GTom

16 minutes ago, Elp said:

I think they want simplicity and portability over aperture, refractor will likely get used more as a result. I'd also second a 4 inch refractor but with mount and tripod your budget will quickly disappear. Do not skimp on the mount and especially the tripod, these are the most important pieces over the optics as the slightest vibration either from your movements or a slight breeze will ruin the experience.

I've mentioned 4 inch, personally I find I tend to use my 60mm more due to the wider field, even on planets they're sharp though small. The 4 inch however does reveal more dso (which will greatly depend on the local LP levels) and this is where increased aperture will provide a benefit. 

A cat (mak or sct) will be just as easy to move around and the same weight+budget will give you more aperture (=light and resolution) in a shorter package.

Also wouldn't call a Heritage 150 or 150pds difficult to handle, they weigh the same as my 90mm refractor and not really bigger, same length.

Give reflectors/other optical systems a bit of thinking. $3-800 goes very long way in the Dobsonian world but a second hand C8 also comes in this range. Visually aperture is really the king, a 200mm mirror shows you things that are completely invisible to an ~80-100mm APO/semiapo refractor.

2 hours ago, 900SL said:

If you read the opening post, he has an EQ6 and a 250mm newt, and is looking to move to a guided set up. He will need a decent power source, not a small battery. Just saying...

Certainly he needs more than me, but also consider that you can deplete a LiFePO4 to ~10% without penalty while that sort of DoD's will kill any kind of lead battery in a short time. 30Ah LiFePO4 is equivalent to a good 80-90Ah lead AGM.

2 hours ago, 900SL said:

If you are shooting from the back garden, ignore all the recommendations for batteries, unless you plan on travelling to remote sites. You need a decent sized AGM deep cycle or a decent capacity LiFePo to provide enough juice for a typical set up with dew heaters, mini PC, camera etc, the voltage delivery may vary v discharge, and they don't like the cold.

Follow Bosuns advice, decent silicone mains extension cable with IP rated socket, circuit breaker, Nevada PSU from Flo. Put the PSU in a ventilated covered box to protect from dew or drizzle. 

These PSUs normally deliver 13.6v which helps with an EQ6R

You only need large capacities for serious power hogs, like deep cooled CCD's (speaking of more than -20 delta), heavy mounts, dew heaters AND all that in 5+hour's runs. I don't recall when we had 5+hours without clouds up here in one go... Just moving my eq3-2 goto mount, a £40 Miady 7.2Ah "pocket" LiFePO4 covers several days on a single charge.

Sure, using a 10+kg lead unit turns the concept upside down, I'd never invest in any kind of lead batteries in 2024.

Found the German forum but apparently they are just as well blessed with clouds as we are, no movement on the topic in the past months:

https://forum.astronomie.de/threads/skywatcher-eq-al55i.355355/

Currently I have a Miady 7.2Ah unit, which I am very satisfied with. Paid around £40 on Amazon. Stepping up to a heavily loaded(!) SA GTi my power needs will increase, I'll probably just get another one. No plans yet to fly with my power hog Moravian G3, as it is also super heavy for a travel rig :(. 

I'll add a lightweight budget LiFePO CAR charger.

I may be interested in adding a "pocket" APO, which one would you recommend? Any chance that either of them could cover a full frame with a 0.8x reducer?

Interested on this for an Adventurer GTI! Very capable little mount, would be great to eliminate backlash and reduce PE.

Good Point. The 37 degrees option, fully collapsed, considering the 40kg spec should be still fine I guess for any kind of airline-portable telescope gear...

Browsing trough the specs of the new AL55, came to me as a surprise that it has a lower spec'd gear as the star Adventurer GTI:

AL55i:

R.A. Worm Gear 73.4mm Diameter, 144 Teeth, R.A. Worm Drive 11mm Diameter
DEC Worm Gear 51.6mm Diameter, 100 Teeth, DEC Worm Drive 11mm Diameter

SA GTI:

R.A. worm gear 180 teeth, 92.5mm diameter. R.A. wheel gear 15.8mm diameter
Dec worm gear 144 teeth, 73.6mm diameter. Dec wheel gear 10.8mm diameter

Doesn't seem to me as a worthwhile upgrade from the SA GTI 🤔.

Good question, it boils down to the overall geometry and the height of your center of mass. I see the RT90 (and its relatives...) have 3 angles to choose. Collapsed + minipier I'd definitely go for 37°, that's roughly the same footprint as using 2 sections. Question if it's still OK with the counterweight. Adding a too long minipier will put the center of gravity too high.

For astrophotography, where vibrations matter more, I'd use any tripods fully collapsed. I fear any kind of twisting on the baseplate or a 3/8 to astro mount adapter could be a problem trough if the system is not perfectly balanced.

Concerning power supply, unless your kit is permanently set up under a shed or any kind of shelter, I'd just use a small ~10Ah 12V LiFePO pack. Not necessarily an overpriced "astro" version, e.g. I have one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B8HFXNDN/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_dp_1 . If you are planning to power a cooled astrocam, something around the 30Ah mark will provide you plenty of power. You get a non-astro labelled 36Ah unit for less than the 13Ah Celestron...

Innorel released a slightly stronger model, ST424C: https://www.amazon.co.uk/INNOREL-ST424C-Professional-Camcorder-Shooting/dp/B09G94Q1FY?th=1

I'd be interested if that base plate can reasonably hold an EQ5.

Some more on Aliexpress:

Hercules (basically a photo tripod with their adapter attached. Interestingly I read "Bexin" on the tripod, however, I don't know about any 40mm Bexins):

 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005450005401.html

Sharpstar (more robust but the top plate doesn't seem to be SW or ioptron-compatible): 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005964628668.html

Instead of a short adapter ideal would be a ~200mm minipier, photo 3/8" on tripod side, EQ5 or CEM26 on the mount side.

The ZWO TC40 seems to share the same specs but I'd spare the hunt for (not the Red October) a 3/8"->Astro mount adapter. It claims 50kg payload but I doubt that it's any stronger than the RC90:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-mounts/zwo-tc40-carbon-fibre-tripod.html

Will be interested on the follow-up, a 190MN will be my next evolutionary step. Doesn't look like a solid setup for photography.

Sure, visual and AP are two different worlds. For AP I'd collapse the legs. Will do some research on the bigger, RC90 model how it compares to e.g. the old Manfrotto 055 silly me sold 10 years ago.

Thank you! My useful payload will be about the same as yours, maybe a tad lighter, but heavier on the mount. Checked the two on Amazon, reasonably priced bits !

I am looking for a solid photo/video tripod that fits in the usual checked airline luggage and doesn't break the bank. As per title it should support approx 20kg's of AP gear (including mount and counterweights). Weight restrictions are much more laxed for checked luggage, if it reduces the bill, aluminum is sufficient.

Figured, that 3/8" (tripod) to EQ/GP (mount) adapters are a real thing, eg: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003568428275.html. Will do some research if any of these are coming in taller, "mini-pier" style.

Good stuff! Back in the day I put dry ice packs around my D5100 with great results. That one also catches and freezes all mosture around.

My trouble is with most cooling boxes is weight&size: looking for a solution for my travel rig, these are way too clumsy for a mount already working near limits.

I see this new Sky-Watcher mount advertised everywhere, but no reviews/experience with it. Any idea how does it compare to the CEM26 and EQ5 Pro?

Looks like a grown Star Adventurer to me...

Reviving this great thread, I have an EQ3-2 goto mount that came with a solid steel (EQ5 style) tripod and a TS 90/600 photoline scope. I was planning to get a more expensive mount but the great stuff you guys posted is encouraging and I'll just start with this little mount we all got! Got a converted 6D and D5100, an old guidecam but no guidescope yet and I'll have to check if I have all the adapters needed for my TS-flattener.

Any recommendations for  solid but "airline compatible" legs, that fit a normal checked luggage? My next plan is to bring the kit to the Canaries :).

DSLR, even an ILC with proper high bitrate video capabilities is problematic for planetary work. I second Vlaiv regarding a planetary camera.

11 hours ago, LoveFromGallifrey said:

So I took my Zenithstar 73II, asiair pro, and Canon 700D plus accessories (filters, dew heaters, chargers, guidescome and guide cam etc) in a plain old camera backpack as hand luggage when flying from the UK to Australia for a year. I even managed, miraculously, to get away with it as my "small purse" (I'm a woman) and took a cabin suitcase as well 🤣 it weighed slightly over 10kg but nobody ever checked, fortunately. 

It definitely pushed the limits.

In the future, I'll be looking for either a Redcat or something similar, or a decent camera lens.

The main issue I had was the mount and power supply. I already had a full suitcase because I was going out for a year; I could hardly pack up an EQM-35 and a heavy battery pack as well. The lightweight HEM/AM5 mounts had not yet been released, and all the lightweight star trackers wouldn't take thebweight of my rig. I ended up buying a 2nd battery and a CEM26 while I was over there. 

But with a Redcat/camera lens, I'd be able to use it with a star tracker, like a sky guider pro with a lighter tripod. The battery pack would be easier to accommodate then. 

Failing that, I'll be trading the CEM 26 in for a lovely HEM mount instead 😄

I made a pocket power supply from 10 AA-size eneloops. OK for small, well balanced mounts (afraid harmonic drives will need more power). I wonder if the Fornax LT2 could handle the z73+flattener+DSLR. Not the lightest tracker but still smaller footprint than any reasonably priced EQ mount I know. I have an EQ3-2 for home use, bringing it to the Canaries would definitely mean a second check-in luggage with all the hassle.

So far my gear is:

Canon 6D with 2 spare batteries
Canon 2.8/200L
Fornax LT2 with Fornax wedge and polar finder
Cheap aliexpress ball head
Cheap plastic mini tripod that I boost up with rocks
DIY 10x eneloop battery pack

I am looking for a better but still small tripod (important: it should work near the Equator!) and the maximum size scope the LT2 can handle without counterweight. Maybe a better head/dec unit would be useful too.