Rowan AZ100 Mount Owners Thread

[Stu]

48 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

See: 
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/782599-super-mount-astro-carbon-tripod/

Getting into some exotic, no doubt very expensive gear here.

Questions. Do you have a stability problem currently? How portable do you need the tripod to be?

It looks like the Super mount tripod may have a wider spread which would help with stability, otherwise as said by me and others, the weight of the tripod itself will contribute to the stability (by which I mean resistance to tipping). Some of those scopes are on counterweighted EQ mounts which is a different use case to single scope in Alt Az. I chose to separate my AZ100 and Planet to carry them separately to save my back, very quick to remove and refit.

To your last point on CN. Yes, I think you are over thinking this!

[Stu]

34 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Really a function of what tripod can support, not what it is made of or weight.

Missing the point here. Resistance to tipping will be a function of centre of gravity. A very lightweight tripod will become unstable if you take the centre of gravity too far off centre, a heavier tripod will be more resistance to this. Nothing to do with load capacity or damping at all, just basic physics.

Of course so long as you keep the CoG inwards enough the lightweight tripod will be fine, but you specifically said you would need a CW with the Uni and not the B-Pod and I don’t see why that should be the case.

[Deadlake]

15 minutes ago, Stu said:

You suggested you may need a weight with the Uni but not the B-Pod, so that bit doesn’t make sense to me. Assuming the legs spread to similar degrees, the the B-Pod would be less stable due to its lighter weight.

The BB Planet will have an extra 40 newtons of force pulling it down, over the T-Pod. This weight will be distributed over the tripod. Not sure how to quantify what that will add to stability of the tripod? 
i.e. With regards to weight being applied down on the tripod by the scope and mount, seems a lot less relatively?
  
 

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Not sure how to quantify what that will add to stability of the tripod? 

Losing the will a bit here! 🤪 It retakes to Centre of Gravity of the system.

If weight is that important to you then just get the B-pod or Super….

[Alan White]

Good to see this is all tripod discussion and not about that fine mount, 
let's face it, its not going anywhere, the tripod is the variable in my view.

The problem with a monster tripod, is its bulk and weight, and ability to move.
One of the beuties of this mount and its type is grab and go nature and freedom of too much kit,
if you want it solid as said earlier in the thread, put it on a pier and anchor it to mother earth, but why?

The Uni 28 and AZ100 looks like a great combination for most folks scopes, the very large very heavy scopes some 
have mounted on the AZ100, which it clearly can hold need a bigger lump of tripod or pier, but not for most folks, 
who have smaller scopes that cope well with UK skies.

Perhaps what's needed is another tripod type that works with the AZ100 sized mounts.
solid, light and able to be easily moved without a double hernia.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Alan White

[johninderby]

The one factor that will determine portability of any tripod is of course the physical strength of the user. For some a Planet / AZ100 combo is a struggle to move whereas for others easy to carry. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by johninderby

[Saganite]

Agree Al.

The AZ100 has been a revelation for me and I will never need another mount . On my UNI 18 it carries my 4" scopes solidly.  It takes less than a minute to unscrew from the tripod and fix on my pier where it carries my 5" f15 with ease, something that my NEQ6 could never do, and I take the Az100 in at the end of the session avoiding worry about theft or rain.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Saganite

[Alan White]

8 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The one factor that will determine portability of any tripod is of course the physical strength of the user. For some a Planet / AZ100 combo is a struggle to move whereas for others easy to carry. 

That is the truth John, and very much the determining factor.
My back due to injury a longtime ago is not the back it should be and I have to be very careful what and how I lift.

 

[Alan White]

6 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Agree Al.

The AZ100 has been a revelation for me and I will never need another mount . On my UNI 18 it carries my 4" scopes solidly.  It tales less than a minute to unscrew from the tripod and fix on my pier where it carries my 5" f15 with ease, something that my NEQ6 could never do, and I take the Az100 in at the end of the session avoiding worry about theft or rain.

If you saw my Banbury visit thread Steve, you will know I have been at Rowan yesterday,
I did stop myself from kissing the AZ100 we stood around and talked about, but only just.

[johninderby]

13 minutes ago, Alan White said:

That is the truth John, and very much the determining factor.
My back due to injury a longtime ago is not the back it should be and I have to be very careful what and how I lift.

 

Fortunately I’ve never suffered from back problems, for which I’m very grateful, but realise it’s an all to common complaint for many. 

BTW it was my 69th birthday the other week.

Edited September 23, 2021 by johninderby

[Alan White]

48 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Fortunately I’ve never suffered from back problems, for which I’m very grateful, but realise it’s an all to common complaint for many. 

BTW it was my 69th birthday the other week.

Belated Happy Birthday John, you have a few years on me,
My Birthday was last week, turned 55, so are you a fellow Virgo?
 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Alan White
typos of course

[johninderby]

3 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Belated Happy Birthday John, you have a few years on me,
My Birthday was last week, turned 55, so are you a felloe Virgo?
 

Yes indeed. 🙂

[John]

This relates to my T-Rex mount rather than the AZ100 but I was somewhat surprised to find that the GMT 128 (basically an EQ6) tripod was less prone to vibrations than the UNI 28 when I compared them both recently.

So when I post pics of my TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 on the mount, you will see the steel GMT 128 tripod under it rather than my nice wooden Berlebach UNI 28. Having invested in a new EQ6 head for the UNI 28 I was a little disappointed in this result to be honest but there was no mistaking the tripod that fared better with the T-Rex. 

Sorry to introduce a non-Rowan mount but the thread had veered to tripods so I thought it was relevant.

My BB UNI 28 is still a great tripod to use with my Skytee II and Giro Ercole mounts of course.

As the T-Rex + GMT 128 does such a good job with the 130mm F/9.2 triplet (< 1 second vibration damp time), I don't feel the need for a BB Planet. I do try and keep the weight of my setups to a reasonable level as well - I like to be able to move the whole rig around the garden as needed.

 

 

[Deadlake]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

A very lightweight tripod will become unstable if you take the centre of gravity too far off centre, a heavier tripod will be more resistance to this.

Didn't mean to get into such a long discussion on this and maybe I'm not explaining myself. 

Agree stability of tripod is proportional to central of gravity.

Question is what happens when tripod is going out of balance, if the legs have a greater tensile strength they will not move (deflect) as much as a tripod with legs that have a lower tensile straight and as stated angle of legs helps with stability of tripod.

Some of the tripod sites use tensile strength, load  and centre of gravity to work out moment of inertia applied to tripod.

Point I was trying to make is stability of tripod is not just a function of weight of tripod even if it helps.

Also surprised at empirical reports from owners of both BB and T-Pod which didn't match my understanding of which tripod would perform better.

Ps: Agree this is a AZ100 thread, but what else can you tune on the AZ100 apart from the tripod? 
 

[Deadlake]

8 minutes ago, John said:

So when I post pics of my TMB/LZOS 130 F/9.2 on the mount, you will see the steel GMT 128 tripod under it rather than my nice wooden Berlebach UNI 28. Having invested in a new EQ6 head for the UNI 28 I was a little disappointed in this result to be honest but there was no mistaking the tripod that fared better with the T-Rex. 

Agree John, went I looked at various threads my expectation (model) of what tripod was most stable didn't match a user report (experimental).

[Stu]

1 hour ago, John said:

(basically an EQ6)

Those EQ6 tripods are certainly very solid and make a big difference to stability over other options. I had a couple, and even putting quite small mounts on them such as my Giro-WR I ended up with a very stable solution.

You certainly come up with some giant killing results John, SkyTee2 beats Ercole and EQ6 tripod beats Uni 28, but if that’s the result, that’s the result!! 👍

1 hour ago, Deadlake said:

Question is what happens when tripod is going out of balance, if the legs have a greater tensile strength they will not move (deflect) as much as a tripod with legs that have a lower tensile straight and as stated angle of legs helps with stability of tripod.

I genuinely don’t believe those factors are relevant for the tripods we are discussing. None of these tripods flex in any noticeable sense. I’m terribly sorry to be pedantic, I know I am, but your original point, and the one I’ve been trying to answer was whether you needed a counterweight with a Uni 28 whereas you didn’t think you would with a B-pod or Planet. I remain convinced by my argument that the lighter tripod would be more likely to tip without a counterweight than a heavier one, all other factors being similar. A wider spread will mean the load has to be more unbalanced before the CoG goes outside the base area to make the tripod topple.

I’m exhausted now so will go and lie in a darkened room for a while 😉

[johninderby]

Wonder how the Geoptik Hercules 95 compares to the Planet? 🤔

150kg max load and similar price.

[Alan White]

2 hours ago, Deadlake said:

Ps: Agree this is a AZ100 thread, but what else can you tune on the AZ100 apart from the tripod? 

Just picked this line out, but quite a compliment on the AZ100 and very true from what I have seen.

[Alan White]

22 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Wonder how the Geoptik Hercules 95 compares to the Planet? 🤔

150kg max load and similar price.

I have no idea, but have glanced at these before, look very solid, but....
well the red would clash terribly with the deep Rowan black anodising.
What you need is a tripod with matching black.
 

[johninderby]

24 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I have no idea, but have glanced at these before, look very solid, but....
well the red would clash terribly with the deep Rowan black anodising.
What you need is a tripod with matching black.
 

Hmmmmmm.      😁

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by johninderby

[Deadlake]

Note the T-Pod comes in black as well, but here is red and an AZ100

 

[Alan White]

As I said clash, clash

Perhaps some of John’s spray? 😉
 

In fairness the mount plate is black

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Alan White

[johninderby]

Maybe Rowan could do a red version? 🤔…………….or not. 😁

Edited September 23, 2021 by johninderby

[AdeKing]

9 minutes ago, Alan White said:

As I said clash, clash

Perhaps some of John’s spray? 😉
 

In fairness the mount plate is black

 

Sorry to be controversial but I actually quite like the black and red combination Alan 🤭.

Something I'm obviously missing though is the B-Pod that keeps getting mentioned. 

Is this an autocorrect typo or is this a bigger brother to the T-Pod?

[Alan White]

I think its T-Pod Ade and no controversy, 
if you like the red and black, you like red and black.
Your f11 would perhaps suit it well.

And the red lettering on my Vixen might actually look ok.

But does not a red tripod have an invisibility cloak when lit with a red torch? 🤣