Newbie's take on the Sky-Watcher Startravel 80 (ST80) as a first telescope

[happy-kat]

Have you thought about the legs from an EQ5, I think I've seen members comment about using the EQ5 legs on some mount heads to add stability. I don't know what's compatible with what when it comes to legs top and mount bottom.

[Tiny Clanger]

I'm firmly (unshakeably too 🙂 ) in the 'use photo tripod legs' camp here : admittedly this is mostly because I already owned heavy duty tripods so thought I'd try the az5 on a well loved old manfrotto 55 first,and if it turned out to not be adequate, spend £100+ on a skywatcher steel one . Turns out the old 55 is great, the base of the az5 overhangs the top plate a bit (the az5 base is a pretty large diameter) but the tripod takes it , and holds az5 and 127 mak with ease. It will also carry my 150 heritage dob with no problems, and no doubt would be over-engineered (no bad thing !) for the ST80 too. The 55 series metal tripods have a max capacity of 9kg, and manfrotto (so I was told by a rep. at a photo trade exhibition 30 years ago) base that on the fully extended tripod, column and all.

I've always liked manfrotto tripods , never felt happy with screw collars or pins as leg locks and (literally) never been let down by the manfrotto click locks over 30 plus years of using them ... I keep the az5/127 mak setup together in the corner of the room, and can pick it up, lean the top of the rig against my (weedy female) shoulder, support the tripod spider with one hand, open a leg lock with the other hand, let gravity extend the leg, lock it and repeat, , getting the 'scope up to height for use in seconds.  I don't elevate the centre column at all, it obviously is more vibration prone, better to get the height with the stiff leg triangle and keep the column locked tight.

Good things about photo tripods are that they typically close down smaller than telescope tripods, and are far cheaper and more plentiful to buy second hand, £50 for a manfrotto 190 or £70 for a 55 is typical when they are advertised without a photo head, because many photographers will prefer a package to include a head . The negative is they don't generally include a leg brace (apart from video tripods) or a eyepiece tray, but you can buy (or make) a cheap generic stone bag if such storage is a feature you want.

I have my st80 on a Manfrotto 190, again an older model, and an 029 pan/tilt head . The max carrying capacity of the 190 is 5kg, but again that's based on fully extended, column up situation. I've tried the heritage dob on this tripod and it worked flawlessly. As mentioned before,  I have the st80 tilted over to the side (as if a camera was on the tripod to take a photo in portrait mode) , and reversed in direction to allow the maximum alt . I don't find the pan/tilt controls any kind of problem : the head is smooth and heavy enough to leave the az handle loose, , so only the alt to adjust, and having the 'scope 'side saddle' lowers the centre of gravity and makes that easy . The st80 is light, wide,  and undemanding as far as tripod and head go, but my 127 mak requires a strong solid mount, and slo mo controls, I've tried it with the photo head on the 190 and it did not seem safe, let alone aim-able !

Heather

[Stu1smartcookie]

3 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Good things about photo tripods are that they typically close down smaller than telescope tripods

Very good point ... I bought a photo tripod that takes around 7kg and used it with a Star Adventurer... it was about 24" when completely folded down and so light weight but with a fairly good payload 

[Oat]

10 hours ago, Basementboy said:

Congrats on the new ST80 and welcome to the club! Innteresting about the zoom eyepiece – have you tried any others, like the Baader Hyperion I see mentioned?

Hi

No i didn't try any other zoon eyepieces. I did consider the Baader, i have to say the price put me off so i was going to expand the plossl's i have. Then i came across this review by chance and went with it - it is a real revelation. I'm reasonably well informed about optics quality from an interesting in shooting and binoculars, and i cannot fault this SVBONY zoon. Sure it's a big but i actually like that, it's very comfortable to use. SVBONY also make a smallr zoom which is actually the same as the Orion zoom....

[SaberJeff]

Small caliber