the tripod ballast is handy, i got a mate to route me a curved triangle board to make a shelf that sits on my cgem dx mount leg supports, handy to keep power pack off the ground and dry, with room to sit other crap safely away from being stepped on in the dark
I know the jump start packs are pricey, but they are a also pratical, running laptop off inverter socket, built in light is great to help when setting up or dismantling in the dark when you need both hands. my first goto mount i bought a 10x AA cell holder and a jack to solder to it and ran my tripod off rechargables (got tons of them) with no problems, would give me juice for a weekends viewing then recharge during the week.
Once you progress to a bigger computer mount with a heavy payload and need to also power dew heaters, cameras, etc you need a beefier battery at the center of your power train, but getting started not really, especially if your mount has a battery compartment (just be aware they are usually for alkaline batteries (1.5V each) not rechargeables (1.2V) and you can damage the mount using the wrong ones, external power packs more flexible and cigarette lighter powering is pretty standard so its easy and safe to find a solution. batteries are always heavy and expensive so are portable power solutions.
