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Have you ever though of using your EQ mount alt-az? Then you could do away with the counterweights and the whole setup would be much easier to use and carry. Alternatively get a lighter EQ mount for the 80ED. There have been some discussions on these in the past. Personally I use my Orion 80ST on photo tripod heaps. I also have a C6 Celestron/Vixen on an EQ3 clone mount and a 102mm f/5 Synta refractor and between them all, the 102mm gets used the least (it shares the mount with the C6 and when either one of them are on it, it is just one trip to the backyard!). Its just that I don't see a big difference in what you can see between an 80mm and a 102mm so I don't think it is worth the upgarde. Just my 2 cents.
Darren
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