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The Tele Optic Giro Ercole Review


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A few years ago when I was putting together an airline portable telescope for use in the Omani desert which included my fantastic APM 105/650 triplet apo with an LZOS made lens I selected the Tele Optic Giro Ercole Alt Az mount as it had the capacity to support an 8kg OTA without the use of counterweights (very important when trying to comply with airline baggage limits).  However, its performance was such that it became my most used mount both home and away and I have now committed my thoughts into a review which you find on the link.  Hope you find it useful.

http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2015/05/03/tele-optic-giro-ercole-alt-az-mount-review/

post-24651-0-53102300-1431763306.jpg

Dual mounted APM Apos on the Tele Optic Ercole

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Great review as always Matthew, good to see you back :)

I sold my Ercole a little while ago and still regret it in many ways. Who knows, another might find its way back into my kit sometime. I agree with your findings, a very capable, solid and smooth mount.

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Thanks.  Glad you liked it.  Work has been beyond busy this year.  Other than Astrocamp last weekend I have barely had time to observe and no time at all to write anything or contribute to SGL.

Hopefully things ease up over the coming months.

Clear skies.

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Thanks for sharing your review. I have always had a feeling that that mount head was superb and your text seems to confirm it.

I might consider one in the next years depending on the second telescope I decide to buy.

Piero

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Great review - thank you.

I have the TeleOptic Giro III mount which I think was the forerunner to the Ercole. As far as I can tell the principle difference between the two is the more stylish shape of the Ercole but from the reviews I have read their operation and performance seems to be identical.

I love using my Giro III so much that I rarely mount a telescope on anything else.

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Great review. Might well get one for the C8 as portable grab and go set-up.

I used my 8" Mak on mine a few times and it worked very well. Tricky finding anything because of the stupidly small fov but that's not the mount's fault

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I used my 8" Mak on mine a few times and it worked very well. Tricky finding anything because of the stupidly small fov but that's not the mount's fault . C8 would work well I reckon

I could just put my 80mn F/6 with 31T5 as 15.5x80 finder (5.3° FOV) on the other side, and leave the 14x70 finder off the C8 OTA.

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Excellent review Matthew - thanks for compiling it and posting the link :smiley:

I currently use a Giro II for my ED120 and ED102 refractors (rarely both at the same time to be honest though) but I'd have no hesitation about moving to an Ercole if I get a larger refractor again. Simple, elegant and really well engineered :smiley:

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Great review - thank you.

 

I have the TeleOptic Giro III mount which I think was the forerunner to the Ercole. As far as I can tell the principle difference between the two is the more stylish shape of the Ercole but from the reviews I have read their operation and performance seems to be identical.

 

I love using my Giro III so much that I rarely mount a telescope on anything else.

The Giro III is excellent but theErcole actually has a significantly higher load capacity Derek. Also the top locking mechanism is excellent for stopping any movement when changing eyepieces

http://www.tele-optic-tecnica.de/mounts.html

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Thanks, Stu - I never did manage to find that page of specs on their website :rolleyes2:

I think the heaviest scope I have is my 200P which is well inside the capability of the Giro III so I'll try to avoid splashing out on an Ercole (for now :wink:)

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Tele Optik used to do a really massive version of the Giro - the XXL. The azimuth bearing was 150mm in diameter on that one. I believe APM introduced their AzMaxLoad mount based on the gap left when Tele Optik stopped producing the XXL - Matthew has one of those as well I believe :smiley:

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Tele Optik used to do a really massive version of the Giro - the XXL. The azimuth bearing was 150mm in diameter on that one. I believe APM introduced their AzMaxLoad mount based on the gap left when Tele Optik stopped producing the XXL - Matthew has one of those as well I believe :smiley:

Looks pretty beefy John, hadn't heard of those before. Out of my range fortunately :)

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Tele Optik used to do a really massive version of the Giro - the XXL. The azimuth bearing was 150mm in diameter on that one. I believe APM introduced their AzMaxLoad mount based on the gap left when Tele Optik stopped producing the XXL - Matthew has one of those as well I believe :smiley:

The APM MaxLoad is one heck of a beast and quite a step up even from the Ercole.  Here is a pic of it holding my 180mm triplet and me holding my APM 105.  The photo attached on the original post at the top shows the Ercole holding the 105 on the right side of the mount which helps to define the scale of the APM MaxLoad.

post-24651-0-35058400-1431778036_thumb.j

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Does anyone know what the story is on the Ercole version with encoders?

Another great review by the way, Matthew!

That's an interesting question. It was rumoured to be coming a long time ago but no sign. It's something I would be interested in certainly.

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Does anyone know what the story is on the Ercole version with encoders?

Another great review by the way, Matthew!

Thanks!

That's an interesting question. It was rumoured to be coming a long time ago but no sign. It's something I would be interested in certainly.

Good question.  Last I heard, it was in the proto-type stage utilising a tablet interface and sky safari (or similar) software.  But that was about a year ago so not sure what has happened since then.  As much as I like star hopping, a nice bit of Push-To on the Ercole would be great to have.

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Great review and mirrors my thoughts. I originally had the Giro III which is itself a superb mount capable of holding loads far above it's suggested capacity but the Ercole is in a different league. The only upset if it could be called that? is that the Ercole is considerably larger and heavier in the hand over the Giro III. This is obviously due to the far greater load capacity which again is my guess could also easily exceeded although I don't own a scope of over 18kg to test this.

As with most Alt-Az mounts balancing is key to smooth operation and I find most Giro type mounts gain from the use of counterweights on the opposite arm. Not that it is necessary but my thinking is that the centre of balance is so one sided with Giro mounts compared to the likes of AZ3 or AZ4 mounts where the scope is often positioned directly over the tripod centre.

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