two ballheads for this method, but it is a very easy and fast way to setup the MSM

This brings me to my first problem with the MSM.  It comes with two 3/8” screws, which are the same size as most tripod mounts.  However, these screws will continuously rotate up into the tracker’s mount or your ballhead without stopping.  I’m not sure why there is no screw permanently attached to the tracker’s camera mount.  This is normal for every other tracker, but not here.  Just to make sure I wasn't overlooking something, I contacted MoveShootMove about this problem.  They agreed with me that it was a bad design and were looking at other alternatives.  So, as of October 2019 MSM is aware of this minor problem and seem to be designing a solution as I write this review.  Again, this isn't a deal-breaker, just a minor annoyance.  Once you get the hang of it, you shouldn't have too much trouble attaching your ballhead to the star tracker's mount.

Here you can see the 3/8" screw that you must install partially into your ballhead.  Then you can screw everything into the camera mount on the MSM tracker.

UPDATE: Less than 3 days after publishing this review, MSM released a new screw for the MSM star tracker which should work much better!  They reached out to let me know about this change, and sent some photos to show the new screw.  This will be included with all trackers from now on.  I believe this will really help with the ballhead connection.

Here you can see the new MSM screw, which has a ridge in the middle.  This should provide a secure connection between the ballhead and star tracker, and solve the problem I mentioned above

For those of you who are interested in creating timelapses, the MSM has this functionality built-in.  You have a lot of freedom with the timelapse motion, but panning horizontally is the most common.  I personally don't do many timelapses, but I wanted to test out the MSM.  For this timelapse I hiked up to a mountain overlook.  This is where the size, weight and portability of the MSM really shined!  Then I attached the MSM directly to my tripod.  From there, I attached my ballhead to the rotating camera mount on the MSM.  However, this meant that I could not see the bubble level, as it was now facing downward.  According to the manual, you should flip everything around, so that the bubble level is facing up (that would make sense!).  However, I thought it was a bit weird to have the rotating piece attached to the tripod, rather than the ballhead and my camera.  

According to the manual, I attached the MSM upside down.  However, it still worked fine in the configuration above.  The MSM is very versatile and you can use it in many different ways

Doing my timelapse during the day exposed another minor problem with the MSM tracker.  The tracker uses dim red lights to show which tracking speed you've selected and whether or not it's even turned on.  This is great for nighttime photography, since bright lights are a major annoyance!  However, during the day it's almost impossible to see which tracking speed you've selected.  I had to completely cover the tracker, so minimal light was reaching it.  I could then finally see that the tracker was turned on, and it was set to the Sidereal tracking speed.  Unless you plan to use the MSM for a lot of daytime timelapses, this really isn't a problem.

To create this timelapse video, I set the MSM to the Sidereal tracking speed.  Then I setup my Nikon D750's Intervalometer to take a photo every 10 seconds.  At that point, I let the camera and tracker run for about 2 hours, while I sat back and enjoyed the view!

Polar Alignment

The polar alignment process is the most important part of using a star tracker.  Our goal is to align the star tracker with the North Celestial Pole (or South Celestial Pole if you are in the Southern Hemisphere).  This North/South Celestial Pole is the spot where all the stars rotate around in the sky.  If you've ever done a star trails photo, you've seen this effect.  Click here for an example.  The circular effect shows exactly where the North Celestial Pole is.  Ideally, we would point our star tracker to that exact spot in the sky.  Unfortunately the NCP is just a blank spot, which makes it very difficult to find with the naked eye.  Therefore, we we normally align our star tracker to the North Star.  The North Star (Polaris), is located very close to the North Celestial Pole - hence the name.  Unlike all the other stars in the sky, the North Star does not appear to move.  (If you look closely at the star trails photo linked above, you will notice that Polaris does indeed move, but not very much.)

Once the star tracker is turned on and pointed up to Polaris, your camera will now follow the motion of the stars.  That means you can shoot much longer exposures without star trails!  The more accurate your polar alignment, the longer you can shoot with sharp stars.

With every other star tracker, polar aligning can be a major pain!  Usually you have to crane your neck and look through a small polar scope.  At best, you might see a few faint, blurry stars. At worst, you won’t see anything at all!  This can be a nightmare for beginners.  I remember it took me almost an hour to do a polar alignment my first night out with the SkyTracker Pro.  Thankfully the MSM has an ingenious design!!

The laser holder is easily clamped to the side of the MSM, then you can slide in the laser pointer and lock it down.  This is a great idea for polar aligning!

The MSM comes with a little green laser, which will help you quickly do a polar alignment  The MSM also includes a bracket you can attach to the side of the tracker.  Once attached, you can slide in the laser pointer.  Once you turn the laser on, you’ll instantly see where your tracker is pointed.  From here, you can loosen your ballhead and move the tracker around until the laser is pointed up towards Polaris.  If this sounds a bit confusing, don't worry.  It's not as complicated as it may sound.  In fact, I was able to do my first polar alignment with the MSM in less than 10 seconds!

Once the laser pointer is attached and turned on, you can adjust your ballhead so that the laser is pointed directly at Polaris

If you aren’t sure how to find Polaris, it’s actually very simple.  First, find the Big Dipper in the northern sky.  Now, take the corner star and draw a straight line out.  This will always take you to Polaris.  Once the laser is centered on the North Star, you’re done!  This shouldn’t take more than 20 seconds once you know what to look for.  I really love this method of polar aligning.  I may start incorporating this laser with my other trackers as well.  As an astrophotography instructor, you’d think I would’ve purchased a green laser years ago.  In fact, this was the first laser pointer I got, so thank you MSM!!

Finding Polaris is very simple!  Just look for the Big Dipper and draw a line out from the corner star, it will always take you to the North Star!

How well does it work?

On my first night out with the MSM I was able to get a precise polar alignment in less than 10 seconds!  This was all thanks to the laser pointer, no polar scope required!  Once I did my quick polar alignment, I attached my Nikon D750 and Nikon 14-24mm lens.  That's a lot of weight to put on a small star tracker.  Usually trackers of this size are limited to about 3 lbs, at least that's the max weight the manual recommends.  Therefore, I was a bit skeptical that the MSM could handle my heavy camera, lens, and ballhead (total weight was ~6 lbs).

Once I had all of my camera settings dialed in - ISO 800, 5 minutes, f/2.8, I took a test photo.  After the 5 minute exposure was finished I zoomed into the image playback.  To my surprise, the stars were tack sharp!  A 5 minute exposure at 14mm is great! 

Here's the 5 minute exposure with my 14mm lens and MSM.  You'll notice the foreground blurred out, but the stars are sharp.  This is the trick with star trackers - you always need to take 2 photos - one for a sharp foreground (no tracker), and one for sharp stars (tracker).  Once you have both images you can blend them together in Photoshop.

My SkyGuider Pro, which costs twice as much as the MSM, can do 5 minute exposures as well.  However, the polar alignment process is much more difficult because you have to use the built-in polar scope.  Instead of doing a polar alignment in 10 seconds or less, it may take you 10+ minutes!  I also tend to use a declination bracket and counterweights, to help balance my heavy camera and lens.  In other words, using the SkyGuider Pro is much more involved, and it requires me to carry around a lot of heavy gear.  

After the success of the first test, I swapped out my 14-24mm lens for my Tamron 24-70mm G2.  I zoomed into 70mm and took another test photo.  This time I used a 2 minute shutter speed.  Again, I was surprised to see sharp stars!  When I used my SkyTracker Pro, I was lucky to get 60 second exposures at 100mm.  This was mainly because the polar alignment was hard to do with the polar scope, especially if you have bad eyes. 

All things considered, the MSM star tracker did a fantastic job with the tracking!  As I previously mentioned, I was very skeptical that the MSM could shoot longer than 2 or 3 minutes at 14mm and still have sharp stars.  I'm happy to report that I was completely wrong!  The MSM's tracking capabilities are on par with the big star trackers that cost over $400.

There is one downside to the MSM - the battery.  According to the website, the MSM battery is only rated for 5 hours.  That's fairly short for a star tracker.  For example, my SkyGuider Pro can easily shoot 20 hours with its rechargeable lithium-ion battery.  I normally spend 5+ months each year traveling across the country and living out of my car.  One of the main annoyances with this lifestyle are batteries!  Every day I'm charging DSLR batteries, phone batteries, portable batteries, star tracker batteries, laptop batteries, etc...  Therefore, I'm not thrilled to have another battery to worry about, especially if it will only last 5 hours of shooting (possibly less on a cold winter night).  With all that said, I do still prefer an internal battery over AA or AAA batteries.  Those are a money pit...  Provided you remember to charge your MSM before you head out for the night, you shouldn't have any problems.  However, I'm sure that sooner or later I will forget and find myself out of luck!

Final Word

Having used most of the star trackers on the market, I can confidently say the MSM is a fantastic option!  I would easily recommend it to anyone who wants to start taking better astro photos at night.  If you've never used a star tracker before, they really do help immensely.  The main problem we face at night is simply a lack of light.  15 - 30 second exposures will never capture enough light for a clean, detailed photo.  That's why so many astro images are grainy and ugly.  With a star tracker though, you can easily capture 4+ minute exposures with a wide angle lens.  If you do the math, a 4 minute exposure is capturing 16 times more light than a 15 second exposure!  This extra light is what allows me to capture the stunning colors and detail in my astro photos.  My biggest regret as an astrophotographer is not buying a star tracker sooner!

The MSM is by far the smallest, lightest, and most portable star tracker on the market.  The Star Adventure Mini is a close second, and that tracker does have more features with its companion app.  However, the SAM needs to be connected to that App (and your smartphone) to function, as it has no physical buttons.  Therefore, I personally don't like using the Star Adventurer Mini.

The only real problem I have with the MSM tracker is the battery life.  According to the website and manual, the MSM tracker battery will only last for 5 hours.  You can recharge it at any time with the included USB-C cable.  However, if you plan to take the MSM on a multi-night backpacking trip, you'll also need a portable battery charger, so keep that in mind.  For everyone else, you'll want to make sure you charge the MSM before heading out for the night.

If you want to do more deep space work, then I would recommend going for something like the SkyGuider Pro instead.  It can easily handle a 150-600mm lens or telescope.  The MSM is really designed for wide angle astrophotography, up to about 100mm.  With that in mind, I will be bringing the MSM on all of my night hikes from now on!  It's so small and light, I don't mind carrying it for a couple miles.  In the past, I would either leave the SkyGuider Pro behind, or dread having to lug it around. 

Probably my favorite part of the MSM is the laser pointer!  This really does revolutionize the polar alignment experience.  If you've never used a polar scope yet, you'll probably hate it.  I've had many students get very frustrated with their star tracker's polar scope.  At best, they might see a few blurry stars, and they aren't sure which is the North Star.  This makes things very difficult at night.  If you don't do an accurate polar alignment, you won't be able to shoot long exposures.  Therefore, a laser pointer will drastically speed up your polar alignment process and save you a lot of frustration!  For this reason alone, I recommend the MSM for both beginners and those who already have a star tracker. 

Apparently laser pointers are illegal in some countries, and heavily regulated in others.  This is mainly due to dumb people shining lasers at airplanes, and blinding the pilots.  If you do use a laser pointer at night, be sure to minimize your usage.  Also, keep an eye out for airplanes and turn off the laser if one flies near Polaris while you are doing a polar alignment.  If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, a laser pointer won't help much with a polar alignment due to the lack of a bright pole star.  Therefore, you'll want to get a polar scope instead and you'll have to really practice your polar alignment skills.  We have things much easier here in the Northern Hemisphere!

In closing, I must say I was really impressed by this tracker.  Due to the small size of the MSM, I honestly was not expecting much.  I figured the tracker would max out at about 2 minutes at 14mm.  I was clearly wrong!  The MSM tracker easily achieved sharp stars at 5 minutes with my 14-24mm lens, and 2 minutes at 70mm.  When you combine that tracking accuracy with the easy polar alignment process, it's clear that the MoveShootMove is a fantastic star tracker!

Finally, if you decide to buy the MSM, be sure to get the "Basic Kit B", which includes the laser pointer.  They do have other bundles available, but I think the Basic Kit B is the best option for most people, unless you'd like to get the additional accessories.