Stephenstargazer

My mount is older and just has single azimuth slomo damper knob as in manual. This should act on the wheel gear only (??) so does not affect feel of clutch for 'pushing' but should make the slow motion feel slightly stiffer. I set mine light finger tight only, with a small scope. Suggest only tighten if heavy scope tries to jump a bit on slow motion. I found it was good to adjust the worm clearances carefully after a little use has bedded in grease etc Pg 4 in manual. Find point where backlash just goes then slow motions are very light to use. As @Telescope40 says the slomos are so good! Motors???

My experience of the AZ100 and DSC are that they are easy to align and use and it only took a few goes to learn the basics. There is clever stuff too, but it does not get in the way. Even joining it to Sky Safari was not much harder and I don't count myself much of a techi. I like that out of the huge database you only need turn on the parts you want to use. As it is not motorised (yet) nothing moves in an unexpected direction either! The push to is almost therapeutic as well as silent. 😄

Very impressed with that workmanship @johninderby. My UNI28 is labelled for EQ6, which should match the AZ100. There is an issue with the fit that others might want to check on their combination. There was an earlier post where the M12 screw would not clamp (ie too much length), easily fixed with extra washers. I felt the screw on mine was a bit short. Measuring up: The tapped hole on the AZ measured 11mm deep. The step on the bottom of the AZ is 4.5mm. The top of the screw on the UNI was level with the top face of the tripod head when fully lifted. So the screw was engaging 4.5mm less the run out (top of screw) and run in (thread in AZ) which is only about 2 threads on an M12 X 1.75. That is not enough into aluminium, even hand tightened, given the regular use and ideally should be as much of the 11mm available as possible, without binding. My first step was to look at the Berlebach screw which seems locked into the plastic hand wheel. So with hacksaw I removed about 5mm of material below the fitted washer and tidied up with a file. Could have removed washer, but marginal gain and washer is desirable to avoid lock up. It worked and looked OK but I did notice that the hand wheel was quite small (actually a fairly cheap plastic M10 size). So I made up my own clamp which is adjustable for depth and has a much bigger (75mm) grip. Parts were an M12 bakelite hand wheel (WDS 8214-204), an M12 thumb nut (WDS 520) and 100mm from M12 stainless studding I already had. The thread on the studding had to be filed down in the middle (slightly arduous but no lathe!). Parts from WDS Components in Leeds - good stock and service even for small quantities. I had the studding 'in stock'. Also got some eyepiece holes for the BB tray. 😀 PS Could have put this on the Berlebach thread, but think it might be an issue for AZ100 owners to check.

Well sorted, simple mounts suit small scopes!

So then Nicola, with the scope, diagonal and eyepieces are all but sorted. What about the mount? One of the trickiest bits in a light travel set. Few light Eq mounts except Tegul. The Scopetech Zero looks good, but perhaps you want Goto or tracking? My experience with an AZGTi was not great, but works for some.I suspect quality issues.

No, I think this is the daddy - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-extenders/cq-17x-extender-for-fs60cb-and-fc76dcu.html

Is this a one man campaign to revitalise the economy !🙃 Bit if you go with the Q1.7, review eyepieces of course.

I hate temptation it's so b***** hard to resist. I have not even got through the justification phase yet!!!🥴

Those are fantastic visual scopes, but the benefits of fluorite (contrast) may not repay for imaging. Should you not be looking at lower chromatic aberration from a triplet and matching flattener/reducer? All Taks are wonderfully light though. The imaging blokes will no doubt dive in and give better advice than I can!!

Having gone the extra mile to get yourself a fluorite refractor I would suggest using a prism diagonal (in preference to a mirror) to hang on to as much of the fine contrast as possible. The Tak 1.25" diagonal works fine and is even fair value. A TV 24 Panoptic will show a field of view just under 3 degrees. with the 76 DCU. Is it actually worth getting any 2 " eps for this scope? The few objects bigger than 3 deg are enjoyable through binoculars as you wont be chasing large nebulae. It also keeps your travel kit compact. I would agree that for planetary and lunar work binoviewers can be worthwhile. Just bear in mind the very small focus range on the DCU (about 25mm!) so choose your barlow/glasspath/bino combimation with care to achieve focus. I certainly have been tempted by the scope for super poratbility so quite envious.😢

They also make leg brackets to fit the UNI, however moving the bracket and putting matching black screws in the original holes is the economy solution. Then you can have the leg spread of choice! 🧐 @johninderby did you think about a Graviton? Family photo with the UNI would have been nice, or was it sold??

Me too! 👍👍👍👍👍 My copy is dog eared, grass stained and annotated. The antithesis to coffee table books. No colour pictures just great finder views and starhops. Equipment part is short, maybe dated but sound. There is a website too. You could spend a lifetime with TLAO and some bins.

There is almost a bible on the pros and cons in pages above here. Not only what you put on the mount but how you may want to use it in future. A Planet and fully optioned AZ100 is hefty kit but in the 'ready for whatever the future brings' class as @johninderby puts it.

Next! a case for a new Berlebach UNI 28. My tripod has to go in the car boot too and I want to keep it looking nice. Looked at several options including the Bb baggy cotton bag but found this nicely made padded option which is a good tight fit and I can chuck stuff on top as well as more inside. It is semi rigid. (found mine at Wex).

My favourite chair. Goes flat in the car boot, takes substantial weight and after 5 yrs shows no distress. Right at the bottom (inches from ground) it gets a bit tippy. My old high steel seat was good on big dob but now relegated to the workshop bench.

That confirms my experience. The size and spacing of the bearings in the mount suggest it does not need counterbalance to function well. Even on a UNI it will be stable with quite large scopes. My own FC100DF is miles off the limit, some time i'll try the Vixen VC200L. One point is that the stability of the tripod and mount etc (against tipping) goes up as you extend the legs, but the rigidity (suppression of vibrations) goes down. So for those 'weighing up' which tripod is best for them dont forget the height/spread. If initial cost is an issue then adding weight to a UNI or other tripod might save spending on a counterbalance system. Someday, somebody will discover what scope a Rowan can carry unbalanced and bolted down on a fixed pier - could be scary 🙈 ? PS these issues of weight combinations matter more to those who carry or move whole set-ups.

I would try to keep one equatorial, AZ has some drawbacks around zenith even though very user friendly, quicker alignment etc?

My scopes and mounts are in a (secure) outside store. The observing area is 12yds away but with a low wall between. Always take items out individually - bad enough barking shin let alone breaking something valuable 😕

You seem to have it OK this time! That is how I have mine. Finding is very easy with the DSC and slow motions, or even push to. Just get the offset to zero and it's there.

@Telescope40 good report on AZ 100. Many options if you add encoders. If you intend to use SkySafari then you only need a Nexus, but if you have DSC then you have option to use that alone or plus SS. Personally prefer not to depend on phone or tablet. ( In some situations WiFi can become unstable due to other nearby routers on same channel. ). You can use DSC and SS will still track your position though. @johninderby mentioned using both motors and slow-motion but I thought that was not possible due to way motors connect by belts?? However can definitely push to and use motors as slipping clutches work without disrupting the encoders. Good thinking Rowan - makes for high-speed go to! Motors will goto with DSC or Safari and you can push to that area of sky instead of waiting I believe. I have said motors are not for me but?? However very pleased I went with DSC, it was one reason for choosing this mount 👍

As my EQ5 adaptor is off at the moment.... 556 g with fixings and 32mm extra height. Nexus dsc with tray, balljoint and cables is 564g. The Pan & Tilt handle with bracket is 318 g . (On my coffee scales.} The bare mount as sold, with encoders and slowmos, is 8.2 kg on a spring balance. Eg no clamps, counterbalance or other options. Any one able to weigh other parts?

Yes, I took the chain off too, but the tripod works as well and is just as stable with the tray fitted. The spreader probably is seconds quicker and easier but the tray is useful for bits and comes in the price form FLO. The extra 15% in price is not trivial. The situation is similar if you buy an AZ100 with all available options. To encourage new users, looking at affordability, it is better for them to buy only what they need IMHO, especially as the options can be retro fitted to the mount and tripod.

True! Equally once the tray is attached you dont need the spreader. Seems to me we are just talking preference. Which reminds me, my tray wants holes.....must order some holes from Mudda, Flo is out of stock, they emptied the bag out to sort the sizes and lost them all. Point of interest: If you order a UNI tripod plus the solid spreader will it come with it fitted? The Planet has spreader as standard.

If you carry out the tripod mount and scope in one then the chain is worthwhile security whilst fitting the tray. For most people that is a substantial carry to get through doors etc. I only do that with a much smaller mount and scope. So I set up the UNI28 and take the AZ100 to it for myself. Depends a lot on where and how you store your gear I suppose. There is the solid spreader option, but once set up the tray is just as good? Do 'solid spreader' fans hang the chain on a nail too? Maybe my small misgiving is that my other tripods came with a solid spreader which was not a £65 extra.! I am saving for a bag

Maybe like stuff from USA, occasionally you get lucky? The HMRC lottry😀.