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Unexpected find

Knighty2112

By Knighty2112
in Discussions - Binoculars

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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Whilst browsing on Gumtree on Friday evening just gone I came across an unexpected find of an Orion Paragon plus binocular mount & tripod for sale. Been looking for something way better than my old camera tripod to hold my bins, especially for looking near at zenith. Hadn't planned for any extra further expense in my Astro budget this month, but these were just too good to miss out on. The pictures showed them in excellent condition, and well looked after (thanks Allan :) ), and even though it meant a long journey to go down to get them I went down yesterday to go collect them. After getting delayed around the M25 to get to where they were on the south coast, the journey although long was well worth it.

Here are a few picc of them in the garden with my 15x70 bins attached. Also plan on using them with my 7x50 Marines too. Very pleased with the new mount, and all working well. Now just need the next clear night to enjoy them. Be great to have a wobble free view through my bins of the night sky! :) 

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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55 minutes ago, Putaendo Patrick said:

Serendipity - as Confucius said, the best finds are unexplected :icon_biggrin:

Looks like a very nice, solid setup, congratulations!

Thanks. Good job I nabbed them when I did otherwise they would have gone for sure! :) 

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BinocularSky

BinocularSky

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The Orion Paragon is the same as what used to be the Virgo Skymount (I have one); very good basic parallelogram that is good with binoculars up to about 2kg. But beware: once you get the P-mount bug, you may well get tempted... :icon_biggrin:

T-zenith.jpg

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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1 hour ago, BinocularSky said:

The Orion Paragon is the same as what used to be the Virgo Skymount (I have one); very good basic parallelogram that is good with binoculars up to about 2kg. But beware: once you get the P-mount bug, you may well get tempted... :icon_biggrin:

T-zenith.jpg

I believe my stand will take up to 80mm diameter binos or a max weight of 5.5lbs. At the moment I have no plans for any larger binoculars than what I currently own, but time will tell if I get bitten by the binocular aperture bug! Hehe! ;) 

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Looks like a good find. 

A decent mount always makes observing more pleasurable.

 

Thanks Allan. Really chuffed with it. Only fly in the ointment so far is that according to FLO's clear outside app the next patch of clear sky is not going to happen until Friday evening/Saturday morning, but that's standard fare for a cloud penalty I guess after buying new Astro equipment! Hehe! ;) 

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BinocularSky

BinocularSky

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On 01/08/2016 at 13:47, Knighty2112 said:

I believe my stand will take up to 80mm diameter binos or a max weight of 5.5lbs. At the moment I have no plans for any larger binoculars than what I currently own, but time will tell if I get bitten by the binocular aperture bug! Hehe! ;) 

Like almost all Chinese-made photographic or astronomical mounts, stated maximum loads are usually very optimistic. My Virgo Skymount (which is essentially the same thing as the Orion Paragon) would not balance properly with my Helios Apollo 15x70 (2.5kg, 5.5lbs) unless I added a bit of weight to the counterweight shaft. The workaround is to tighten the knobs on the parallelogram so that the binocular is held up by the counterweight and friction together (IIRC, this is what the Paragon instruction sheet advises). However, mounts are not usually a lot of fun when working at their specified load limit!

(Not dissing your mount; darned useful when used within its capabilities!)

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