Travel mount for GT81?

[neural]

I've recently become the proud owner of a small bundle of stargazing happiness called a William Optics GT81 (thanks Steve!). This is a good thing, but I can't work out what mount and tripod to use with it - I've read and re-read the relevant SGL threads and I'm still in fits of agony. Help?

I want it to be easy to take on a plane, so light and short, ideally rucksack but if the mount and tripod need to go in the hold that's fine. The GT81 plus diagonal plus eyepiece come to 4.5kg, and I want it to handle this easily. I only do visual, not AP. I would like slow-motion controls. Budget is 300-500 pounds.

I'm looking at a Giro-WR mount and Velbon GEO E635D. But the Giro would need a 5kg counterweight I think, which would be a nuisance (perhaps not a deal-breaker). A Vixen Porta II appeals, but I think its minimum folded length would be 90cm which is inconvenient for a suitcase. Can you take the head off a Porta II and put it on the Velbon legs? And what about the Borg 3101 - can it handle 5kg?

All thoughts gratefully received!

 

[parallaxerr]

My travel scope is a William Optics Zenithstar 66SD. I went through the same when trying to decide on a mount and ended up with a Manfrotto photo tripod and fluid video head.

https://www.manfrotto.co.uk/290-xtra-carbon-carbon-fiber-3-section-tripod

https://www.manfrotto.co.uk/lightweight-fluid-video-head-flat-base

The Tripod is carbon fibre, so light weight and folds down to 63cm. The video head has a counterbalance spring rated at 2.4kg which is about the weight of the scope with accessories, which means it more or less stays at whatever alt angle you set it at. At or near Zenith, the counterbalance spring does try to pull the objective end down a bit, but you can either:

1) nip the clutch, whilst still allowing alt adjustment, or

2) the shoe that attaches the scope to the head can be released with a small lever allowing for balance adjustment fore and aft, there's a safety stop so the scope can't fall off.

Panning the AZ axis is ultra smooth due to the built in fluid drag system (designed for smooth video panning). No slo-mo controls but the fluid-head is so smooth, with just a little drag, making it easy to track using the video head handle.

My setup is probably a little light for the GT81, but there are heavier duty tripods and this head looks about right for your scope

https://www.manfrotto.co.uk/pro-video-head-flat-base-msize.

I find this setup a joy to use and it can all be lifted in one hand whilst remaining incredibly stable during use. The carbon fibre does an excellent job a damping vibration.

Here it is next to my Nexstar SE

I have recently noticed the Altair Astro Starwave mini-AZ, which would fit on my tripod, and thought of trying it, but can't justify it really as the video head is so good and doesn't require counterweights or accurate balancing.

 

[Cjg]

4 hours ago, neural said:

I've recently become the proud owner of a small bundle of stargazing happiness called a William Optics GT81 (thanks Steve!). This is a good thing, but I can't work out what mount and tripod to use with it - I've read and re-read the relevant SGL threads and I'm still in fits of agony. Help?

I want it to be easy to take on a plane, so light and short, ideally rucksack but if the mount and tripod need to go in the hold that's fine. The GT81 plus diagonal plus eyepiece come to 4.5kg, and I want it to handle this easily. I only do visual, not AP. I would like slow-motion controls. Budget is 300-500 pounds.

I'm looking at a Giro-WR mount and Velbon GEO E635D. But the Giro would need a 5kg counterweight I think, which would be a nuisance (perhaps not a deal-breaker). A Vixen Porta II appeals, but I think its minimum folded length would be 90cm which is inconvenient for a suitcase. Can you take the head off a Porta II and put it on the Velbon legs? And what about the Borg 3101 - can it handle 5kg?

All thoughts gratefully received!

 

Hi Neural,

yes you can take the head off the larger of the Vixen Porta mounts, you need an adaptor though (mine was £40 from FLO) to enable the head to fit a standard photo tripod. I use exactly this combination of porta head on a Manfrotto photo tripod when travelling with my Tak. The head and adaptor are quite heavy but fit in a case in the hold. Photo attached.

Chris

[neural]

Hi Chris, that arrangement looks great and the Tak is certainly bigger than my WO. On reflection though I think you're right that it would be a bit heavy for travelling.

Parallaxerr: yes I saw your thread from July but thought it wouldn't be sturdy enough. But -- (1) the MVH502AH would be, at least on paper, (2) good point about not needing slo-mo controls if the panning is smooth enough, and (3) there is something I can only call sexy about a small frac mounted like a big lens without a camera: maximum simplicity.

Any other thoughts welcome, I haven't made my mind up yet

[Cjg]

Hi Neural, 

Here, this is what I suspect will appeal to many on here, Vamo!

http://www.aokswiss.ch/ayo/vamo_traveler/main_vamo_traveler.html

As far as I can tell, the dude only makes them in small batches, and Swiss, so high end and way more than the Porta, but quality kit lasts and as he says "absolute lightweight designed and perfect for airplane traveling around the world without overweight payments."

@FLO are the official importers, so I've already asked for a price and availability.  Chris

[parallaxerr]

20 hours ago, neural said:

there is something I can only call sexy about a small frac mounted like a big lens without a camera: maximum simplicity.

Agreed, and it's making me want a larger manual alt-az for my 5"!

[neural]

1 hour ago, Cjg said:

Hi Neural, 

Here, this is what I suspect will appeal to many on here, Vamo!

http://www.aokswiss.ch/ayo/vamo_traveler/main_vamo_traveler.html

As far as I can tell, the dude only makes them in small batches, and Swiss, so high end and way more than the Porta, but quality kit lasts and as he says "absolute lightweight designed and perfect for airplane traveling around the world without overweight payments."

@FLO are the official importers, so I've already asked for a price and availability.  Chris

Oh! Oh. Yes. Still no slow-motion controls, but that looks awesome. I will drop FLO an email (unless they spot this thread perhaps )

[neural]

So I took @parallaxerr's advice and went for an all-Manfrotto setup of an MVH502AH head and MT055CXPRO4 tripod legs (oh and a Baader adaptor). It all arrived in the last couple of days and I had a bit of a heart-in-mouth moment tonight as I set it all up - would it all fit together, and then would it be stable and balanced enough?

The answer is yes - I am a happy astronomer tonight (despite the solid cloud cover). Thank you all for your advice!

 

 

[parallaxerr]

Hi Neural,

Glad you came to a decision. That sure does look a smart little combo with all the matching red detail! How did the counterbalance work out, is it close enough to the weight of your scope?

I'm always impressed by the stability when I use mine. I was observing Venus with it last week at high mag and with the scope slid back slightly on the saddle it balanced perfectly without having to tighten the clutch and manual tracking was beautifully smooth and easy.

My lasting impression of the Manfrotto after extended sessions in the South of France last summer was that I just forgot it was there, which is a sure sign of a good mount

I hope it works as well for you, I'm sure it will. Enjoy!

[stevepeverall]

That's a really good looking set up you have there. Beautiful.

[neural]

Cheers guys. I'm very pleased with the setup (though in fairness I haven't used it yet!!).

Re balance: in the photos you'll notice that the scope's dovetail appears to be perched rather precariously hanging off the front edge of the mount. In actual fact the mount has a nifty sliding plate thing that allows this arrangement to be solid as a rock, and if you change to a much lighter eyepiece you can slide it back a bit and re-lock it in seconds to achieve that perfect balance. (The 22mm Nagler in the photo weighs nearly 700g.) Also - it passes the one-hand test, and even has a handle on top!

Close inspection would reveal a slight discrepancy in the shades of red, although since I hope to be using the scope in the dark...

[Geoff_L]

On 02/02/2017 at 22:57, neural said:

[...] (oh and a Baader adaptor). [...]

 

Many thanks for the link. I've just bought an EQ5 goto -- nice mount, but it's hardly "grab 'n go"! So I was looking for something simple, like a SW AZ3 but with a vixen shoe (the AZ3 has a 1/4" - 20tpi tripod shoe) for quick obs etc. That adapter would let me use an AZ3 for this.