iOptron AZ Pro mount

[GlenM]

I have been looking at this mount for some time and wondered if we had some satisfied users on SGL?

Thank you,

Glen.

 

[Trikeflyer]

I am also keen on this mount. Thanks for starting the thread, it’ll be interesting to hear the feedback - hopefully positive....

Steve 

[AdeKing]

I'm interested too, I'm keen to know whether it'll be OK with an ED120 or a Starwave Classic 102 f/11. 

The tube weights should be within the limits, its the length I'm more concerned with, particularly the f/11.

[Stu]

Pretty sure both @kerrylewis and @Pig have them so hopefully they will pop along soon

[AdeKing]

Thanks Stu

[Pig]

16 hours ago, GlenM said:

I have been looking at this mount for some time and wondered if we had some satisfied users on SGL?

Thank you,

Glen.

 

Hiya Glen, I am very happy with the mount, it’s very easy to set up and it is also very accurate. Do you have any specifics that you would like an answer to ?

8 hours ago, AdeKing said:

Thanks Stu

Hiya Ade, the length is a tricky one to answer, none of the scopes I have used have been over a metre with all the attachments. There is a point at which a foul condition can occur between the scope with the tripod legs during the auto align as the scope will point straight up. There is a lot of adjustment as the dovetail clamp is quite long and one could simply slide the scope forward until there is no foul condition. ( I am not sure what this limit is) there is a tower available also. I will take a picture of the distance from the pivot point of the mount to the tripod legs so you can see the scale on a tape measure. 

TBH I simply sync to the targets these days and do not bother with the full alignment set up as the sync option is also very accurate. Thus no need to point the scope straight up ?

 

The distance from the pivot point of the dovetail clamp to the tripod leg

 

 

The distance from the pivot point of the dovetail clamp to the end of the diagonal 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Pig
Images added

[Pig]

Content deleted.. dual post .... my error ?

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Pig

[GlenM]

Thank you very much for the information, very useful for sure. All sounds good to me. I am tempted by the tripod/pier but it's a little pricey and I like the Ash tripods from Berlebach. Not sure if Berlebach actually make a adapter for the iOptron AZ Pro. I will have to check that. Thank you again for the info.

PS. In the pic is that the 'park' position of the mount and scope?

Glen.

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by GlenM

[Pig]

2 hours ago, GlenM said:

PS. In the pic is that the 'park' position of the mount and scope?

Glen.

Hiya Glen, no I put the scope in this position to show the clearance between the scope and the tripod legs. There is no fixed park position, thus you can leave the scope as you please ?

Edited April 23, 2019 by Pig

[GlenM]

Thank you. Nice scope by the way.

Clear skies,

Glen.

 

[Ullomat]

Hi Glen

I have an AZ Mount Pro for a while now. It is just OK in terms of build quality. China made all in all. 

The stability and the accuracy depends on very accurate balancing and leveling. When you do so, it works flawless and has a very good tracking and goto precision. The feature set is quite unique: Battery, WLAN, GPS and automatic initializing. 

I put it on the tripod, level it, put on the counterweight and the scope and power it on. It does its initializing routine and points to a bright star. Just center the star in two steps and it is ready to go. I connect it than via the Wlan to my computer and do all gotos with Skytools 3. 

I use it with a Berlebach Uni wooden tripod. The mounting plate is basically for a T-Rex Mount (which I had for a long time) and it works when a small bolt is removed. The thread is a M12 at the mount. So it is adaptable to many tripods. You really do not need the leveling screws of the original tripod. I level with the Berlebach legs and it works flawless. If you have already a tripod, just buy the mount head and the counterweight if necessary. 

The weak point of the mount is not its weight capacity, it has problems handling longer scopes. If the lever gets longer, the mount cannot compensate the shaking quite well. I once tried a TSA-120, no chance. The same for a TSA-102. I used it a long time with a TeleVue NP-101is (short but heavy at 7kg) this was fine even at high mag.

I switched recently to a Takahashi FC-100DL. This is an edge case for the mount and just works because of the light weight OTA just above 4kg and since I have a fine focus. Otherwise it would be too shaky (for me) at high magnification which I use very often. And you need a pier extension for such long scopes. 

I hoped this helped, just ask if you need some more info. 

cs,

Uli

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by Ullomat

[GlenM]

Thank you, Uli.

Glen.

 

 

 

[Trikeflyer]

Thanks Uli, I was considering this for my equinox 120 but based on your experience I am now having second thoughts ?. I want an AZ got mount that can handle the equinox, anybody get any other ideas or does anyone else use this mount with a 120mm F9 frac successfully? 

Thanks

Steve 

[Ullomat]

Hi Steve,

maybe it would be good to test it for yourself if it works for you. I saw some guys on cloudynights, who had 127mm refractors on the mount. I am a little bit to far away but there are probably some other SGL's more close to you who have this mount also. 

For me it would be no fun to use your scope on my AZ Pro.

cs,

Uli

[Trikeflyer]

Thanks Uli, I agree.  The options as I see it are skywatcher alt Az eq gt5  or 6 or the ioptron, not much else I can use I think?

Steve 

[wookie1965]

I have seen one of these in action brilliant mounts only problem I see is if you use long fracs like me. I need a extension on my EQ5 mount to clear the tripod legs. If this could be addressed I would seriously consider getting one.

[Ullomat]

There is also the iOptron EQ-45. It has an Alt-Az mode, too. 

Or expensive but with good reputation the Panther TTS-160:

https://trackthestars.com

 

[Pig]

Some more positives.

I used to use mine with an Altair 110mm Frac without any major vibration issues and everything settled almost immediately ! ...... every mount I have had has some form of vibration at very high power, so far this mount has bettered my previous mounts in every way. The only scope where I had some vibrations issues with was an 8” SCT which has a focal length of around 2000mm !!! ?

Balancing and levelling precisely takes about 30 seconds ! ? and is a must for any mount if accuracy of the goto system is required. In addition the mount is very light and portable, has no wires to get tangled up, is almost silent in operation, tracks targets like an Apache brave and the battery lasts for about 8 hours .....The mount contributes greatly to making my observing sessions hassle free and extremely enjoyable ?

Edited April 26, 2019 by Pig

[Stu]

@Pig the one thing I remain confused about was that I think you had some issues with the second clamp when you first got the mount? I cant recall exactly but could you explain what they were and how you solved them?

[fate187]

Good morning everyone,

I own the AZ Mount Pro for about 2-3 weeks now. Bought it in a buying spree along a used SW Equinox 120ED (marveleous scope!...still looking for a TSA120 ?). I bought the mount head along with the tripod. The tripod includes a counterweight and 3 leveling adjusters. I already own quite some equipment and so I already have a SW EQ6 tripod, that I used to use for my AZEQ6. just like the AZEQ6 the AZ Mount Pro uses a 12mm center bolt to fix the mount head on the tripod. And luckily the head matched on the SW EQ6 tripod. I can post pictures later :). 

The leveling system of the iOptron is nice, but not necessary. I can level the mount with my Skywatcher tripod legs. Keep in mind that an AZEQ6 is also only level with the tripod legs :).

When it comes to convenience I can confirm what has been previously said: included battery and GPS make set up very easy. Wifi is a nice add on, that I have yet to use. I like the hand controller software and included catalogue, so no rush for additional external control devices. Tracking is accurate over a long time: I observed the sun last weekend with the Equinox equipped with a Daystar Chromosphere and a 110mm Baader-ERF on the front objective and it was tracking well for hours. I charged the mount during daytime observation to be good to go for the night (charging and parallel use is possible). Observing Jupiter during the early moring hours at around 250-290x was possible without shaking after settlement. Of course an AZEQ6 will be more stable with a SW120ED or a similar scope of lenght and weight, but the lower weight of the mount and price (compared to AZEQ6) and ease of set up is remarkable.

I will probably get an extension in order to avoid the scope hitting the tripod during high altitude slewing. Currently I can slew up to 62° up with the equinox. This will of course vary depending on your scope and diagonal/focuser attachments.

11 hours ago, Trikeflyer said:

Thanks Uli, I was considering this for my equinox 120 but based on your experience I am now having second thoughts ?. I want an AZ got mount that can handle the equinox, anybody get any other ideas or does anyone else use this mount with a 120mm F9 frac successfully? 

Thanks

Steve 

So Steve, if you are not sure order it online an try it out ;). There is always the way of sending it back if you don't like it.

[Trikeflyer]

12 minutes ago, fate187 said:

Good morning everyone,

I own the AZ Mount Pro for about 2-3 weeks now. Bought it in a buying spree along a used SW Equinox 120ED (marveleous scope!...still looking for a TSA120 ?). I bought the mount head along with the tripod. The tripod includes a counterweight and 3 leveling adjusters. I already own quite some equipment and so I already have a SW EQ6 tripod, that I used to use for my AZEQ6. just like the AZEQ6 the AZ Mount Pro uses a 12mm center bolt to fix the mount head on the tripod. And luckily the head matched on the SW EQ6 tripod. I can post pictures later :). 

The leveling system of the iOptron is nice, but not necessary. I can level the mount with my Skywatcher tripod legs. Keep in mind that an AZEQ6 is also only level with the tripod legs :).

When it comes to convenience I can confirm what has been previously said: included battery and GPS make set up very easy. Wifi is a nice add on, that I have yet to use. I like the hand controller software and included catalogue, so no rush for additional external control devices. Tracking is accurate over a long time: I observed the sun last weekend with the Equinox equipped with a Daystar Chromosphere and a 110mm Baader-ERF on the front objective and it was tracking well for hours. I charged the mount during daytime observation to be good to go for the night (charging and parallel use is possible). Observing Jupiter during the early moring hours at around 250-290x was possible without shaking after settlement. Of course an AZEQ6 will be more stable with a SW120ED or a similar scope of lenght and weight, but the lower weight of the mount and price (compared to AZEQ6) and ease of set up is remarkable.

I will probably get an extension in order to avoid the scope hitting the tripod during high altitude slewing. Currently I can slew up to 62° up with the equinox. This will of course vary depending on your scope and diagonal/focuser attachments.

So Steve, if you are not sure order it online an try it out ;). There is always the way of sending it back if you don't like it.

Thanks for your reply.  I am still keen on this mount.

Does anyone have any idea if the mount head will fit a SW tripod and extension tube??  or if the SW extension tube will  fit the tripod supplied with the ioptron az pro??

Steve

[fate187]

1 hour ago, Trikeflyer said:

Thanks for your reply.  I am still keen on this mount.

Does anyone have any idea if the mount head will fit a SW tripod and extension tube??  or if the SW extension tube will  fit the tripod supplied with the ioptron az pro??

Steve

Steve,

I already investigated this very topic. What I found out from pictures on the web is, that the SW-extension on the tripod and the AZ-mount head will fit together. The SW extension on the iOptron tripod will probably not match. The SW tripod has a center recessed hole and into that hole (3cm diameter?!) the counterpart of the SW-extension fits. The iOptron tripod has a flat surface, which will make using the SW-extension on the tripod incompatible.

 

regards

Michael

[Trikeflyer]

42 minutes ago, fate187 said:

Steve,

I already investigated this very topic. What I found out from pictures on the web is, that the SW-extension on the tripod and the AZ-mount head will fit together. The SW extension on the iOptron tripod will probably not match. The SW tripod has a center recessed hole and into that hole (3cm diameter?!) the counterpart of the SW-extension fits. The iOptron tripod has a flat surface, which will make using the SW-extension on the tripod incompatible.

 

regards

Michael

Thanks Michael - If I read you correctly, am I to understand that the ioptron mount head might fit on top of the SW extension tube? If so, I currently have a skywatcher tripod with an extension tube fitted and that would solve the problem? I have asked the question to FLO as well, lets see what they say?

 

Steve

 

[Pig]

7 hours ago, Stu said:

@Pig the one thing I remain confused about was that I think you had some issues with the second clamp when you first got the mount? I cant recall exactly but could you explain what they were and how you solved them?

Yes, for the unsuspecting it could result in some damage, especially so if you have a longer scope, as the scope can suddenly and very swiftly swing to a vertical position, depending on the weight distribution. (keeping the scope balanced correctly would help avoid any damage) 

The clamp (threaded wheel) effectively holds both scopes in place, or even just the scope on the primary side if not used as a dual mount.

I placed a cloth over the clamp to protect it and then use a set of hand grips and give an extra pinch after I have tightened it as much as I can by hand. Very simple.

The clamp has been upgraded to a captains wheel type (still threaded) and this enables much better purchase, thus no need for the hand grips. I now have a captains wheel that was sent to me free of charge by Keith at Altair Astro. So all is good ?

Edited April 26, 2019 by Pig

[fate187]

2 hours ago, Trikeflyer said:

Thanks Michael - If I read you correctly, am I to understand that the ioptron mount head might fit on top of the SW extension tube? If so, I currently have a skywatcher tripod with an extension tube fitted and that would solve the problem? I have asked the question to FLO as well, lets see what they say?

 

Steve

 

Which extension tube do you have? I know that it will easily fit to the az mount head eq6 tripod/extension do to the matching bolt size (12mm). Using EQ5 equipment might be difficult because the bolt size is 10mm. 

On a side note: I also bought a used Giro Ercole AZ-mount. It also fits to the EQ6 tripod because bolt size is 10mm, so screw to fix the mount head goes through the threaded hole of the eq6 tripod. Hope thats not confusing :).

 

best
Michael