Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

Ioptron AZ Pro Mount


kerrylewis

Recommended Posts

So, some initial impressions and observations:

  • The whole thing seems to be very well put together and designed. The finish looks good. The tripod is substantial with an attractive chrome finish. 
  • The mount comes in a good quality custom aluminium case as shown in my first post.
  • It is all slightly heavier than I expected but still easy to carry the tripod with the mount head attached. Certainly much lighter and less cumbersome than my AZ-EQ6!
  • Shaun had warned me about tightening the altitude adjustment knob - apparently if not done correctly your precious scope can easily swing earthwards on a collision course with the tripod. The adjustment knob does have four holes to take 'lock levers' to form a capstan like arrangement, but these are NOT supplied with the mount. They are shown as available on the US website and presumably UK dealers can get them, but I think it's penny-pinching not to provide these with this comparatively expensive mount. Incidentally i did try the lever supplied with my AZ-EQ6 and it happens to fit.
  • The mount easily picks up GPS, even indoors. Initially you have to confirm whether daylight saving is in operation and set your time zone in terms of offset in minutes from UTC, presumably because the GPS system only has a standard time.
  • The mount then sets itself to align with south and the zenith (need to watch that with long scopes presumably)
  • Due to 100% cloud I've not gone further with checking alignment etc.
  • There is only a printed start up guide initially. The full manual has to be downloaded - but this seems the norm these days.
  • I easily connected my iPad to the mount's built in wifi and it registers on Sky Safari. You need the full manual for instructions on how to dothis.
  • Only one counterweight is provided as standard. I think I will need two for my SCT but could see if the Skywatcher ones fit. Incidentally there is no cap on the counterweight bar as Skywatcher provide as insurance against the weight dropping on your foot!
  • I need to check if the firmware is the latest and a lead is provided to update from a PC (not Macs)

Initially I am very pleased. The idea behind the purchase is to be able to set up quickly when there might be a break in the cloud or wit, say. a clear spell at dawn following perhaps rain. The heavy and quite complex set up for the AZ-EQ6 is not really feasible for me in such situations. The lack of connecting cables and power supplies is a great plus - this will also help avoid my nemesis: the dreaded cord wrap! Although I will still need 12v dew prevention for some scopes.

I'm looking forward to first light under clear skies and will report again after that.

Kerry 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great news Kerry and a very nice write up ..... its a great mount. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
I have some spare lock levers and you are welcome to them..... I would e-mail the retailer because they are included (or so the tech support guy at Ioptron told me) :happy7:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Achieved first light yesterday - after a fashion.

Found the sun with my white light filter in the afternoon although the mount doesn't seem to accept it as the alignment object.

Instead I used Venus as dusk arrived. It's very easy to centre and confirm the object and after that everything was spot on in my 'old gold' 100ED - at least everything that was visible between clouds.. The tiny disc of Mars was actually very steady and the good seeing was confirmed but the moon.

One advantage is the easy alignment of the mount in these circumstances, it would not have been possible to do a two or three star alignment. One thing to watch is that during the mount's little calibration 'dance' is uses south and the zenith. This means that a long refractor gets extremely close to the tripod legs. Perhaps when using such a scope it might be preferable to fit it after the calibration procedure?  

Note to self- remove the counterweight before loosening  the mount - nearly!

Btw regarding the levers for the altitude knob - Ian of Altair Astro has confirmed that these are now to be included with the mount, so he sent sent some to me immediately FOC. I must say that the service from him has been excellent throughout with emails answered by return and 24hr shipping Can't fault it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great news Kerry all seems to be fine.

I haven't tried using the sun as an alignment target before. However, there is a very simple work around for any target.
Despite its name (calibration) having owned the mount some time now I don't really know the need for the calibration option as the mount works fine without calibrating it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally don't skip it Kerry, you can but it will result in an incorrect alignment. However, you can always select "sync to target" from the menu and simply centre the target in the eyepiece using the arrow keys. All will work as normal from then on.

As ever with goto's using a high power eyepiece when aligning manually will give best results. (I use an 8mm in my frac that has a 750mm focal length )

I have discovered that the vast majority of poor alignment results I had were down to user error (IE they were my fault) :happy3:
I get perfect slewing and tracking every time now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kerry, really nice report...

you mentioned long refractors getting close to tripod during self alignment to zenith. How long do you think the ota needs to be before this will become a problem?

Do you know if you can buy a pillar extension for this mount to use with long refractors....I'm not there yet but my dream will be a f/15 6" ota on a goto az mount...although I don't think this particular mount would take the weight of such a scope ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, festoon said:

Hi Kerry, really nice report...

you mentioned long refractors getting close to tripod during self alignment to zenith. How long do you think the ota needs to be before this will become a problem?

Do you know if you can buy a pillar extension to use with long refractors....I'm not there yet but my dream will be a f/15 6" ota on a goto az mount...although I don't this this particular mount would take the weight of such a scope ?

Hello

My 100ed is quite long and was just missing the legs. However I use some heavy ES eyepieces so the scope was well forward in order to achieve balance. If it wasn't for this it would have hit the legs. 

I have a really long refractor, the Vixen, but I am sure that this is too heavy for the mount. I'm going to check the weights but I don't expect to be using the Vixen with this mount! That will have to be the AZ-EQ6. I think your dream 6" f16 is likely to be too heavy

i have not seen any pillar extensions but not really checked.

My idea for the Ioptron mount is to be able to set up quickly when needed and I don't expect it be suitable for all scopes especially really long and heavy ones 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just checked the weight of some of my scopes. The weight limit for the mount is 33lb.

My 100ED plus heavy eyepiece is about 11lb and the SCT plus eyepiece is 26lb. So as I expected these are well within the capacity, but the SCT requires two counterweights.

My Vixen 6" weighs about 35ibs but adding the rings, counterweight system and eyepiece pushes this up to 45lb. So, again as I suspected, this is too much for the Ioptron and will need to stay with the AZ-EQ6.

And i've checked the Alair Astro website and there is a extension pillar which fits the mount should it be required.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you ? This is very useful information...so if I get the extension length of ota should not be a problem.

Just looking at the website. The mount is rated to... 33lb primary payload and 10lb secondary payload.

so when you say the vixen+tube rings+counterweights +eyepiece is 45 lbs, should the counterweight be added? Maybe I'm missing something but is the counterweight acting as he secondary payload to balance the ota? And the primary payload the ota+rings+eyepiece.

Apologies if I am misunderstanding  ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry - I should have explained. The Vixen has a counterweight system on the ota itself. The previous owner added this to assist in balancing the scope. So it needs to be added to the weight of the scope when assessing payload.  

You are quite right - the mount's counterweights are not included in the basic payload.

Cheers

Kerry 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was quite confused by the weights quoted in the literature so I contacted Ioptron. I didn't get total clarification but in essence the message I was getting is equal amounts of 15kg was fine.

Kerry moving the secondary mounts telescopic bar outward from the centre will negate the need for a second counterweight. EG a 5kg will act as the equivalent of a 10kg weight if the distance from the centre of the mount is doubled, hence the need for only a single weight. This should be more than enough for your SCT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Pig said:

I was quite confused by the weights quoted in the literature so I contacted Ioptron. I didn't get total clarification but in essence the message I was getting is equal amounts of 15kg was fine.

Kerry moving the secondary mounts telescopic bar outward from the centre will negate the need for a second counterweight. EG a 5kg will act as the equivalent of a 10kg weight if the distance from the centre of the mount is doubled, hence the need for only a single weight. This should be more than enough for your SCT.

Shaun - I haven't got a secondary mounting. They are not included as standard 

Kerry 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You seem to have negotiated a good deal! The manual etc definitely describes it as 'optional'. I'm not bothered about mounting two scopes so an additional weight is the best option. I have skywatcher ones but they don't fit very well and I wouldn't be able to use both mounts at the same time 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update: I've been able to use the mount a couple of times. This included early one morning when there had been heavy rain the previous evening with clear skies forecast to follow. This is exactly the type of situation where I thought it would come into its own - i.e. when I would be unable (or unwilling) to set up but then a clear period ensues. As it turned out the seeing was poor for Jupiter but that wasn't the mount's fault!

I have been swapping emails with Ioptron in the US (who had been replying quickly and helpfully) about balancing a larger scope. Although it is possible to counterbalance my SCT + heavy eyepiece using two weights, I did try this and it was very awkward. I recently swapped the dovetail bar on the SCT for the larger Losmandy type and I actually find this to be a bit more difficult to locate into the saddle of a mount. Perhaps I just need to get used to it?

The upshot of this is that I think I will not be using the heavier set up much if at all. I wanted to have a grab 'n go set up but with tracking and I think this is more suited to a lighter scope (my 100ED) and a maximum of one counterweight. I may experiment with a dual scope set up but for visual only I don't really see the advantage of this.

So - I am now used to levelling the mount and switching on. I don't know how critical the levelling is - the manual says it is- but I try and get it as close as possible. The calibration target is usually a little way off but I understand that this as normal, and you can only move the mount in azimuth at first, also normal. But it is quite easy to centre the target quickly (it's usually the very brightest object in the sky - often a planet) and then everything is spot on. The mount also connects easily to my iPad with Sky Safari.

One minor niggle is that i find the adjustable tripod legs difficult to fully tighten enough o prevent movement, but that may be my aged hands!

Overall I am pleased withe the mount and I think it will give me more opportunities to observe which I may previously have missed. I am slightly disappoint that the heavier SCT set up is not easier, but in reality I think I would more often lean towards the lighter refractor anyway. I just need that dream Tak now........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.