Mounting rings supplied with the skywatcher 80 mm refractor

[pyrasanth]

The Skywatcher 80 mm is a great little refractor for the money & it has been pressed into service as my guide scope with a Lodestar X2 ccd camera.

I'm using the standard rings supplied with the OTA but something worries me about those rings- are they rigid enough?

I'm only guiding at a focal length of 620 mm on the main OTA but I touched the guide scope when I was making some other adjustment elsewhere & the guide scope seemed to flex.

Now, if a light touch can do that- then what must the wind be doing & could this account for some of my subs being a bit naff.

I'm sure it will get better when the telescope is under cover in its own dome but for now is it worth changing the guide rings? The whole Skywatcher 80 mm OTA is mounted in the Skywatcher guide scope mount with the standard rings as supplied with the original OTA.

Let me know what you think as in hind-site it all looks a bit flimsy on the guiding side!