Quote:
Originally Posted by Timw
I have a SW PROED80.
Currently it sits on an old Tasco tripod and it is a pain to set up (the tripod - not the OTA) - so much so that I am avoiding using it.
I am going for a long long road trip and want to take the scope BUT I need to get, very quickly, a more convenient mount.
The next door neighbour has a Televue NP101 on a large heavy duty camera tripod with a Tele pod on that.
It works beautifully BUT it probably cost $1000 all up.
I need a reasonably cheap mount that is easy to transport, quick to setup, doesnt take up too much space and is stable.
Photo Shop Studio has a bunch of reasonably heavy duty tripods (8 - 12kg ) and ball head mounts which would take the OTA and be easy to setup and within the price range but havent had enough experience to know whether I would regret this.
The guys at Bintel say 'No, no" to camera tripods and suggest one of their AZ mounts ($400 for tripod and mount).
Lee at Andrews says "no, no" and suggest getting an EQ3 which I can put drives on at a later stage.
Now, I have seen plenty of VERY BIG video cameras (professional units) that have tripods that keep them sturdy so I am not convinced by Bintel's comments but ..... who knows - well I am hopoing that one of you does.
Any advice greatly welcome but I need to make adecision inside 24hrs.
Cheers
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I had an Orion ED80 (it is now sold) on the Vixen Portamount. It worked very well at all magnifications and had very minimal vibration at magnifications greater than 150x. The GS altaz sold by Bintel and Andrews is similar to Portamount but much better in terms of stiffness, load carrying capacity and vibration characteristics. A better still will be the new Orion Skyview altaz or the new Synta Skytee mount ( they are indentical) but they haven't got slow motion controls. GEM are different animals but they are very good as well. I have a Skyviewpro GEM (this came with the ED80) which is much more than adequate for the ED80 but much heavier to lift and set up.
I hope that this helps.
George (astrolabe)