AZ100 First Impressions

[Manoj77]

My new AZ100, TPOD100 have arrived and I had the pleasure of using them last night with my elderly C9.25.

I made my astronomy bones many years ago as a ‘star hopper’.  That was long before goto and we would use star charts with wire circles on a dowel that were equal in diameter to the field of view of my finder scope and hunting eyepieces.  It was a great way to get to know the sky.  I always preferred a fork type of equatorial mount for star hopping or anything visual. I never enjoyed using an EQ mount although I could appreciate the benefits.

I began thinking, what would be an ideal visual mount be for my style of observing? My dream mount would be a fork type AZ mount with electronic tracking and slow motion controls that could hold different OTA’s. Such a mount could be operated electronically and manually and  both electronic controls and manual controls could be used at the same time if necessary. I liked the style of the Celestron and Meade Fork mounts but they only came with an SCT attached to it.    Over the years I saw a trend towards the development of more sophisticated AZ Mounts, but none gave me all the options I was looking for.
A year ago I came across the AZ100.  I got in touch with their very helpful and responsive team and they told me that a motorized kit would soon be available for the AZ100. 

After many conversations and online research I now have the AZ100 mount.  It does everything I need and is rock solid with the TPOD110 and my C9.25 (and by the way, yes the C9.25 can reach zenith with this combo).  Only thing missing is the electronic tracking which will begin shipping in a number weeks.

Its great to have a mount that is quick to setup and so simple to use and helps me hop across the sky so simply and smoothly.  The Rowan AZ100 is a big step towards removing the clutter between my eye and the objects I love looking at. Highly recommended.