I've used this rig several times now. Under calm conditions and very windy ones.
Under calm, well there's nothing to say other than it works. My home sits beside a concrete road that has been hacked by the local council and the patch-up job they did has resulted in nasty vibrations being created by the thunk-thunk of car and truck wheels going over a very dense WWII road to a less dense and less reinforced "Australian Standard" slab. This rig though is a beauty here! It is so rigid and solid that these vibrations are bearly noticeable now and are killed very quickly. REALLY good when using 400X !!
Last week I took this rig to Pirrima Park in Pyrmont close to the Star Casino to do some sidewalk astronomy with the conjunction of Mars & Neptune. Where we set up we were somewhat protected from the very strong wind that was blowing that night. What can I say, wind is wind, and when it's blowing at over 50km/hr no one would usually have a scope set up, and for good reason. Of course the scope shook when gusts caught it, but again this shake was dampened very quickly. I was surprised at how well this rig stood up the poor conditions. Not very likely I will be doing this same windy stunt again any time soon, though a good experience all the same.
Tony, awesome re-purposing idea mate!
Thanx!
An Evolution mount would not be able to do this for me. Don't forget that it has been engineered to take a big C11, so the fork is much more solid as is the tripod, and greater clearance between base and the pivot point of the alt bearing. The Evolution mount looks like such a dinky little thing now...
Alex.