Alt-az mount for Skywatcher 100mm f/9 apo (in Europe)

[zsolo]

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations for an alt-az mount that would support my Skywatcher 100mm f/9 apo.  I live in Europe, so  a EU-based retailer is preferable. 

I own a Vixen Porta which I love. Very smooth motion on both axes and slow motion controls.make it a joy to use. Unfortunately, it's too light to provide sufficient support for a long tube refractor, like the Skywatcher 100mm.  

Any reccomendations? I'd prefer something with slow motion controls. 

 

Thank you!

Zsolo

[johninderby]

The TS AZ5 is perhaps heavier duty than you need but will be very solid with your scope. I used to have one but now replaced by a Rowan AZ100.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4539_TS-Optics-AZ5-Alt-azimuthal-Mount-with-fine-adjustment-in-both-axes.html

You can fit long slow motion cables if you want.

Edited January 16, 2021 by johninderby

[zsolo]

On 16/01/2021 at 09:45, johninderby said:

The TS AZ5 is perhaps heavier duty than you need but will be very solid with your scope. I used to have one but now replaced by a Rowan AZ100.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4539_TS-Optics-AZ5-Alt-azimuthal-Mount-with-fine-adjustment-in-both-axes.html

You can fit long slow motion cables if you want.

Thank you John! I will certainly look into the AZ5. Quick question: do you think it will handle my refractor without using a counterweight? 

Edited January 17, 2021 by zsolo

[johninderby]

The TS AZ5 is basicly the same as the Skytee Ii although seems to have better quality control. The mount isn’t a high quality one but most important it works really well and is nice to use. Great value for money.

The SW 100 isn’t very heavy so should be OK without a counterweight. 

[zsolo]

Sounds good! Thank you! 

[John]

I use the Skytee II which is effectively the same as the TS AZ5.

It handles both my 100mm F/9 and 120mm F/7.5 refractors quite easily without the need for a counterweight.

 

[banjaxed]

I have the Skywatcher AZ5 mounted on the 3/8” stainless steel tripod and it is very stable.

[jock1958]

Another ✅ for the Skytee 2. It's a bit industrial in the build quality department but once you iron out the little niggles its an absolute joy to use and more than capable on carrying my Tak FC-100DL. They come up second hand from time to time like UK Astro Buy & Sell, its where I bought mine. 

[zsolo]

Looks like there is a universal agreement that the TS AZ5 (Skytee)  is a great alt-az mount for the price. I am convinced. 

Thank you  all for your valuable inputs.  Now I only have to be patient til my next paycheck rolls in. 🙂

Zsolt

[johninderby]

Don’t forget the dovetail saddles. These are pretty good but not too expensive. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nrpfell-Universal-Dovetail-Astronomy-Telescope-Silver/dp/B08S2RTF8X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dovetail+Clamp+with+2+Brass+Screws&qid=1611000567&sr=8-1

I used two of them on my AZ5 when I had one.

Edited January 18, 2021 by johninderby

[jock1958]

If I had my time again I would probably have gone for the TS AZ5 over the Skytee 2 purely from whats been said in regards to the quality differences. 

[johninderby]

The TS AZ5 seems to be properly set up when shipped and mine was perfect right out of the box with no adjustments needed.

Edited January 18, 2021 by johninderby

[John]

6 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

If I had my time again I would probably have gone for the TS AZ5 over the Skytee 2 purely from whats been said in regards to the quality differences. 

Plus TS sensibly sell it without the poor stock DT clamps on it. Those things are an accident waiting to happen IMHO

Can't imagine why Synta have not improved them over the years that the mount has been sold.

 

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

I use either an AOK-AYO or Tele-Optic Giro...

Unfortunately they do not/or is no provision for 'slo-mo' controls on either.

Both are designed and made in Europe and available from many European astro-dealers.

[mikeDnight]

I really dislike the Vixen Porta mounts, I've owned two and used many. They vibrate like tuning forks and there's little you can do about it. I'm also not keen on altazimuth gyro style mounts that use counterweight, as you're increasing the weight of the set-up. You can't really beat a well made altazimuth fork for solidity and simplicity, but it seems that nobody makes a true fork mount anymore, - at least not one that's worth its salt.   Although not perfect, I find the Skywatcher AZ4 a reasonably solid Altaz mount, but preferably not on the Chinese aluminium tripod as it has plastic components. You'd need a steel tripod, or if you can find an old, tall, Japanese aluminium tripod such as those produced by Vixen back in the 80's or 90's, you'll have a solid mount. For general sweeping of the sky the AZ4 isn't too bad. I've used 474X on mine while observing Mars, which although not ideal, it was still achievable. 

[jock1958]

12 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I really dislike the Vixen Porta mounts, I've owned two and used many. They vibrate like tuning forks and there's little you can do about it. I'm also not keen on altazimuth gyro style mounts that use counterweight, as you're increasing the weight of the set-up. You can't really beat a well made altazimuth fork for solidity and simplicity, but it seems that nobody makes a true fork mount anymore, - at least not one that's worth its salt.   Although not perfect, I find the Skywatcher AZ4 a reasonably solid Altaz mount, but preferably not on the Chinese aluminium tripod as it has plastic components. You'd need a steel tripod, or if you can find an old, tall, Japanese aluminium tripod such as those produced by Vixen back in the 80's or 90's, you'll have a solid mount. For general sweeping of the sky the AZ4 isn't too bad. I've used 474X on mine while observing Mars, which although not ideal, it was still achievable.

 

I have a Vixen Porta for my Tak FS-60 and yes the vibrations are annoying which I put down to the flimsy aluminium legs, apparently it fares better with the older version of the tripod!  

I owned a Giro Ercole Alt Az mount and there's no escaping the exquisite teutonic engineering, however I find the "nudge-nudge-damn-I've missed it" design frustrating to use so switched back fairly quickly to the altogether more forgiving Skytee 2 with slo mo controls.  

In your experience Mike would you consider the Televue Gibralta mounts to be good altazimuth forks?

[mikeDnight]

50 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

 

 

In your experience Mike would you consider the Televue Gibralta mounts to be good altazimuth forks?

I've owned a Gibraltar mount on a beautiful walnut tripod. It looked great but it wasn't a good fork. The mount wasn't solid enough and it was difficult to balance my scope. The altitude axis was difficult to lock, and when changing to heavy eyepieces, the fork struggled to hold position. The best fork I've ever owned was a Hercules Helix (below), sadly nolonger in production, but it would carry a hefty 5" or 6" refractor without breaking into a sweat. I wish I hadn't sold it, but like many others, I'm not immune from making stupid decisions.

[jcj380]

There's an AZ5 mount which is identical to the Explore Scientific Twilight 1 (which I have) and also a Skywatcher AZ5 (which I also have).  Both have slo-mo.

The identical names were a bit confusing to me when I first started researching mounts.  Just a note for any new folks.

Question - How much load can a typical Giro-style mount handle  before a counterweight is necessary?  Thanks.

Edited January 19, 2021 by jcj380

[John]

47 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I've owned a Gibraltar mount on a beautiful walnut tripod. It looked great but it wasn't a good fork. The mount wasn't solid enough and it was difficult to balance my scope. The altitude axis was difficult to lock, and when changing to heavy eyepieces, the fork struggled to hold position. The best fork I've ever owned was a Hercules Helix (below), sadly nolonger in production, but it would carry a hefty 5" or 6" refractor without breaking into a sweat. I wish I hadn't sold it, but like many others, I'm not immune from making stupid decisions.

I agree with Mike's assessment of the Gibraltar mount. I owned one for a while and found that it simply did not perform as well as it looked. One of the few Tele Vue products that I've been disappointed in. It worked OK with my F/6.5 Vixen 102mm ED refractor but was not really happy with the ED120 on board.

I've also owned one of the Hercules mounts that Mike pictures above. It was better than the Gibraltar but again I was not really happy with it when the ED120 and a later 127mm F/9.4 achromat was mounted on it.

My current alt az mounts are a Giro Ercole, a Skytee II (with ADM clamps) and the superb T-Rex.

The Giro mounts can handle heavy scopes fine but balance seems to be key to getting smooth motions from the axis with them so some sort of counterweight is worth having on even with a lightish OTA just to keep that very smooth tracking. My Tak FC100-DL (below on the Ercole) weighs less than 4kg but even with that a small counterweight improves the azimuth motion.

The Skytee II, despite having a lesser quality of finish overall, seems to manage very well without a counterweight even with an 7kg refractor on board such as my ED120.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by John

[jock1958]

1 hour ago, jcj380 said:

There's an AZ5 mount which is identical to the Explore Scientific Twilight 1 (which I have) and also a Skywatcher AZ5 (which I also have).  Both have slo-mo.

Yeh I've seen the Skywatcher AZ5, wasn't aware that ES are making an identical version, they look similar in design to the relatively new Scopetech Zero but quite a bit cheaper.

 

1 hour ago, jcj380 said:

Question - How much load can a typical Giro-style mount handle  before a counterweight is necessary?  Thanks.

Like John mentioned I found the Giro Ercole AZ mount with my Tak FC-100DL onboard was noticeably smoother in operation with a counter weight & bar attached.

[jock1958]

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

've owned a Gibraltar mount on a beautiful walnut tripod. It looked great but it wasn't a good fork. The mount wasn't solid enough and it was difficult to balance my scope. The altitude axis was difficult to lock, and when changing to heavy eyepieces, the fork struggled to hold position. The best fork I've ever owned was a Hercules Helix (below), sadly nolonger in production, but it would carry a hefty 5" or 6" refractor without breaking into a sweat. I wish I hadn't sold it, but like many others, I'm not immune from making stupid decisions.

For the foreseeable it looks like I'll be keeping the Skytee 2 until @Dek Rowan Astro comes up with a smaller version of the AZ100 with slo mo's....pretty please 😉

[John]

1 hour ago, jcj380 said:

Question - How much load can a typical Giro-style mount handle  before a counterweight is necessary?  Thanks.

In terms of weight, the Giro Ercole quite a lot, if balanced correctly 

[John]

2 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

For the foreseeable it looks like I'll be keeping the Skytee 2 until @Dek Rowan Astro comes up with a smaller version of the AZ100 with slo mo's....pretty please 😉

I really do believe that there is still a niche for something in between the Skytee II / Ercole class mounts and the £1K plus AZ100 / DM6 / APM Maxload class. Initially I thought the AZ100 might be it but that was not to be as it turned out. I think Rowan might have thoughts about a smaller / less expensive mount but I'm sure that the AZ100 development is keeping them pretty much fully occupied currently.

 

 

[Sunshine]

Hello folks! I searched for a thread regarding Alt az mounts as i am interested in getting one for my TSA-102, I have a Vixen GP but unless I am imaging planets it is quite heavy with counterweights. Having said that, I was thinking of something like the Porta II but, I hear they are not very steady when using with a scope larger than 80mm. Keep in mind the TSA-102 is a triplet so its around 11.5 Lbs bare, I need something that can manage 12-15 Lbs when considering finder, rings, etc. If i can use my existing 2" SW steel tripod it would be great, I would love to hear some opinions from those who have similar scopes on alt az mounts.

clear skies!

 

[John]

25 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Hello folks! I searched for a thread regarding Alt az mounts as i am interested in getting one for my TSA-102, I have a Vixen GP but unless I am imaging planets it is quite heavy with counterweights. Having said that, I was thinking of something like the Porta II but, I hear they are not very steady when using with a scope larger than 80mm. Keep in mind the TSA-102 is a triplet so its around 11.5 Lbs bare, I need something that can manage 12-15 Lbs when considering finder, rings, etc. If i can use my existing 2" SW steel tripod it would be great, I would love to hear some opinions from those who have similar scopes on alt az mounts.

clear skies!

 

The Skytee II / TS AZ5 mentioned earlier in this thread would do the job for you. My ED120 F/7.5 weighs around 15 lbs all up and the Skytee II handles it well without the need of a counterweight. Not the most sophisticated mount but it's robust and effective.

You will need an EQ5 / HEQ5 compatible tripod - if your SW 2" is that fitting then you are all set.

 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by John