Stargazer McCabe

Yup...

Yes. That's what I do...

Every day can be a school day... Used to take the HoTech with us as we took the Heritage to Namibia, La Palma and New Zealand. Maybe those trips caused the slight shift. or maybe we were just unlucky... But fortunately some very helpful chaps on CN who had experienced similar showed a very simple way to adjust...

I started with a standard Cheshire but moving to a laser made single handed collimation so much easier, particularly in the dusk / dark. I began with a HoTech one like this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/hotech-collimation-tools/hotech-sca-laser-collimator-with-cross-hair.html It worked really well, but needed collimation itself once in a while (which was easy to do by the way). I still have it and use it when we travel with our Heritage 130P. But with our larger Dob, I eventually bought a Howie Glatter and found it to be more accurate and it holds its own collimation so much better. But to be fair, if well collimated, the HoTech used to do a splendid job...

I do hope you get replies in this section... It's a little surprising when one doesn't get the response one might normally expect... 😉

Wife and I were blessed. Lovely clear night until about 01:00am here in North Hertfordshire. Not a great number of meteors to be seen, but it was a glorious evening scanning the skies while listening to the local owls hooting and the occasional "bark" from a lonely dog Fox...

After watching a few video tutorials and reading a similar number of threads on here, I cleaned my 14" mirror myself. Really isn't that difficult a task if you are methodical

If you may want to use the mount as a travel mount, the "traveveller" is obviously the only option. If, however, packing the mount into hand luggage isn't a requirement (and having both isn't an option) I'd always go for the AYO II. I've used that with my 8" EdgeHD one side and a large refractor the other. "Reassuringly sturdy" !! Encoders are also a wonderful addition to them both... Enjoy whichever you opt for...

Without wishing to sound like a politician hedging his bets; "That depends"... Weight and smoothness wouldn't be a problem I don't think. I have used it with my Tak with a 2" diagonal and 100* eyepieces on occasions and it acquitted itself well. If the Binoviewers are heavy, like the Leica or Maxbrights, and you're loading them with heavy eyepieces, you may find yourself having to work out the balance carefully, but then again that would be the same with most mounts. The only difference being that if I get balance and clutches wrong on my AYO II, it merely swings down (I use a pillar) missing anything to damage the scope or eyepieces depending on which end is heaviest. If you're confident of getting balance and clutches right the Traveller is a great mount. Particularly with the encoders Serge can provide...

No, if you ask nicely he will still help you. His wife was poorly a while back and he thought about stopping because of that. But didn't if you contacted him and he had the time / inclination...

Neil I have used Denis and have sent Leica and WO Binoviewers to him for service. I have his email address if you want it. PM me if it's a route you want to explore and I'll send you his email privately if you haven't found it from elsewhere Simon

I bought mine after having a cuppa with a friend of mine, Es Reid. One afternoon we were discussing planetary observing (before lockdown brought a stop to our regular face to face natters) and he asked whether I used one. When I confessed that I didn't he explained what a considerable difference he felt his had made to his observing through a number of telescopes and from a number of locations. Given his eminently more qualified eyes and his opinion that he wouldn't observe the planets without it now, I bought my own and can also appreciate the difference they make...

If I had a pound for every time you have asked this question Martin I'd be able to buy you whatever you wanted 🤣 Hope you finally resolve your conundrum one day 👍

Vamo works wonderfully when travelling. Packs down nicely and handles the Tak FC-100 DF easily. At home I prefer the AYO II we have as I use a 2" diagonal and eyepieces at home and often an 8" EdgeHD SCT on the other side. it's not really a review, but here's how we travel...

To be clear, there's no other option for Reflector users with a scope like yours to observe the sun other than using the solar film. The way you are going about it is your only option... Don't change anything. It will do as you predict to your scope and worse to your eyes... The wedge being described here is for refractors.

The silence of an encoded push to counts for a lot... As does having a visual display of the sky on the connected phone or tablet. The number of objects we have stopped and observed after seeing it on the display while "pushing" from one object to another is considerable... We no longer use our AVX because of the above two reasons. All our scopes now sit on push to encoder equipped mounts, even when we're travelling...

I quite agree. In the merest breeze mine was as shaky as my Labrador in the Vet’s waiting room ... Good luck with the project @kbrown ?? Be interesting to see how you get on...

There you go @Alan White !! That’s two of us that got our VAMO within a short while... ?? Beat’s obviously getting his production timings shortened. As I say my AYO II with Encoders was only a month in manufacturing. Look forward to hearing your thoughts when you get whichever you plump for...

@Alan White I phoned Beat and same day it was in the post. Swiss post and Parcelforce led to a “delay” of a week... Give him a call or an email. You’ll be surprised at his current stock levels and production capabilities. Even for a bespoke AYO II with Encoders I only waited a month... And Beat is a master engineer. His AYO II has had my 8” EdgeHD one side with a 20mm Lunt 100* eyepiece in it with an ED120 holding a 30mm ES 82* the other. That’s the beauty of his design and engineering. It doesn’t have to look like a tank to be as “sturdy” as one...

Seek and ye shall find... http://www.aokswiss.ch/ayo/vamo_traveler/main_vamo_traveler.html It is rated conservatively to c 7kg. As shown, it holds my FC100 DF with ease... I don't need anything sturdier as a travel mount. If I want sturdier for the ED120 & 8" EdgeHD which often get mounted side by side, I reach for Beat's AYO II...

@Stu As Dave Brailsford said “it’s all about the Marginal Gains” !! ??

@Stu As a follow up I have more or less completed the layout of the case. The photo below includes: Takahashi FC-100 DF with original focuser, AOK VAMO Traveller with Encoders, 2 Filters, Nexus II unit, SW 6x30 RACI Finderscope (without bracket), Baader T2 Prism including 2” nosepiece and helical eyepiece holder (but those bits are removed and in a separate pouch), ES24mm 68*, ES14mm 82*, ES8.8mm 82*, ES6.7mm 82*, Nagler 6-3mm Zoom Weighed this morning, with all that, I’m at 9.95kg. So I’m sure you could hit your 10kg target. Admittedly I may ditch the 6.7mm or have a rearrangement and I will have to use checked luggage (for more robust stuff like brackets, rings and dovetail) and my “scope mule” Susie for other delicate stuff like binoculars etc ? But it gives you an insight as to what can be achieved and included within your allowance

It’s about 2cm too short for the DF tube. If the DC is shorter and comes in under 47.8cm it could work.

@Stu glad to have helped. And I was in two minds as to where to post this. Mount subsection seemed logical, but the travel thread did cross my mind. So worry not, questions on all aspects of the setup are welcome...

@Stu Stuff like rings and dovetail will go into checked. Thus far, he said touching wood, whether it be Budget Airlines to La Palma, Scheduled to Southern or Eastern Africa and the usual light aircraft charters around those countries the Castor or Mini Giro, tripod, Dovetails, finder brackets and anything "not breakable" have travelled safely in checked. Carry on has been limited to scope, eyepieces, filters, finderscope and Binoculars. This time I'm considering the mount in Carry On because of the encoder discs and readers. I spoke with Serge who said it would be best to not remove them too often as the screws into the readers go into plastic, and he feared widening the holes through regular insertion and removal - no matter how careful one tries to be.