John The Ron

John, thanks for the info on the Sabre and Giro mounts. The Sky-Tee was recommended by FLO also. KP82, thanks for the additional info too.

All, thank you for your replies, advice and thoughts. The belt driven mounts are nice but I fully understand the downside of them. It would seem to me that my best choices for a manual alt/az would be from: Sky-Tee2 or it's equivalent, Altair Sabre v2.0, Giro Ercole. I would appreciate your views on these mounts with my CC8 telescope (9kg bare) and very possibly a Berlebach Uni-28 tripod? Thanks again, John.

Thanks all, am still looking!

I haven't seen the AYO mounts before, very nice!

Blimey, quite a lot!!!

Ah thanks for the heads up iapa (is that correct?), how many ratings are there and how good is Brown Dwarf? John

Thanks for the reply about the berlebach rubber feet!

Thanks Brown Dwarf, I think I will still go for an alt/az heavy duty mount and have a some in mind:- Sky Tee 2, RVO heavy duty Alt/Az, Giro Ercole being my main options but am open to more of the same ilk if you know of any? These would allow for a camera attachment also if wanted as I progress my experience in astronomy.

That IS a lovely piece of kit John, how do you find the round tripod feet?

Hi Brown Dwarf and Johninderby, thanks for your replies, they are much appreciated. The Celestron Advanced VX mount appears to be a computerised eq mount looking at the Celestron website and very nice, am unsure of this though. I've use of a cheap Bresser 70mm refractor on a Bresser EQ mount and find it a pain to use currently. I'm very likely to be looking at the moon and our planets for some time as a beginner. John, your telescope setup looks to be what I've envisaged, which Berlebach tripod is that? The Rowan mount would be my ideal but at over £800 it's out of reach! Thank you both. John

As a newcomer to astronomy and also to this group I need some further guidance on my partial telescope setup. I've bought an as new Stella-Lyra Classical Cassegrain 8" telescope which was still double boxed from the original FLO purchaser (in Holland). It comes with dovetails fitted top and bottom along with a focuser, my son is buying me a 2" eyepiece but I need the mount, tripod and guidescope. I only wish to use a manual Alt/Az tripod and mount setup so this is where further guidance would be most helpful. I've just started receiving state pension so cost is a factor and need to keep that under £1000. The scope as is weighs 9kg so it precludes the use of an EQ5 tripod. I have considered the EQ6 2" tripod but how to adapt it to a different mount to what it is designed for is difficult plus availability isn't great. Continued research has led me to the Berlebach range of tripods and the Uni-18/28 being of great interest and I would like opinions on these and suitability in a heavy duty Alt/Az setup please? A Sky-Tee 2 mount may well be the best choice cost wise but I am unsure of it this and also it's usability so I am open to suggestions please? Thanks in advance. John