moonsafari

Behold. Thank you all very much for your help. It’s been truly appreciated.

The postman brought me a few more goodies this morning 🤩

Yeah, everyone has been amazing. Lots of great info on this thread that I was never expecting. Big ups to @badhex for introducing me to this forum!

I feel you. I already feel the slippery slope and I haven't even got my tripod yet.

Okay, I'm done now. I've ordered the Tak TOE 4mm to start off with. Can't wait to show you all the final setup. Appreciate everyone's time, guidance, wisdom and assistance! You've all been absolute legends. Thank you.

So excited and pumped! I ended up getting the Nexus II as well, so I'm in for some super fun times ahead.

Thanks, everyone. This is all super helpful! I ordered the AZ75 and Uni 28 today as well.

This is awesome. Thanks so much, Stu.

@Nicola Fletcher@SthBohemia@Stu@dweller25@badhex@HollyHound@MalcolmM @JeremyS@BGazing Hey all, Given that I'm starting off with the following rig, does anyone have any recommendations in regards to a Barlow or the Tak extender for my FC-100DF, or would it be worthwhile just adding one more high powered eyepiece to my rig below? – 1.25" Tak prism diagonal – Pentax XW 10mm and 20mm – TeleVue Nagler 13mm Type 6 – 1.25" Celestron variable polarising filter Thanks so much, you've all been incredibly helpful. Still waiting to finalise my tripod and mount setup this week, but was able to grab a sneaky look at Jupiter last night!

Thanks so much, Stu. I've had a chat with Dave at Rowan today, who has been in touch with Berlebach about there being an AZ75 option for their tripods. Dave thinks it should be on the website this week. Once this is confirmed, I've decided that I'm going to start off with the AZ75 with the Nexus II and the handle. The postman arrived with a couple goodies today as well.. Slowly coming together!

Thanks for this, Joe. Helpful advice.

🙏 @moonsafari Only you can answer that question 🙏

So, off the back of all of this, and given I’m pretty hot on the Rowan mount and don’t want to open another slo-mo can of worms, is the AZ75 with a handle and encoders sufficient for my rig?

That was going to be my game plan. Can anyone else verify that this would suffice? 🙏

Love it, thank you. I’m sold. Do you know if the slow motion controls are a big trade-off with the AZ75?

Already detonated with the Tak, see above 😉

Thanks, Nicola!

Thanks for this, Alan. I've been reading the threads. Will most likely detonate once I've connected with @Stu. Cheers, Josh

Good suggestion re the encoders, I think I'll probably go this way. Where I'm a bit confused is the following from Dave at Rowan: The Berlebach tripod heads for the AZ100 have a shallow recess about 5mm deep and 65mm diameter. The base of the AZ100 mount has a matching spiggot which fits in the recess which automatically aligns the mount thread with the tripod bolt. However the base of the AZ75 is flat meaning there is less engagement of the thread in to the base of the AZ75 by about 5mm when fitting to the Berlebach AZ100 tripod. This leaves the thread engagement in the mount a little short for comfort. So for the AZ75 to fit on a Berlebach AZ100 tripod it would need a longer thread bolt in the tripod. Then you get the aligning facility of the recess in the tripod. So the 3/8” DM6 option will be fine if you think aligning the mount to the tripod thread won’t be an issue. I'm just wanting to know if anyone has run into this issue before and if they've used a longer thread to make this combination work.

Look what just arrived today! Thanks for your help, @Nicola Fletcher, @SthBohemia, @Stu, @dweller25, @badhex, @HollyHound, @MalcolmM and @JeremyS! I've ordered the following: – 1.25" Tak prism diagonal – Pentax XW 10mm and 20mm – TeleVue Nagler 13mm Type 6 – 7" ADM vixen-type dovetail bar – 1.25" Celestron variable polarising filter Just need to finalise the tripod and mount setup. Pretty keen on the Berlebach UNI 28 and Rowan AZ75 mount. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience aligning the mount to the tripod and if anyone has used the encoders with the AZ75. Wondering if it's worthwhile spending the extra dosh..

I just placed an order for the DF! Thanks for your help, everyone. Now, on to the accessories..

Has anyone had any success with this tripod and mount? https://www.stellarvue.com/4-m002cw-complete-mount-system-wooden-tripod/

Thanks for all of this! Yep, I read that review a couple weeks ago when I started doing my research. I also reached out to Justin who runs this blog and has recently acquired the DZ as well. I think there's about a four month wait for the DZ at the moment.. Love that you ended up with the scope from the review, that's hilarious..

Okay, good to know. Thanks!