TTS 160 Panther Mount - Pricey but looks excellent!

[Stu]

I had never heard of these mounts before today - I saw one whilst browsing ABS and looked it up. Seems like an excellent mount, although not cheap! When my lottery win comes in, perhaps I'll mount my TEC 140 on one of these

http://trackthestars.com/telescope-mounts/tts-160-panther-telescope-mount

[John]

They do look nice. Innovative as well.

I've been wondering about treating my TBM 130 to one. Peak2Valley in the UK do them:

http://www.peak2valleyinstruments.co.uk/page_3569452.html

 

[John]

I've just remembered that a couple of years back Peter Drew kindly sent me some photos of a mount that he had designed and made to hold a very large refractor. Peters design used the same principles that the TTS 160 Panther now uses. Obviously a good design

 

[Beeko]

I've seen one of these in the flesh at Astrofest last year and they are beautifully made. The designer was very knowledgable.  I thought long and hard for a few months about buying one but feel it won't cope with imaging demands. This guy http://www.alphaquadrantobservatory.smugmug.com has been taking some amazing images with it though when I got in touch with him did say that the rotator option will only last 1-2 hrs. As I can't find anyone else imaging with the mount with equally impressive images, I feel it's too much of a risk. Beautiful mount though. 

[orley]

9 hours ago, Beeko said:

I've seen one of these in the flesh at Astrofest last year and they are beautifully made. The designer was very knowledgable.  I thought long and hard for a few months about buying one but feel it won't cope with imaging demands. This guy http://www.alphaquadrantobservatory.smugmug.com has been taking some amazing images with it though when I got in touch with him did say that the rotator option will only last 1-2 hrs. As I can't find anyone else imaging with the mount with equally impressive images, I feel it's too much of a risk. Beautiful mount though. 

Hi,

is 1-2 hours not enough? Can't you then just rewind the rotator and go again? Please forgive my ignorance

I too saw it at Astrofest. It is a lovely, elegant mount, but, yes, pricey.

Thanks,

Tom

[Beeko]

Ok, assuming you want to collect 6-8 hrs of data over a couple of nights, you'll need to babysit the mount and be on hand to rewind the rotator and resync every hour or two. I think sequence generator pro has a rotator option but I'm not sure if it works or automates for this mount. 

[wimvb]

Despite the novel design it's still an alt/az.  Great for observing, but AP? The rotator is said to fit on the 160 and 300 (mammoth). The 300 can carry 40-60 kg, but the rotator only 20. No specs for the 160. Makes me wonder as to the real performance of this mount. Also no specs about accuracy.

The design would be the least of my demands on any mount. It will do its work in the dark anyway, and be stored away during the day.

[orley]

17 hours ago, Beeko said:

Ok, assuming you want to collect 6-8 hrs of data over a couple of nights, you'll need to babysit the mount and be on hand to rewind the rotator and resync every hour or two. I think sequence generator pro has a rotator option but I'm not sure if it works or automates for this mount. 

Ah, okay.

Thanks!

[Stu]

13 hours ago, wimvb said:

Despite the novel design it's still an alt/az.  Great for observing, but AP? The rotator is said to fit on the 160 and 300 (mammoth). The 300 can carry 40-60 kg, but the rotator only 20. No specs for the 160. Makes me wonder as to the real performance of this mount. Also no specs about accuracy.

The design would be the least of my demands on any mount. It will do its work in the dark anyway, and be stored away during the day.

I was interested in it solely for observing; a heavy duty, powered AltAz mount with tracking and goto would be a very nice option for visual. There aren't that many around that can take a decent weight ie f9 ish up to 150mm triplet without excessive vibrations when focusing or in windy conditions.

I would agree that there are probably simpler options for DSO AstroPhotography, tube rotators sound inherently complex vs an EQ mount.

[John]

My interest is the same as Stu's - visual only. Having searched for a stable alt-az mount for a 6" F/12 achromat in the past, it's nice to see something that might be up to such a task even if it is quite expensive.

Personally I could do without drives and GOTO so a "lean" version with the carrying capacity, at a lower cost, would be of interest.

[cdd2455]

I'd be interested in a "Lean Panther" too.

No need for Go To or Drives, though it'd be nice to have encoders built in.

I wonder if  Track The Stars are listening ?

Best Regards

Carl

 

[Peter Drew]

I'm just on my third version of this type of design, for alt-az mounting a refractor which needs height it is to refractors what a Dobsonian mount is to a Newtonian i.e. simple, smooth and stable. Its "strengths" are the same as the Dobsonian, no particularly precision parts needed for undriven visual and no off axis loading.  

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I'm just on my third version of this type of design, for alt-az mounting a refractor which needs height it is to refractors what a Dobsonian mount is to a Newtonian i.e. simple, smooth and stable. Its "strengths" are the same as the Dobsonian, no particularly precision parts needed for undriven visual and no off axis loading.  

Do you have some pictures Peter?