Skywatcher AZ 3 Mount

[gooseholla]

Hi,

Had the chance to test this mount I will be using for my portable setup. The telescope it will be used with is a 4.3" Vixen VMC 110L Maksutov. Only the mount forms part of this review. I've reviewed the maksutov a long time ago!

I paid £46 for it from astro boot. It had no user instructions with it but I gather when new you'd get an instruction manual. However, they were easy to find online and the mount is pretty self explanatory anyway.

Pros

It is very lightweight. It weighs less than 4kg and the legs are made of aluminium, although they're quite substantial legs. The top half of the legs aren't solid but in two sections which the lower part slides into. This makes it ideal for carrying out to a site. But it also feels very sturdy with the little telescope on it. I didn't feel like it was wobbly or going to tip over. (However, see cons below...)

It extends to a good height. I could use the back port of the Vixen without a diagonal up to moderate heights. It can extend from 70cm to just under 125 cm in height. This makes it ideal for using sitting down in a chair or stool, or even standing up, although who wants to do that for long periods of time?

The mount tracks well. The slow motions are nice and smooth so no juddering of the picture as the mount moves.

Cons

Doesn't come with a bar to be able to mount anything to. Does not use standard dovetail bars but a really thin straight through bar that bolts on. The standard method seems to be to bolt tube rings onto the mount directly so it looks like you wouldn't be able to dismantle your scope setup as quick as a standard mount. They want £15 for a camera adapter (multi-function adapter) for the mount. I don't know what you do it you want to install your own scope - presumably have to buy another adapter?! Well I wasn't having any of that. I had a strip of beech the right size to fit in the slot and with two holes drilled through it, 2 M6 bolts and two knobs I had an adapter which I could take on and off in seconds. Of course, if you buy it as part of a Skywatcher package with telescope this is irrelevant as it will come with the tube rings that bolt on. However, the "multi-function adapter plate" is an optional extra, so you'd still need to fork out for that anyway.

I put the scope in the centre of the bar and it tips back, so I am going to have to move it. If you had a larger scope I think balancing it would be quite fun. Also, although in the pros I said it was sturdy, I don't think I would like to put long refractor or any type of reflector on this mount. I think the limit is about a 5" maksutov or 4 inch short refractor. It can take a maximum weight of 5kg, so I'd definitely say this is for small refractors, maks, binoculars and spotting scopes.

It cannot reach the zenith. Don't ask why, that's how they designed it! Also, the slow motions don't appear to be infinite, they run out of travel. They are basically a length of threaded rod that the mechanism runs up and down on. The user manual says: "The micro-adjustment controls have limited

travel so it is best to centre them on their threads before making a coarse adjustment." For the altitude this isn't too much problem as you can set it so it does most of the sky within its travel. But the azimuth is very limited. You'll be having to un-do the locking knob, move it ahead of the target, re-set the range of the slow mo, then re-target again. Most annoying but okay for being out and about where you'll probably be looking at a number of targets in a session. I don't know in terms of minutes or hours how long they'd continue to work for.

Summary

A fairly good mount for a portable set up when you want a few hours out and about. Easy to use and lightweight and feels sturdy even when fully extended - the legs are spread a decent amount apart and the angle of them is good. Would have no problem carrying this out into the field with a small telescope. If you had this as your main mount with a reflector or large refractor I think you would be disappointed. The range of travel and need to reset the slow motion range would also be annoying. Also the fact that you need special adapters for it which cost extra and it cannot take standard dovetail bars is quite annoying. For £46 I can live with this. Had I of paid £100+ full price I would have been a little more annoyed that I couldn't fix a scope or camera to it out of the box.

John

[laudropb]

Nice report. I was advised not to go for this mount for a grab and go set up as it was said not to be very stable and likely to be full of Huddersfield when trying to focus, but you seem to have had few problems with this. Thanks for posting.

[gooseholla]

Like I said I think it all depends on the scope. If it is short and basically sits over the mount with little over hang then it appears to be very stable. I certainly had no judders focusing in on a target or moving the scope with the slow motions. I didn't even have the tray on to wedge the legs apart. I guess everyone has their own preferences and ideas on what a mount is like but as a small scope/occasional use combo I think it has a lot of merit if picked up cheap enough. I guess if I were looking for a mount to not only take out and about but also to use on a more permanent basis the Vixen Porta II would be high on my list.

John

[John]

Nice report John

It's not a perfect solution but I lived with an AZ-3 as my only mount for a couple of years and got rather fond of it. Mine was a used one so inexpensive as well.

I got frustrated when I tried longer scopes on it but it held the little Celestron C5 I had back then pretty well

Funnily enough I moved on to a Porta mount after it as you mention. The real luxury of the Porta over the AZ-3 was slow motions that did not need re-setting and the CoG of the scope was in the same place as the alt axis, which makes a lot of difference.

I still sometimes miss the sheer portability at low cost of the AZ-3 though.

[Paz]

I got an AZ3 recently bundled with a telescope and it only cost about £25 extra compared to just the OTA on its own so I thought it was a bargain and having used it it is a bargain for that price.

I agree with the comments above and would add only  a couple... the altitude locking is by a 19mm nut so you need to have a 19mm spanner or socket to lock/unlock it unless you tension it just enough that it can be moved but then holds altitude when you let it go and therefore you don;t keep locking/unlockng it, but I personally don;t like the idea of leaving my telescope on any alt/az mount with the altitude not locked except for when I'm making coarse adjustments!

Also, if you want to use it for terrestrial viewing it is designed to stop the telescope depressing past the level position which is not ideal. There is a metal tab that I guess could be filed down to allow dome depression but that looks to be a bit of hassle to do. You could turn the tube around but then you would not be able to elevate it past level.

Apart from the altitude lock it is very simple and light to use - I've got my scope set up on it and ready to go without taking up much room inside - I can lift the whole lot out and all I have to do is extend the legs and I'm ready to go.

[Merlin]

I like the cheap 'n' cheerful AZ-3 mounting. Adding a small counterweight is a great help. Like this one: http:www.spacegazer.com/index.asp?pageid=97490 .

[happy-kat]

I have added a counterweight bar to mine very much as per link above.

I do not find the slo mo controls running out of travel a problem as I use then only for fine tuning that viewing moment.

I have my altitude bolt set so I can easy adjust angle and it holds, have not needed to use a spanner while actually using the mount, holds the ST80 very well, if I have a camera on the back then I attached the counterweight bar.

[GeoffB]

Thanks for the report as I have been looking at an ST80 and wanted to find a cheap mount for it I was tempted by astroboots cheapis altaz goto mounts but this could well be a winner because of my budget, altho the alt az goto is very tempting and I want a light weight set up for lugging around the continents in my bagage allowence my 200pds is brilliant but I need so ething lighter I canget my clothes in my hand luggage but my 23kg will be my scope And stuff.

[happy-kat]

See if you can fine 'D ick dangerous' member's tripod as he uses a photo tripod when on holiday and I think it might pack smaller and lighter than the az3.

[happy-kat]

Found one post off to dig out the other

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/218736-planets-globs-sun-and-moon/?fromsearch=1

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/226361-the-stars-were-bright-fernando/?fromsearch=1

[GeoffB]

Thanks Kat,

I also read your rview for the mount on Amazon lol, I have photo equip that I travel with so it could be a good idea currently my Travelscope sits on a photo mount but its a ball head I need to change to a pan head so I now have an excuse for a videomount lol.

Just hope the wife dont see this post sofar I have spent about £600 since September on our cheap hobby.

Geoff

[happy-kat]

oh another thread coming your way keep the ball head.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/247988-grab-and-go-mount-ball-head-and-pan-plate-combo/