Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamJL
Build quality: what you'd expect from a mount in this price range. The plastic cover at the back for the polar scope is really rather rubbish and is held in with two clips that wobble about a lot. I'm hoping some genius 3D printer comes up with a better solution for this. I like the chunkiness of the dials for the Altitude adjustment. The Azimuth bolts feel a little tight, but also a bit too small. The dials for locking the wedge in place are nice and clamp the altitude in well.
The RA lock as well seems great, but I don't like the entire Dec plate or the Dec lock, which you can see in an image below (RA lock at the bottom). I hope this top plate can be replaced with a more robust vixen clamp. The entire scope is held in with one screw and it doesn't even look nylon tipped so expect some scuffing to your vixen bar over time.
There's a lot of plastic about, but not where it counts which is the important thing.
Mounting it to a photographic tripod is easy as it uses the larger 3/8 photographic standard, but be sure the top plate is wide enough to accept the mount. I've got two tripods that could do it, but my third wouldn't be able to take it.
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Have just collected mine and am leafing through the manual, with the unit on the table beside me, to make sure I know where everything is.
Agree with comments about the polar scope cover - I don't think those clips are going to last very long, and I'd happily take a 3D printed update.
Also agree about the entire scope being held in with the one screw, although I guess that's one way to make sure the unit doesn't get overloaded.
And a good point on the top plate of the tripod too. I've got a solid old photographic Velbon that should do the job nicely, but most of the others may not make the grade, despite being more modern.
Looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks, mostly because this is my first foray into anything other than visual observing.