David , I hope you don't mind me hi-jacking your thread with refractors , but this photo shows the height difference in a standard HEQ5 and my mount on its TV tripod , My observing buddy Brian
yes another one , owns the lovely SR 115mm triplet and its 805mm fl needs the tripod almost fully extended and at this height is still rock solid . oh yes his scope is solid and HEAVY ! so well made , to give an idea Brian is 5ft6 inches tall and is standing by his scope here .
By comparisim my iStar with its 1000mm fl needs more height seen here and is about 150mm taller than Brian's standard tripod but the TV tripod is only extended by 200 or so mm's and has an easy 300mm more , hope this makes sense and helps .
Brian.