Tripod for Ayo II

[heliumstar]

Need a little help please

Ayo II is coming in so I need to beef up a tripod for it. 1.75" steel legs is too heavy and is used only at home on the balcony. I need something transportable. So Ayo II is 3kg or so + scope will be 7kg at most. Would Gitzo Systematic Series 3 be ok? What aboud 3 legged thing - Winston 2.0 looks like it's capable and 30mm legs (2mm less than Gitzo series 3 systematic). Report 212 looks nice but is twice as heavy than carbon fibre ones and less capacity.

Edited June 8, 2020 by heliumstar

[Alan White]

Aha, so you were the person faster at the draw perhaps?

I think such a fine mount deserves an solid tripod, the Gitzos have been used on Giro type mounts.
How about a Vixen Aluminium tripod?

[steveex2003]

I had a vague interest in that one too, but was too late to the party. I do have an Ercole Giro, an Ercole Giro Mini and a GR Mini 2 though, so wasn't too heartbroken.

I have several tripods here, all steel and heavy with the exception of a Manfrotto carbon fibre 055 (4 section leg) which is exponentially lighter than anything else I have at around 2kg. In my experience the carbon tripod (which was hardly cheap) is perfect for the mini 2 mount (approx 2kg) and my Equinox 80mm, and little else. Yours and others MMV of course. 
The next time I feel the need to purchase a tripod I am almost certainly heading in the wooden variety direction, to which all the top boys here seem to have. I doubt they are any more portable than the biggest steel tripod (2.5" legs i believe?) I have is however.

Edited June 8, 2020 by steveex2003

[heliumstar]

47 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Aha, so you were the person faster at the draw perhaps?

I think such a fine mount deserves an solid tripod, the Gitzos have been used on Giro type mounts.
How about a Vixen Aluminium tripod?

Haha. Yes. Was waiting for this one for a long time. I am impressed with Vamo so this is the next step for slightly heavier scopes or dual mount.

Are we talking SXG-HAL130 ? I had that one but it is kind of cumbersome. I see Gitzos everywhere with thes type of mounts so I guess it works. The price is high though but if it works why not....

11 minutes ago, steveex2003 said:

I had a vague interest in that one too, but was too late to the party. I do have an Ercole Giro, an Ercole Giro Mini and a GR Mini 2 though, so wasn't too heartbroken.

I have several tripods here, all steel and heavy with the exception of a Manfrotto carbon fibre 055 (4 section leg) which is exponentially lighter than anything else I have at around 2kg. In my experience the carbon tripod (which was hardly cheap) is perfect for the mini 2 mount (approx 2kg) and my Equinox 80mm, and little else. Yours and others MMV of course. 
The next time I feel the need to purchase a tripod I am almost certainly heading in the wooden variety direction, to which all the top boys here seem to have. I doubt they are any more portable than the biggest steel tripod (2.5" legs i believe?) I have is however.

Had Manfrotto carbon 055 as well (3 sections). Put it up against Vixen APP-TTL130 and it wasn't as sturdy. Went back to Amazon. It did work fine with Altair 80ED-r and Vamo though but I need something now for bigger scopes that is lighter.

From what I am reading Gitzo Systematic 5 would be the way to go but 3 series has quite high capacity as well.

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

At the present time my AYO ll and Giro ll, (shown on the right), both use the SkyWatcher, (or clone), alumininum tripod...

...or my Manfrotto 055PROB, (not shown) . 

Edited June 23, 2020 by Philip R

[steveex2003]

Yeah, to be fair, premium aside, I know two photographers who swear by their Gitzo's, and poor reviews across the board are thin on the ground.

[Alan White]

A solid mount starts with a solid foundation after all.

I too had been waiting for an AYO ii to come up for ages, missed the last one as well.
Ho hum.
 

[vineyard]

I have an old William Optics Eazy Touch which was made by AOK (it even has AOK branding on it).  Beat Kohler told me he only ever made about 300 of those before WO switched to inferior Chinese production (his words ).  I don't know what the subsequent ones were like but the AOK one is v nice.  Strikingly similar to the Ayo II - enjoy @heliumstar!

[heliumstar]

To update the thread. Just ordered Gitzo GT4543LS which can extend to 158cm and closed length is 61cm. 2.38kg - can handle 25kg which is plenty for Ayo ii, az gti wifi + one of my refractors (all around 3kg). Might be even good for 6" f5 Newtonian. Will see how it compares with Sky-Watcher stainless steel 1.75" in terms of stability.

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by heliumstar

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 08/06/2020 at 16:39, vineyard said:

I have an old William Optics Eazy Touch which was made by AOK (it even has AOK branding on it).  Beat Kohler told me he only ever made about 300 of those before WO switched to inferior Chinese production (his words ).  I don't know what the subsequent ones were like but the AOK one is v nice.  Strikingly similar to the Ayo II - enjoy @heliumstar!

From what I have read on other astro-forums; the Chinese branded/manufactured William Optics EZ-Touch are/were not that good. 

[vineyard]

59 minutes ago, Philip R said:

From what I have read on other astro-forums; the Chinese branded/manufactured William Optics EZ-Touch are/were not that good. 

Hello, yes I suspect you're right about those ones.  However (and I didn't realise this until I stumbled across one) the first EZ-Touches were made in Switzerland by AOK.  I know from Beat Kohler that he only made c 300 of those before WO switched to Chinese production.  Happily, the one I have is one of those 300 and is even co-branded "Made in Switzerland by AOK"   Solid & smooth!  Cheers.

EDIT: Oops sorry @Philip R I just realised I'd already said that in previous post - apologies, clearly lack of clear skies driving me bananas. Here's a photo of it sitting atop an old Vixen AL tripod - I need to find wooden legs to replace the aluminium ones!

Edited June 19, 2020 by vineyard

[JG777]

An AYOII deserves good quality wood, so when mine is not in UNI18 mode the extension comes off and it resides very happily on a Berlebach 112 Report. 25kg load capacity and enough room for an Argo Navis or Nexus. 

It must be a desperate situation for someone to sell their AYO... 

[heliumstar]

Had a first try last night with the Gitzo. No issues at all with Ayo II and two telescopes. All together aprox. 8kg on top of the tripod. I wish I opted for Gitzo earlier. At 130x magnification damping is instant.