Cheap sturdy very portable mount

[Timw]

I have a SW PROED80.
Currently it sits on an old Tasco tripod and it is a pain to set up (the tripod - not the OTA) - so much so that I am avoiding using it.

I am going for a long long road trip and want to take the scope BUT I need to get, very quickly, a more convenient mount.
The next door neighbour has a Televue NP101 on a large heavy duty camera tripod with a Tele pod on that.
It works beautifully BUT it probably cost $1000 all up.
I need a reasonably cheap mount that is easy to transport, quick to setup, doesnt take up too much space and is stable.
Photo Shop Studio has a bunch of reasonably heavy duty tripods (8 - 12kg ) and ball head mounts which would take the OTA and be easy to setup and within the price range but havent had enough experience to know whether I would regret this.
The guys at Bintel say 'No, no" to camera tripods and suggest one of their AZ mounts ($400 for tripod and mount).
Lee at Andrews says "no, no" and suggest getting an EQ3 which I can put drives on at a later stage.

Now, I have seen plenty of VERY BIG video cameras (professional units) that have tripods that keep them sturdy so I am not convinced by Bintel's comments but ..... who knows - well I am hopoing that one of you does.

Any advice greatly welcome but I need to make adecision inside 24hrs.

Cheers

[Starkler]

The $400 Bintel AZ mount will carry this refractor nicely. My only reservation is that the tripod is a little on the short side. Andrews also sell the same mount for maybe a few dollars less.

[Ian Robinson]

Take at look at the Vixen all aluminium tripods (for mounts) that they park their Sphinx and GP mounts in top off.

Sorry don't know current prices - but try Astro-Optical they sell them.

[Astrolabe]

I had an Orion ED80 (it is now sold) on the Vixen Portamount. It worked very well at all magnifications and had very minimal vibration at magnifications greater than 150x. The GS altaz sold by Bintel and Andrews is similar to Portamount but much better in terms of stiffness, load carrying capacity and vibration characteristics. A better still will be the new Orion Skyview altaz or the new Synta Skytee mount ( they are indentical) but they haven't got slow motion controls. GEM are different animals but they are very good as well. I have a Skyviewpro GEM (this came with the ED80) which is much more than adequate for the ED80 but much heavier to lift and set up.

I hope that this helps.

George (astrolabe)

[acropolite]

If you don't want to do any astrophotography, I'd say the Vixen Porta mount or the GS clone, which is very similar but around $100 cheaper. The porta mount can also be fitted with encoders to allow push to with an Argonavis.

[Timw]

Thanks one and all. Your advice is wonderfull and quick.
I have bought the Vixen PortaMount from Astro Optical and its looks like it will be excellent.
I did ring up Andrews Comm and they were out of the GS mounts so it came down to Bintel and AO.
I didnt realise encoders could be fitted at some stage in the future so that's a bonus.
I am off for a 3mth driving holiday - up to Cape York then across to Broome then to the ctr then Arkaroola then home so hope for some good skies.

I seem to remember that one of the people on this forum was a Caravan Park proprieter up on Cape York. Does anyone know which park/town that he was in?

Cheers and thanks again.

[Ian Robinson]

Did a similar road safari in 2000 , didn't get to the trip of Cape York though I wanted too but my wife and boy chickened out.
We went from Port Hedland --> Broome --> Kununarra --> Darwin -> Kakadoo (which was nice but too many foreign tourists , believe Linchenfield is better) --> Mt Isa (took a week via lots of diversions here and there about the Gulf Savanna) --> Cairns (I wanted to head up to Normanton --> and places N) --> back down via the inland route to New England and home. We took 6 weeks , would have liked longer.

Petrol is EXPENSIVE up there , hope you can afford it.

[Timw]

You are right Ian - fuel is very expensive but I want to do this trip and if I leave it for another day then fuel maybe $3 per litre rather than $2