If you move!
After some weeks of anticipation, its finally arrived. T-Rex now stalks South Gippsland. Apologies for the rubbish photos, but it's been drizzling all day and my little P&S gets confused by white walls.
Initial impressions:
Very well built. Perfectly-mated machined parts. Very solid. Beautifully finished (first run was anodized-this run is anodized and painted). What fittings are not Al or Stainless are quality Brass. Easy to assemble, even if you ignore the "book of words".
What can I say? T-Rex Had no trouble holding an 8" Newt. in any position, even when I hung a 22kg bag of sand off the end to simulate a big triplet. All controls were smooth, with no obvious stiction and once set, stayed set.
It went up. It went down. It went around!
The handle controls worked well and were responsive to changes in tension - again on "almost full" they had no trouble raising and lowering the OTA + sandbag.
The handles function as slo-mo controls as well as push-to units.
As noted in another 'preview' on CN, they ARE slightly stiff in actuation, but like any other new thing, I expected them to be. Also, its not really an issue for me as I appreciate a "well-damped" feel to manual controls. I imagine someone will come up with a pair of motors to replace the handles, and I'll not complain.
The T-Rex comes with (optional) EQ6 Tripod which is about as sturdy as a tripod needs to be really. You can also order "mount only" or fitted for / with a Vixen HAL 130.
Minor quibbles:
Mini phone-jacks for the Sky Commander DSC (I know these have a name, I just can't remember it). No problems
per-se. I just don't like these.
The grub screws for the mounting plate squeak quite loudly, though a smidge of Beeswax cured this.
Pressed metal holder for Sky Commander module is a little naff compared to the rest of the mount.
I hope that within the next fortnight the weather will be clear enough to merit an "objective comparison" (blood-soaked shootout) with Casstony's DM6. It should be interesting as I'm already hooked on the T-Rex. I'm not a 'brand-loyal' person, and if something's rubbish or sub-expectation, I never DON"T complain!
But barring catastrophic failure, I see no reason not to pronounce the beast 100% and I can't wait to use it in anger!
Cheers,
Peter
Its the thingy that holds the EQ6 mount head in place. So if you want to add a pier extension (most of which are compatible with the "thingy"), you can!
