"Test Drive"
I've had it out once in the car - last Friday night all the way to Snake Valley to try Ken's dark skies. Have set it up a few times in the back yard. One evening and once for the photos today.
Yes, it's not super robust - If you dropped the tripod or vigorously twisted it, I expect the aluminium mechanism would crack - but I can treat it with care.
Easy to set up - couple of minutes and it's ready to accept the binoculars - but I'll probably keep a pocket full of spare washers and PTFE "friction bearings" - I can see myself dropping one or two in the dark one day.
(In the photos, you'll notice a extra block of wood at the binoculars mount point. I'd seen this problem highlighted before - when the bins are at their balance point, the central mounting bar is too short. I know there is a spacer available and I may buy it yet - at the moment the block of wood is doing the job, also it stops the 1/2 inch bolt from falling out when I disconnect the binoculars and I'm more concerned with placing them safely than I am about some 30 cent bolt falling on the ground.)
When all set up, I have only four movements available to me:-
* Azimuth at the binocular mount point
* Altitude at the fork mount
* Slide back forth at the binocular central mounting bar
* Follow the eyepiences up/down and in a semicircle on my gas lift chair (I've kept the wheels on the chair - which will probably be hopeless when the ground gets soft.
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So I spent three hours at Snake Valley testing it out two nights ago. I was thrilled with the performance of both the mount and the 30x100 bins (which arrived Thursday!). I was able to easily set the "friction bearings" to allow me to adjust the binoculars to the desired view and have them stay there (up to a reasonable altitude - eg. Crux and Carina area and the Moon - no problem up to midnight). I was able to find a comfortable way to set up on higher altitude objects and study them for a good period of time. I just adjust the binoculars forward on the central mounting bar, lock the altitude friction bearings some more, drop my seat right down, slide forward under the transverse bar, hold onto my legs and lean back a bit. I was able to look at M42, LMC, 47 Tuc quite comfortably for minutes. I am going to experiment with a chair I've bought that supports my head back to almost horizontal, but my eyes are them well below the eyepiences - I'll think about a solution.
Now the bump test! There was some wind and I noticed that I did not see the jittery movement I had with the 20x80s on a Velbon tripod (where this story started!). So I tapped the mount and observed that the movement very quickly became a slow rock - nothing that was a problem given the FOV of the binoculars. In fact, it would die within 7-8 seconds. When the wind came up again, a gentle sway was all that I could observe and I can live with that.
I've a couple dew shields to come - the paint was drying in the garage when I took the photographs. Am I the only person who goes supermarket shopping with a set of calipers? I found some cylindrical dog food containers that were close enough and could be modified to slide over the binoculars with a bit of the loop part of velcro in place as the seal - in fact the containers had plastic end caps that I've kept and can place over the ends of the dew shields if I'm going to not observe for a while. (Dog food went into the bin - sorry - no dogs here.)
If you've read this far - well done!
I'll report any failures/collapses if they happen!
Now to spend a year learning the sky with my binoculars - using my 12x60s handheld or on the Velbon tripod, and my 30x100s on this mount.
Thanks
Eric
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