StellaLyra Dual Alt-Az Mount & Wooden Tripod

[FLO]

Two new (kinda) StellaLyra products 🙂 

 

StellaLyra Dual Alt-Az Mount

Price includes two counterweights (the photo shows one but two are included). 

 

StellaLyra Wooden Tripod with M10 Adapter

Needless to say, it works very well with the new StellaLyra Dual Alt-Az mount. 

[Alan White]

Woo hoo, I have been waiting for the Tripod to become available after my keen spotting at Astrofest.
Ordered one already 😁
Be interesting how the AZ75 sits on this.

[Naughty Neal]

The Mount is a skytee 2 with a name change.

For mine I made a pair of 400mm semi flexible controls  using the black knobs for the  control ends.

Four brass 6mm couplers, a 6mm brass rod cut in two and then 2 x 250mm x 6mm  strimmer drive cable to add a bit of flexibility to the ends.

Remove  two of the Black knobs and attach one 6mm brass rod approx. 150mm long with a coupler on each end, tighten the coupler to the knob worm drive end , insert the strimmer drive cable to the other coupler end . Before fitting the Black knob , I added bit of 6.3mm Black heatshrink to the strimmer drive cable to improve the look.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[John]

6 minutes ago, Naughty Neal said:

The Mount is a skytee 2 looks like a simple rebadging in name.

Telescope Services and Stellarvue have done the same with this mount so why not FLO ?

 

[900SL]

Tripod looks nice. What is the wood?

[Louis D]

Are all the tripod fittings 100% metal with no plastic parts?

[Naughty Neal]

Typically looks  like Ash a very nice hard wood to use and work with.

A very nice looking tripod.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Naughty Neal]

22 minutes ago, John said:

Telescope Services and Stellarvue have done the same with this mount so why not FLO ?

 

Nothing wrong with it being  a Skytee 2 rebrand , a good move to add a sturdy  more affordable  mount to the stable .

I would have bought it from FLO had it been available but used RVO as they had it in their inventory.

[cajen2]

The tripod looks remarkably similar to my Berlebach Report 312....

[John]

14 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

The tripod looks remarkably similar to my Berlebach Report 312....

I think it is very similar to the tripod that William Optics and Baader used to have in their ranges quite a few years back. In the USA Oberwerk list something very similar as their TR3 model.

 

 

[Ratlet]

Dang, they look nice.

[RobertI]

Two nice additions to the FLO stable. The wooden tripod looks the biz and decent price.  

[John]

I've been comparing the new Stellalyra dual alt az mount with the Skytee II which is still listed by FLO at £289.00 vs the £319.00 for the Stellalyra. It's not immediately clear what the differences are - is there something internal perhaps ?

 

 

 

[FLO]

On 05/05/2023 at 19:29, Naughty Neal said:

The Mount is a skytee 2 with a name change.

This is not a secret. This mount has been available in one form or another for many years. It was why I said "kinda" new. We also confirmed this in an earlier discussion. 

The mount is manufactured by United Optics and is sourced and sold by several retailers/distributors. 

On 05/05/2023 at 19:36, John said:

Telescope Services and Stellarvue have done the same with this mount so why not FLO ?

Why not, indeed 🙂 

On 05/05/2023 at 23:08, John said:

I've been comparing the new Stellalyra dual alt az mount with the Skytee II which is still listed by FLO at £289.00 vs the £319.00 for the Stellalyra. It's not immediately clear what the differences are - is there something internal perhaps ?

The StellaLyra model includes two counterweights. 

HTH

 

[Alan White]

I do hope the north peg is removable for the AZ75 though….
@FLO?..

[Ratlet]

They've been keeping quiet on the REALLY important new release:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-magnetic-handle.html

Better be quick.  They've only got 96 and knowing the forum, some people are going to end up with scopes that look like hedgehogs.

[JeremyS]

12 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

They've been keeping quiet on the REALLY important new release:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-magnetic-handle.html

Better be quick.  They've only got 96 and knowing the forum, some people are going to end up with scopes that look like hedgehogs.

Or kit out a small army of Daleks 

[bosun21]

44 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

They've been keeping quiet on the REALLY important new release:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-magnetic-handle.html

Better be quick.  They've only got 96 and knowing the forum, some people are going to end up with scopes that look like hedgehogs.

Be great placed on the underside of your dobsonian for moving it around the sky. Depends how heavy they are.

Edit:- just read the listing and that’s what they are for. Lol.

Edited May 6, 2023 by bosun21

[Ratlet]

I might get 2.  I'm wondering if they'll 'handle' 8kg of lifting force could I make use of my obsolete 1kg ioptron counterweight for a weight to balance my dob.

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

I might get 2.  I'm wondering if they'll 'handle' 8kg of lifting force could I make use of my obsolete 1kg ioptron counterweight for a weight to balance my dob.

Just buy a couple of disc metal covered magnets from Amazon. They are only £6.?? each.

[Ratlet]

47 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Just buy a couple of disc metal covered magnets from Amazon. They are only £6.?? each.

Do you have a link to one that works?

[bosun21]

54 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Do you have a link to one that works?

I used two of these for my 8” and the 12”. Works great and balances it even with the Starsense unit, RACI, triple mount and Morpheus.👇

Ferrite Pot Magnet for Arts,... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003MWG7BO?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[Stephenstargazer]

On 05/05/2023 at 19:00, Alan White said:

Be interesting how the AZ75 sits on this

Let us know if it is a good match as the Berlebach equivalent is expensive. Presume your AZ75 is M10 then. It says the tripod has an M10 adapter, do you know what is under that? Eg is the adapter removable? I am looking for 3/8" but can swap out the screw.

[Alan White]

I will let you know when it arrives

Yes M10 as it was supplied at the time.

 

[John]

I have a wooden tripod which, though not exactly the same quality as the new one that FLO are offering, closely mirrors it's design.

I haven't used it for a while but I do recall it being very stable with the mounts that I tried it with which included the Skytee II, the Ercole, a Giro III and a Vixen GP.

The design looks more slender in some ways than the Berlebach Uni but the wide leg / top bracket design gives a lot of stability and better vibration dampening / resistance. More than you would think from the weight / mass of the tripod.

To be honest I'd forgotten that I had this tripod until I re-read the FLO announcement today 🙄

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by John