Sky-Watcher AZ Pronto realistic payload?

[Aquavit]

Wanting a lightweight "grab and go" setup to maximise what seem, at the moment, very rare observation opportunities I've just bought an AZ Pronto to mount on my existing Manfrotto tripod. As best I can find Skywatcher quote a payload of 3kg when sold as a bundle with their tripod, that seems rather low and I suspect the limitation may be the tripod rather than the mount.

My Manfrotto 190PROX is rated at 7kgs payload, I've weighed the Pronto which tips the scales at just over a kilo, so in theory I have a comfortable scope payload of around 5kgs. I know others on here have this mount so wondering what real world experiences are.

It will obviously comfortably take my Mak 102 but I'm thinking of getting a Refractor OTA to pair with it.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Aquavit

[Robindonne]

Im not sure.  When you look at the az 5 for example, same tripod but 5 kg max payload capacity.  So the adviced 3 kg must have something to do with the mounthead instead of the tripod.  

[wibblefish]

It might be due to the way that the OTA is mounted on the pronto (top plate) compared to the side arm (az5). If you were to put a heavy load on the top when the mount head is moving towards the zenith I would image it might become unbalanced and potentially topple the tripod.

That is only a guess as I haven't experienced it feel unbalanced on the tripod at the zenith myself but I had some clutch slip the other night when I was pointed high in the sky and added the weight of a barlow on top of the EP + finderscope combo with my lightweight refractor OTA (I have never experienced with without the addition of the barlow weight). Otherwise it seems a fairly solid mount head though I don't have anything to compare it with of course

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by wibblefish

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have both the Pronto and the AZ5. If you purchase the better tripod the load capacity of the AZ5 is 9 kgs and that is quoted in the manual. I use a skywatcher 150p and it works very well. 

Anyway your question is about the Pronto. My pronto sits on a quality cullmann tripod and I use it both for my PST solar scope but also my Heritage 130 newt. The weight of the Heritage is 4.1 kgs and that includes a 9x50 finder scope + a zoom eyepiece. I balance the Heritage and the slow motion gears work okay even when the scope is pointing to the zenith. It's a great grab and go setup.

[Tiny Clanger]

On 31/01/2021 at 08:37, Robindonne said:

Im not sure.  When you look at the az 5 for example, same tripod but 5 kg max payload capacity.  So the adviced 3 kg must have something to do with the mounthead instead of the tripod.  

Discussed extensively yesterday on this thread . The tripod is the limiting factor.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

On 29/01/2021 at 16:33, Aquavit said:

Wanting a lightweight "grab and go" setup to maximise what seem, at the moment, very rare observation opportunities I've just bought an AZ Pronto to mount on my existing Manfrotto tripod. As best I can find Skywatcher quote a payload of 3kg when sold as a bundle with their tripod, that seems rather low and I suspect the limitation may be the tripod rather than the mount.

My Manfrotto 190PROX is rated at 7kgs payload, I've weighed the Pronto which tips the scales at just over a kilo, so in theory I have a comfortable scope payload of around 5kgs. I know others on here have this mount so wondering what real world experiences are.

It will obviously comfortably take my Mak 102 but I'm thinking of getting a Refractor OTA to pair with it.

I came across this guy's site when researching which mak to buy, he has a page devoted to the pronto mount which you may find helpful:

http://www.waloszek.de/astro_sw_az_pronto_e.php

I already had a manfrotto 55, with a max weight rating of 11kg, so bought the az5 which (on a proper tripod rather than the alu skywatcher thing) is rated at 9kg. I wanted to be future proof, and have always been an advocate of the 'over do the tripod, it can never be too steady' school of thought in photography, apparently it has carried over to telescopes !

Heather

[wibblefish]

It is worth noting I don't have the proper az pronto tripod, I have a standard sky-watcher aluminum one (I think it might be the same one as used in the AZ3?) that was supplied by FLO so I am not clear if that makes a difference. Either way I can see me replacing the tripod first then possibly moving to an AZ5 in future  

Edited February 3, 2021 by wibblefish