Startravel 150 on a az4 mount?

[seven_legs]

Hi all,

At moment I am using a st120 with a Skywatcher 2" Di-Electric Star Diagonal and some 2" eyepieces on a Skywatcher AZ4 Alt-Az Mount with Steel Tripod as my grab and go scope. Which I use mainly for wide field views.

I was wondering if the above setup would work with the st150 instead of the st120? Or would it be to much for the mount to handle?

Thanks

Tony

[seven_legs]

Using for low power wide field views I should have said

[mikeDnight]

Hi all,

At moment I am using a st120 with a Skywatcher 2" Di-Electric Star Diagonal and some 2" eyepieces on a Skywatcher AZ4 Alt-Az Mount with Steel Tripod as my grab and go scope. Which I use mainly for wide field views.

I was wondering if the above setup would work with the st150 instead of the st120? Or would it be to much for the mount to handle?

Thanks

Tony

Hi Tony.

Ive used an Equinox 120ED on a AZ4 which is quite a heavy scope. For low power it was fine. The ST 150 is heavy but probable and not much different to the Equinox 120, yet the 150 is short and manageable. I'd give it a go as the 150 is a terrific rft.

Mike

[seven_legs]

Thanks star forming. I got the st120 thinking it would be Ok but love it. Wished I brought the st150 now. Will get one in the coming months

[John]

I used to use my ED120 on a steel legged AZ-4 with similar results to Mike. It was OK up to around 100x, maybe a bit more if I was careful. The ED120 tube weighs around 7.5kg I think.

I've also used a 6" F/5 newtonian and a 6" F/5.9 Intes mak-newtonian on the AZ-4 and, again, they worked pretty well. The mak-newt was rather a heavy OTA at 9kg.

I like the AZ-4 - pretty good, solid, no frills, alt-az mount

[FenlandPaul]

This is one of the set-ups I use. An ST150 on an aluminium leg AZ4. I highly recommend an extension pillar (I have the 16" one, from Widescreen Centre) if you value your posture.

It's fine for wide field ease of use. But it's definitely approaching the limit. Sometimes the clutches don't perform as well as they would with a lighter scope (when I had my SkyMax 127 the mount hardly noticed it).

I've just acquired a 2" diagonal so can now start using heavier eyepieces. Yet to see how that performs.

So I think for wide field deep sky it performs adequately. But I have considered an upgrade at some point to something with a greater payload capacity.

Paul

[seven_legs]

Thanks everyone. Something to think about

[tjr]

I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on with this if you go for it. I've been considering it as a complement to my Mak127 & AZ4 setup.

[seven_legs]

Will let you know in a couple of months

[Guest]

Hi.I used a 150mm Startravel and a 120mm semi apo.They were fine.

Martin.