New collapsible MiniMax stool

[Louis D]

Has anyone tried this new collapsible MiniMax stool for astro observing?  I saw it in a B&H Photo email.  It might be useful for soggy lawns and refractors.  The price isn't too bad, either.  Add to that how compactly it folds away, and it might be really handy for camping trips.

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by Louis D

[Louis D]

Well, Santa brought me one of these stools for Christmas and I just got done using it for the first time with a telescope.  It had no problems supporting my 200 pound weight at any height.  It was quite easy to set the height for various eyepiece heights.  So far so good.  The down side is that it has a small, hard, 10" diameter seat that makes your rear go numb after an hour or so.  I threw a seat cushion on it after two hours due to extreme pain in my coccyx, and that helped immensely.  I will have to work on buying/making a larger, conforming cushion for the future.  If you limit usage to 30 minutes or less, it's not that big of an issue.

[Louis D]

Well, I went to lean forward one night to better peer into an eyepiece, and BAM!, one side of the stool collapses.  Basically, the asymmetric load sheared off some of the load bearing tabs around the periphery of the upper rings under the side I leaned toward.  See my write-up below:

Basically garbage now.  I'd say I got 2 or 3 good nights of use out of it.  I'd consider it a disposable stool at this rate.