Yet another lightweight setup

[John]

During this stormy day with heavy cloud cover I've been playing with my travel scope setup.

The scope is an Altair Starwave 70mm F/6 ED. The mount is the TS AZ6. The tripod is a Slick Master Classic. I have 3 eyepieces that will form my travel kit:

Baader 8-24mm zoom, Svbony 3-8mm zoom and the Maxvision 20mm 68 (seen in the photos) 

I also have a 1.25 inch Lunt herschel wedge for solar white light observing.

The whole setup as pictured weighs 5kg so easily one hand portable. 

I took the setup to the island of Jersey last year and managed to observe supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101, amongst other things 🙂

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by John

[JeremyS]

I have the same mount and under a different name and it works surprisingly well with my Tak FS 76DCU John. Especially with a counterweight bar, but if I’m travelling by air I leave that behind 

[badhex]

On 02/11/2023 at 15:23, John said:

During this stormy day with heavy cloud cover I've been playing with my travel scope setup.

The scope is an Altair Starwave 70mm F/6 ED. The mount is the TS AZ6. The tripod is a Slick Master Classic. I have 3 eyepieces that will form my travel kit:

Baader 8-24mm zoom, Svbony 3-8mm zoom and the Maxvision 20mm 68 (seen in the photos) 

I also have a 1.25 inch Lunt herschel wedge for solar white light observing.

The whole setup as pictured weighs 5kg so easily one hand portable. 

I took the setup to the island of Jersey last year and managed to observe supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101, amongst other things 🙂

 

Delightful setup John. Very similar to my travel setup with ZS73.

I also have the AZT6 but it's not my favourite mount. I like the simplicity of it, but the Scopetech Mount Zero is only a touch heavier and I do like the slow motions, so I end up taking that instead. 

I was using the APM Superzoom with this setup recently, but definitely could do with more power. I'd love the Svbony 3-8mm to fill that role as these small, high quality ED doublets can easily take the magnification which makes them better at planetary than one might imagine - which I'm sure you've found. How does the Svbony zoom fare at the 3mm end in this scope? 

I can't remember if you've a 24mm UFF but it's very nice in this size of scope as well. I have always taken a 2" diagonal and 40mm Aero ED for widest field views but wondering if I might drop down to a lighter 1.25" diagonal and just use the 24mm UFF in future - but it does mean losing 2.3° TFOV! 

[John]

10 minutes ago, badhex said:

Delightful setup John. Very similar to my travel setup with ZS73.

I also have the AZT6 but it's not my favourite mount. I like the simplicity of it, but the Scopetech Mount Zero is only a touch heavier and I do like the slow motions, so I end up taking that instead. 

I was using the APM Superzoom with this setup recently, but definitely could do with more power. I'd love the Svbony 3-8mm to fill that role as these small, high quality ED doublets can easily take the magnification which makes them better at planetary than one might imagine - which I'm sure you've found. How does the Svbony zoom fare at the 3mm end in this scope? 

I can't remember if you've a 24mm UFF but it's very nice in this size of scope as well. I have always taken a 2" diagonal and 40mm Aero ED for widest field views but wondering if I might drop down to a lighter 1.25" diagonal and just use the 24mm UFF in future - but it does mean losing 2.3° TFOV! 

I will give the SV 3-8mm zoom a try at the 3mm setting with my 70mm scope at some point and see how it fares. That setting seems to work quite well with my Tak FC100 so I don't expect any particular issues with the 70mm.

The 20mm 68 Maxvision gives a 3 degree true field and a good one at that. I have a Panoptic 24mm if I want a wider view in the 1.25 inch fitting and I can always stick a 2 inch diagonal in the scope and use the 31mm Nagler if I want to go really, really wide 🙂

Realistically though, this setup will only get occasional use so I'm not intending to invest any more in it. I don't really do any serious observing on holiday and often won't take a scope at all.

 

[Roy Challen]

I too have an AzT6, Altair Astro branded. I use it with my FS60-CB and Daystar, on a First Horizon tripod, although for travel, I use a 3 Legged Thing carbon tripod. 

Agree with Jeremy re: counterweight bar. I almost had it confiscated 3 times on my last trip abroad. The airport security were concerned that I could use the counterweight as a weapon. I pointed out that I could also use a pencil as weapon...I still have my counterweight 😛

21 hours ago, JeremyS said:

I have the same mount and under a different name and it works surprisingly well with my Tak FS 76DCU John. Especially with a counterweight bar, but if I’m travelling by air I leave that behind 

 

[Franklin]

I've been trying to put together a high quality, ultra-light and ultra-portable travel setup for some time now and I managed to find a used Borg Oasis single fork arm AZ mount which is super tiny but strong and has nice slow motion controls, it sits on my Polarie lightweight tripod via a 1/4" screw. So I was on the look out for a Mini-Borg 50 Achro ota when @The60mmKid put his Borg 60ED up for sale. The optics are very nice and the quality is typical of Japanese made kit, the whole setup with mount, tripod, ota, diagonal and LV zoom eyepiece weighs in at 3.3kg.

I honestly don't think they come any dinkier than this and can't wait to get it out under a dark sky.

 

[The60mmKid]

4 minutes ago, Franklin said:

I've been trying to put together a high quality, ultra-light and ultra-portable travel setup for some time now and I managed to find a used Borg Oasis single fork arm AZ mount which is super tiny but strong and has nice slow motion controls, it sits on my Polarie lightweight tripod via a 1/4" screw. So I was on the look out for a Mini-Borg 50 Achro ota when @The60mmKid put his Borg 60ED up for sale. The optics are very nice and the quality is typical of Japanese made kit, the whole setup with mount, tripod, ota, diagonal and LV zoom eyepiece weighs in at 3.3kg.

I honestly don't think they come any dinkier than this and can't wait to get it out under a dark sky.

 

😍 London misses you, little friend!

I'm glad it's in good hands ☺️

[Franklin]

4 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

London misses you, little friend!

London "smog" will be choking this little scope no more, I'll be taking it up the hills in the Peak District. Just hope I can get back down in the dark😁.

[Mr Spock]

Small and light isn't bad at all 

 

[Franklin]

9 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Small and light isn't bad at all

Nice setup Michael, I see you've got rid of the pond ok😁.

[Franklin]

10 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Small and light isn't bad at all 

Is that an amici prism in there? Does it vignette at all with longer focal length eyepieces?

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

Is that an amici prism in there? Does it vignette at all with longer focal length eyepieces?

It's a Celestron I bought on here used. I only use it with a 22mm LVW as the longest eyepiece. It replaces a 2" Antares which suffered from horrible CA at any kind of decent magnification. Vital for my birdwatching to have things the right way round 

[badhex]

19 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

It's a Celestron I bought on here used. I only use it with a 22mm LVW as the longest eyepiece. It replaces a 2" Antares which suffered from horrible CA at any kind of decent magnification. Vital for my birdwatching to have things the right way round 

Glad to see it get some use @Mr Spock! 

[badhex]

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

I've been trying to put together a high quality, ultra-light and ultra-portable travel setup for some time now and I managed to find a used Borg Oasis single fork arm AZ mount which is super tiny but strong and has nice slow motion controls, it sits on my Polarie lightweight tripod via a 1/4" screw. So I was on the look out for a Mini-Borg 50 Achro ota when @The60mmKid put his Borg 60ED up for sale. The optics are very nice and the quality is typical of Japanese made kit, the whole setup with mount, tripod, ota, diagonal and LV zoom eyepiece weighs in at 3.3kg.

I honestly don't think they come any dinkier than this and can't wait to get it out under a dark sky.

 

Aha you got the Borg then! I looked longingly at the ad for many a moment! 

Regarding the single fork arm, where did you source it? I have also been cursorily searching for a while as well. 

[mikeDnight]

The fork arm looks very close to the Sightron mount sold by FLO. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Franklin]

26 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

The fork arm looks very close to the Sightron mount sold by FLO. 

It's a similar design but the differences are, there is no option to cantilever the arm over, it does not have a standard "Vixen" size saddle (it is a tiny Borg saddle which only accepts the Borg mounting block and that then has an Arca Swiss size grip), it is also much smaller and fits in the palm of my hand. I think I read it's rated capacity to be 2.5kg but the little Borg 60ED weighs nowhere near that. This is such a light setup I can stick the whole mount and scope onto my Polarie tracker on a wedge and have a miniature EQ setup with tracking but the little scope will be sticking to 100x max I guess so I'll just keep it as a simple AZ. 

[Franklin]

57 minutes ago, badhex said:

Regarding the single fork arm, where did you source it?

Buyee Japan auctions.

[Roy Challen]

4 hours ago, Franklin said:

London "smog" will be choking this little scope no more, I'll be taking it up the hills in the Peak District. Just hope I can get back down in the dark😁.

The London light pollution will guide your way😆

[John]

If I wanted to save some further weight from my rig (in the opening post) I suppose the tripod could be lighter. The Slik Master Classic is sturdy and quite tall ( @Mr Spock uses one as well ) and weighs 1.8kg. I wonder which carbon fibre tripod might offer similar stability for a worthwhile weight saving ? 🤔

 

[badhex]

5 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

The fork arm looks very close to the Sightron mount sold by FLO. 

Cheers Mike, yes I noticed the similarities too when I saw pictures of the Sightron, and wondered if there might be some shared heritage somewhere. As @Franklin says though, the single arm fork mount is absolutely minuscule. As I understand it, there are two different options: the white one which is Borg / Arca Swiss, and a grey one which is vixen compatible (or possibly bolt holes spaced for a vixen saddle).

Thanks @Franklin IIRC you've mentioned Buyee before Franklin, I might have to have a look! 

Edited November 22, 2023 by badhex

[Ags]

My travel setup includes the ubiquitous AZT6, Artcise tripod, ZS66, ES68 20mm, ES82 6.7mm and Svbony 3-8mm.

[Franklin]

2 hours ago, badhex said:

As I understand it, there are two different options: the white one which is Borg / Arca Swiss, and a grey one which is vixen compatible (or possibly bolt holes spaced for a vixen saddle).

The white one which I now have was meant to have a standard Borg mounting block but it didn't come with one and unfortunately they are no longer in production. I contacted Astro Hutech in the US and Ted Ishikawa said that now they only produce an Arca Swiss clamp that will fit the mount. I've ordered one and am waiting for it to arrive but meanwhile I found that a MoreBlue finder foot fits nicely into the Borg mini-mounts clamp and have just attached an Arca Swiss saddle to it for now. I have a Vixen Arca Swiss L-bracket that takes the scope.