Binoculars tripod advice

[haroon132]

Hi There,

I have Andrew's 20X80 Binoculars but don't have any tripod for it yet? can somebody recommend a good stable tripod for astronomy please.:thumbsup:

[brian nordstrom]

:welcome: Haroon , almost any heavy duty photography tripod will do , but its the mounting that is a problem with bino's , they are top heavy and on a normal Alt/Az style ( up/down , side to side ) mount and anything above about 45 degrees causes them to flop backwards , very hard to stop without an elaborate counter weight system .:sadeyes:.

My advise is to look at Bintel and see if they still sell the 'Parrellegram' style mount , do a google on binocular mounts and you will find them and they are awesome , not to complicated to make either if you are good with your hands and there are plenty of plans on the web , just Google ,,,,, you just need a good heavy duty and tall tripod , plenty around from $150 - $1000 , your choice :thumbsup:.

Binocular astronomy is very rewarding when they are mounted on the parrellegram style mount , I have some 70mm bino's in NZ that are mounted this way and they are fun and easy to use allowing the binos to perform at their best .

Brian.

[dannat]

telescopes-astronomy in SA have a good tall 190cm tall tripod with a 3 way head, i would recommend a fluid head to go with it though, the 3 way is too hard to adjust easily

[ngcles]

Hi Haroon,

I would recommend the parallelogram style mounts -- if you can find one. Bintel used to sell them, but I don't think they do at the moment. There is an Orion brand one here:

http://www.telescope.com/Mounts-Tripods/Altazimuth-Mounts-Tripods/Orion-Monster-Parallelogram-Binocular-Mount-amp-Tripod/c/2/sc/35/p/114271.uts

That shows the principle. Having been a binocular astronomer for a looooong time, on all sorts of mountings, I can tell you this is the best sort of mounting. I have one made by a friend at the Sutherland Astronomical Society about 15 years ago back when he was also making them for sale at Bintel.

In the interim here's an ultra-cheap alternative.

Get yourself a household broom that has a long handle. Turn it upside-down, plonk your binoculars on the top and voila!

Best,

L.