I have one as a grab and go, but quickly replaced the AZ3 (which struggles with a 2" Diagonal and heavier eyepieces) with an AZ4. Thw AZ3 can be modded however. You'd probably need a different diagonal for night sky viewing than the supplied 45° version, which suits daytime viewing more (image completely corrected - not upside down or reversed - but at the expense of an observable line through the image). I'd only say it's grab and go in regards to grabbing it from under the house as one unit and being able to observe in a minute or two. Transporting it would require more than a backpack but is small enough to be stashed with other gear in the boot of your car. I found it great for wide field views at low magnificationa and a bit of DSO hunting (without much observable detail), but not great with bright objects like Jupiter or the Moon where chromatic aberration becomes a bit of an issue. For me that's a problem as mostly grab and go sessions for me tend to be about catching a lunar feature or transit of one of Jupiter's moons. A filter helps (I liked the Baader Contrast Booster) but is adds to the hassle and price. Although I've replaced the ST120 with an ED100 I'm still thinking it'd be nice for those Mliky Way sweeps at a dark site or to have handy on the odd camping trip where I'd not be so worried about what happened to it! Oh, and I bought mine as new off Gumtree for $390.
|