portable travel pier

[h0ughy]

I am seriously looking at getting one of these piers http://www.astrotrac.com/Default.aspx?p=pier . it look brilliant, airline friendly, sturdy and can pack away pretty well. this looks good for 2012 and travelling around.

[rally]

David,

Just looking at the basic design, what first sprang to mind was that the connection between the legs and the main pier section right in the middle of the pier looked to be a weak point in the design - at least to me - but I should say I have no experience at all with this product.

If you are relying on the cables for your rigidity, then I would imagine in the wind the system would vibrate around a bit - the wall thickness only looked like about 2mm or less.

I am not sure what advantages this might have over a good tripod other than it seems to pack very neatly into a short cylindrical pack and whilst that is very appealing the basic purpose shouldn't be overlooked.

Its only rated at a 15kg weight payload and is itself only 6kg - so it may be a bit lightweight for anything serious - I'm not sure what mount, camera and OTA could come in under that restriction.

But I guess its almost cheap enough to try.
I wish my portable pier was that portable !

Just my two bobs worth

Cheers

Rally

[h0ughy]

thats why it is portable Rally - perfect for airline travel, and i think you can load it up with water etc to weigh it down if needed - i did read that somewhere

[renormalised]

Great bit of kit!!!!. Wouldn't mind one myself. Looks dead easy to setup and use:):)

[bmitchell82]

Im with rally on that one, the legs/pier attachment point isn't that grand, though like you said it is a light weight pier designed for their mount head and for wide field camera work ide say. Even if you where to put a EQ5 mount head on there, it would over weigh the kit completely.

What are you intending to plop on the top?

[h0ughy]

tegull 2 and astrotrac with canon camera and widefield lenses inc 200mm - so its perfect

[bojan]

I am also with Rally on this..

The good tripod should be adequate, if not better (less extravagant and more conventional) approach.

[renormalised]

The pier and the mount isn't made for lugging around your typical astropiccie setup of a decent sized refractor and all the bits n pieces. That's not what it was made for. Common sense would tell you that. Brendan hit the nail on the head when he mentioned its intended use. Just a convenient, lightweight pier and setup for a camera and lens, or maybe a lightweight refractor (66-80mm at the most) at a pinch.

I'd rather be lugging that around as a portable setup than an EQ6 or larger mount, with a 4-6" refractor, CCD camera and all the add ons (including the counterweights)...that is not exactly portable. Maybe movable, but hardly an easy exercise.

[bojan]

Hmm... maybe..
Have a look at this:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=45079&highlight=wide+field

Equally if not more portable, but very rigid and much cheaper, I bet on that.
I only have to put it into some sort of a tube/case to be easier to carry around.

[AdrianF]

Load capacity of 15kg sounds OK.


Adrian

[renormalised]

Yes, I know and a really good piece of work too I might add:)

I like the EQ3 as well. Just the right weight and size to be easily portable, but stiff enough to carry a reasonable load. Be great for camera work.

But that new drive and pier aren't bad...maybe a bit too expensive, but still you could say the same for any mount, really.

[h0ughy]

I just absolutely love this piece of kit - it is awesome. You be the judge. i set it up in under 5 minutes

[h0ughy]

and here it is setup. I still have the astrotrac in a box from qld astrofest so i will fit that later

[Dennis]

Hi Dave

Looks like a nice piece of kit for light weight, transportable, easy to set up imaging. The SS lines should add significant rigidity to the set up and the adjustable feet are a nice design feature for fine levelling.

I’d probably carry a few different thickness small wooden blocks to act as pads for the feet, where a gross height adjustment is required on bumpy terrain.

Thanks for the pics Dave and please put me down as 1st interested buyer when you come to sell it! LOL!

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy]

LOL i dont get rid of anything..... not often anyway. The blocks sound a good idea

[bojan]

I am using door wedges for my dobson all the time.
http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/94278.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hardware/Door%2BStops/Door%2BWedge%2BGrey%2BRubber/d170/sd3184/p94278&h=500&w=500&sz=18&tbnid=3elhnQwhGYKo1M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddoor%2Bwedge&zoom=1&usg=__2jyr6-84iL9v1PFBKFpuD2_d7oA=&sa=X&ei=lsdxTJDeG4ugvgPN3KSRDQ&ved=0CDQQ9QEwBQ