altair astro 4 inch achro and AZ 4?

[Mr Fiery Jack]

Hello folks

Has anyone any experience of a altair astro 4 inch achro and AZ 4 as combo. I don't have much time these days and to be honest I no longer feel like spending the entire night out in the cold so grab and go is all I need.

[Pig]

Jack,
I have had very similar set ups and on the whole all worked fine and is great for grab and go. The clutch is not the best and the mechanism inside relies on a heat treated domed washer to adjust the clamping force, you may get some slippage if your scope is too heavy. Other than this it is a very solid and capable.

[Alfian]

I've been pondering a very similar  question myself recently. It will be interesting to see what peoples opinions are.

[John]

I think a 4" F/11 on the AZ-4 would work fine at low to medium power but might be a bit shaky at high power ?

When I had an AZ-4 (steel tubed tripod) I found it great with my ED102 F/6.5 but the F/7.5 ED120 was too much for it. I know that the 4" F/11 weighs less than the ED120 but it's tube length is longer and that does add stress to the mount head.

Having said that, I've not actually used the exact combinatin you are considering so perhaps someone who has will post ?

[nightfisher]

I had the AA 102 f11 and used it a tiny bit on AZ4 and TBH i did not like it, as John says, okay low to medium power but lots of wobbles at higher power, even my old F10 Tal was at the limit, ED100 is well suited to an AZ4 as its a bit shorter, hope that helps Carl

[spaceboy]

2 hours ago, Mr Fiery Jack said:

Hello folks

Has anyone any experience of a altair astro 4 inch achro and AZ 4 as combo. I don't have much time these days and to be honest I no longer feel like spending the entire night out in the cold so grab and go is all I need.

I know exacly where your coming from. I found on more than one ocassion all I would use is my grab in one hand and go ST120 on AZ4 and I have recently let a fair bit of kit go because of it. Despite still owning an ED120 for lunar and 200P for DSO I find I'm still reaching for the ST combo between clouds and have even considered letting the ED go despite wanting one for longer than I can remember. They say the best scope is the one your most likely to use which is not necessarily the one that is better. As long as I get out under the stars is my priority not how much kit I have.

I'm not all that troubled by CA and with a Baader SA filter the views clean up that touch more. Lunar is fine with the ST but I admit it lacks a little on planets. I'm not sure what focal length scope you are after or how bad your eye is drawn to CA but the ST120 sits well on the AZ4 and has enough aperture to show some of the brighter DSO's and performs well on doubles.

[nightfisher]

I forgot, the OP has already owned the ED100 on AZ4, my bad