Biggest setup you'd hump regularly

[LondonNeil]

What are the biggest set ups people regularly hump about and use?

We read all the time,  'I've got x and y but since I got my z (small set up) I never use them.' But what's the opposite,  what's the biggest scope you hump and use regularly?

By hump I mean transport somewhere.   If you're lucky enough to be able to grab a monsterdob and set it 12 feet from the shed I'm envious but today's question is not for you.  I'm comparing to my own situation where I have a 5-7 min walk with my kit in a cart but you may be loading a car, or just going down a few flights of stairs.... you'll know if you hump. 

How big is the scope? How big is your tripod ? What type of mount?

I'm intrigued to know what the common limit is and how determined or lazy ameteur Astronomers are!

Oh and visual or images?  The kit list varies a lot I guess so which do you do?

[Vroobel]

I'm going to travel to a darker sky around 1h driving from Liverpool starting at the end of summer. I'm preparing a 40mm lens and a Canon DSLR and/or an APS-C astro-camera, so nothing really heavy, 5kg. I'll use an EQ5 OnStep GoTo modified mount which is limited up to 9kg, still OK. Also, a Jackery power station to keep them all powered. Plus a few boxes with everything needed if problems appear. Everything easily fits my car. Of course, imaging. 

🤞

Edited June 9 by Vroobel

[davhei]

Visual here. Have three scopes.

The scope that sees the most use is a 80mm frac that I use from home for quick sessions. But a 10” solid tube dob is no big deal to lug around to dark sites and I do it regularly. Quick setup and managable weight.

Also have a 15” truss dob that I use every now and then at dark sites, but would I say regularly? Probably not. Main reasons for going with the 10” instead of 15” is setup/teardown time and ease of use.

Glad to have all of them, but if I could keep just one it would be the 10”, without a doubt.

[Whistlin Bob]

If a clear night and a club night coincide, which is not too common, then my 14" truss dob regularly comes with me. It's a bit of a monster- weighing 80kgs- but packs up very neatly in the back of a car. A couple of years ago, I got a sack truck which makes this much easier. 

This picture also includes some imaging gear, but the blue bags are the dob, so you get the idea.

 

Edited June 9 by Whistlin Bob
Clarity

[DirkSteele]

I have taken the 5” f/9.2 triplet across London many times to Baker Street Astronomer star parties  which is more then 20kg all in (should use a more robust tripod) but I do just jump in a black cab from my house so carrying distance is just a few hundred metres.

 

I have taken my 180mm triplet to star parties out of London. That weighs well over 70kg and has been known to sink slowly into the ground over a weekend. Even more weight now I have added a pillar extension, extra weights to shift balance and larger finder.

 

But recently I tend to take out the Tak FC-100 as it weighs less than 3kg and with carbon fibre tripod and mount less than 6kg so perhaps I am getting lazier!

Edited June 9 by DirkSteele
Typo

[LondonNeil]

I'm impressed!  Some very significant kit being humped about!  That 180mm triplet looks very very heavy!

[Elp]

I consider portable to be a setup you can physically carry some walking distance, like a trek far from your car. Anyone can load a vehicle and take lots of heavy stuff, I did it recently. That's not portable. My Z61/single camera setup/C6 Hyperstar setup, is portable, they are contained within one bag, and maybe a CF tripod in hand, that's it. Carried on my back as each fits into their own backpack. The C6 bag also has wheels so can be dragged along a smooth surface if needed. They're heavy as they're all imaging setups but I can manage it if it were a 10 minute walk or so.

[Ags]

Report 112 tripod, HEM15, RC6, FMA135 and AsiAir Mini - it's easy to carry out to my garden as a single unit. 

[LondonNeil]

19 minutes ago, Elp said:

I consider portable to be a setup you can physically carry some walking distance, like a trek far from your car. Anyone can load a vehicle and take lots of heavy stuff, I did it recently. That's not portable. My Z61/single camera setup/C6 Hyperstar setup, is portable, they are contained within one bag, and maybe a CF tripod in hand, that's it. Carried on my back as each fits into their own backpack. The C6 bag also has wheels so can be dragged along a smooth surface if needed. They're heavy as they're all imaging setups but I can manage it if it were a 10 minute walk or so.

That's a good point and I'd go with that.  I am still impressed by big setups loaded in cars,  that still takes effort,  but yes when you have to physically hump the load a bit of distance under your own steam,  that's true yompage  humpage.

[Ratlet]

This far my ST80 which I managed to get into a backpack sized setup including mount and tripod.  At some point I'm planning on testing breaking down the 102 to see if it can be made back packable.

[Xilman]

8 hours ago, LondonNeil said:

What are the biggest set ups people regularly hump about and use?

Oh and visual or images?  The kit list varies a lot I guess so which do you do?

Biggest I've moved significant distance is a 25cm Meade Schmidt-Newtonian. Fits very easily on the rear seats of a hatchback.

Moving a few feet: an 18" Dobsonian.

[radiofm74]

My routine is, I think, pretty exemplary of the kind of "humping astro gear" discussed here. On good nights, I'll take my kit down from my flat to to my car-sharing parking some 10 minutes away from home, and from there drive to my site ≈ 30' away. On super-good nights, I'll drive back home from the parking and bring down a second kit from the apartment for imaging. 

The largest I carry – and it's not difficult – is a 8" f/4 Vixen R200SS, known to be a very light newtonian, on my Advanced Polaris mount. I just plain love this setup and it has given my best DSO observing ever. On "two kits nights", which have become rare, I'll also carry a refractor, a second mount and imaging kit. 

I'm just wondering if in my nomadic life I could stretch things to something like a 12" flex tube dob, so I'll be watching this space intently ;D

This is the R200SS on the alt-az, not its mount usually but gives you an idea…

Edited June 9 by radiofm74

[vlaiv]

FIY, non native English speakers might be in for a surprise when looking up what exactly might title of the thread mean ...

[saac]

2 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

FIY, non native English speakers might be in for a surprise when looking up what exactly might title of the thread mean ...

Yep, you definitely do not want to get confused over that one. !

Jim

[Astronomist]

I will often carry my 10" Bresser dob in one piece for about 100 feet, weighs just over 25kg, but quite easy to hold onto. However the scope tube does impair one's ability to see ahead somewhat.

Needless to say it is never transported down stairs in this manner...

[Elp]

19 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

FIY, non native English speakers might be in for a surprise when looking up what exactly might title of the thread mean ...

Well yes, the correct word I think OP meant was lump around, for non natives that can also be confusing.

Edited June 9 by Elp

[vlaiv]

10 minutes ago, Elp said:

Well yes, the correct word I think OP meant was lump around, for non natives that can also be confusing.

Actually, Merriam-Webster does list intended meaning as fourth (naughty one being the first 😞

[Elp]

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

Actually, Merriam-Webster does list intended meaning as fourth (naughty one being the first 😞

Maybe people really like their scopes?

[saac]

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

Actually, Merriam-Webster does list intended meaning as fourth (naughty one being the first 😞

Could also mean a small round hill.  

[Space Hopper]

With refractors, my current 140mm (F7) is as big a scope as i can comfortably manage. Anything bigger (or longer in the tube) would be a bit too much.

My alt-az mount setup it sits on is also at my limit to move with tripod and mount bolted together. It can be done, but its heavy.

When i had my Newt, i found a 12" F4 was about at my limit of portability. A 1200mm tube also sat nicely on the back seat of the car.

[Craney]

you can also get the hump with one's scope.....  ie.  it ain't doing what it should be doing.   (   see  "collimation of an RC"   !!!)

[MalcolmP]

1 hour ago, saac said:

Could also mean a small round hill.  

Yes, as a native northern-English speaker that is my second choice ! As in "hump in the road" "hump-backed bridge" common in the Lake District. And the most famous use was ( and this probably dates me) " Over the hump" meant the not-so-small Himalayas, a treacherous supply route/mission during WW2.

Less common would be past your prime, age related. 

 

[radiofm74]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Actually, Merriam-Webster does list intended meaning as fourth (naughty one being the first 😞

Well, per Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries, in British usage it's the reverse and the innocent one is the usual meaning. Phrasal context – with "biggest setup" being the object – should also help, despite the legendary enthusiasm of amateur astronomers for their gear 😅

[saac]

1 minute ago, MalcolmP said:

Yes, as a native northern-English speaker that is my second choice ! As in "hump in the road" "hump-backed bridge" common in the Lake District. And the most famous use was ( and this probably dates me) " Over the hump" meant the not-so-small Himalayas, a treacherous supply route/mission during WW2.

Less common would be past your prime, age related. 

 

At work we refer to Wednesday as "hump day", we have broken the back of the week and the weekend is in sight. 

Jim

[MalcolmP]

3 minutes ago, saac said:

At work we refer to Wednesday as "hump day", we have broken the back of the week and the weekend is in sight. 

Jim

True ! though I would have said "in prospect" on Wed. , only really in sight on gruntle day ( Friday for our non-English chums, derived from disgruntle (Monday) )

Re- back packing : more usually to "Yomp" these days.