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Whatever happened to the SkyTee?

great_bear

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great_bear

great_bear

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Glad you like it.

I have often considered getting one - but now it seems you cannot get them anywhere (not that I was going to get one soon). So I was wondering if they'd been taking off the market.

Someone said it wasn't a patch on the William Optics EZ-Touch (of which it is obviously a clone), but at £400 the WO is a bit pricey, and the £250 SkyTee is a lot more justifiable cost-wise.

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great_bear

great_bear

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The damping is optional in the 503

But it's not balanced though is it?

Hence the experience not being the same: The whole point of the other mounts is that you can press against them lightly and they swing effortlessly in any direction.

The experience is as if the scope is completely weightless.

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brianb

brianb

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The SkyTee mount has been discontinued and the UK importer has no stock left.

Interestingly William Optics EzTouch mount has been discontinued as well...

Ummm. One of those ideas that for a fleeting moment becomes fashionable then falls into disrepute?

I have a EzTouch and rather like it ... but I must say that I do not think it is capable of supporting anything like the load that it was advertised to handle, and the motion is not good for moderately high magnifications. With an 80mm short tube refractor at x24, it's magic.

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great_bear

great_bear

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the motion is not good for moderately high magnifications.

That's useful information. I thought that their statement "Tracking stars has never been easier,even at high-power" - along with their assertion it could cope with "up to 10Kg each side" - might be a bit optimistic...

Sounds nice at low power although not the "one mount to rule them all" that I was hoping for... :(

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FLO

FLO

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their assertion it could cope with "up to 10Kg each side" - might be a bit optimistic...
The advice on our website was "Maximum recommended loading is 3kg (i.e. Skywatcher Equinox-80) each side". Unfortunately people often exceeded that so we experienced higher than average returns from dissatisfied customers. We removed it from our website and concentrated on the similar but better-built William Optics EZtouch. A few months later the SkyTee was discontinued, a few months after that the EZtouch was also discontinued.

The Vixen Porta II and Skywatcher AZ4 sell well and are good mounts but they are designed to accept one scope whereas the T-style mounts can carry two. If a well-built, sensibly priced alternative becomes available we would definitely like to know... :(

HTH,

Steve

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brianb

brianb

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The "10Kg each side" was for the WO one

... but 7Kg (WO FLT 110) on one side was enough to make it unmanageable. Perhaps it would be better with a counterweight, the mount itself seems to be rigid enough, it's the motions that let it down when "overloaded". (Please note I'm referring to the WO EZTouch here, I do not own, never have owned and in fact have never even see the SW SkyTee).

BTW with this sort of mount you do need a bit of tension especially in the altitude axis, otherwise changing an eyepiece requires rebalancing, not a practical proposition IMO ... then you need some tension in azimuth to make the action feel "natural" ... and the amount of tension you need in az varies with the altitude, you need much freer motion near the zenith.

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Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

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The advice on our website was "Maximum recommended loading is 3kg (i.e. Skywatcher Equinox-80) each side". Unfortunately people often exceeded that so we experienced higher than average returns from dissatisfied customers.

HTH,

Steve

Steve - perhaps I should not attach this photo ;)showing a very heavy 6" Meade frac. The mount worked ok and still does. My SkyTee was the first one you sold and I am still very happy with this and FLO. :(

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great_bear

great_bear

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I think that - for it's own safety - I shall have to come around and confiscate that refractor immediately! :(

Actually I think that provided you've got a good understanding of physics, you can sometimes safely push things quite beyond the "conservative" estimates of the distributor.

For example FLO said that whilst the Sky-Watcher AZ4 could support a Mak 150 without too much of a problem, the Mak 180 would be too much for it. As it turns out, the AZ4 effortlessly supports the Mak 180. Whilst that mount is clearly not the mount of choice for a planetary scope of such size, when I fancy a quick look at the moon and can't be bothered with the HEQ5 and its counterweights etc., the AZ4 has come in surprisingly useful. There was a time I was selling the AZ4 - but it has long since proved itself to be such a reliable workhorse of a mount, I'm very glad I didn't (see Grease is the word <here>)

Naturally though, I do appreciate and fully understand that vendors must err on the side of caution.

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brianb

brianb

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Actually I think that provided you've got a good understanding of physics, you can sometimes safely push things quite beyond the "conservative" estimates of the distributor.

Yeah but you also have to take local conditions into account.

I very nearly had a nasty accident with my EZTouch / FLT110 combination. I left it "parked" temporarily with the tube on the downwind side of the tripod - along came a gust of wind & it started to topple. Caught it just in time ... That was well within the manufacturer's specifications ...

There's no doubt in my mind that the engineering of the EZTouch mount would support maybe 100 Kg without actually collapsing ... the lightweight WO tripod wouldn't but many EZTouch users are using a heavier tripod anyway, the EQ6 legs seem to be popular. Of course it wouldn't be usable with even half that load, whatever support the head had.

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FLO

FLO

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Steve - perhaps I should not attach this photo ;)showing a very heavy 6" Meade frac. The mount worked ok and still does. My SkyTee was the first one you sold and I am still very happy with this and FLO. :(

Pleased to hear it :(

Naturally though, I do appreciate and fully understand that vendors must err on the side of caution.

Indeed, particularly when (sometimes) our suppliers don't :(

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  • 3 years later...
Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

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Yes I am still here. I still use my SkyTee 1 mount but its now located on an aluminium tripod for quick grab and go. I have now purchased a SkyTee 2 mount which is placed on top of a pillar extension. The SkyTee 2, with improved saddles, (not the supplied ones), easily supports my 4" APO frac or 6" f5 newt or the 180mm Mak/Cass.

I was aware of the ES Giro III but decided on the SkyTee 2 with slow motion controls.

Mark

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Stu

Stu

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I use a Giro II on an EQ6 tripod and it is excellent. I have had slow controls before on a vixen Porta, but always found I just moved the scope and didn't gain any benefit from the slo mo. The Giro needs balancing well, but when it us it is very smooth. The only issue is the temptation to grab the focuser or diagonal to move it which can change your focus but in general I find them very easy to use. The tripod makes a big difference to stability, I certainly recommend one with 2" legs.

Stu

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