Pier and mount or Tripod and mount

[Guest telescope4u]

Steady or portable or both?

[Ant]

I have a tripod and mount.

I'd quite like a pier, but would need somewhere to permanently house the scope first!

Ant

[russ]

Hi Damien,

I owned an Orion Optics 8" f4 newt which was mounted on their own MkII mount. I had that pier mounted in the garden from 1996 to 2001. The mount was pure junk though, flippin awful. I eventually replaced it all with a dobsonian. Because the pier was not observatory based and had to be setup each time, i found it no easier than a tripod. But it was sturdy.

Russ

[daz]

My 8" f5 newt is not heavy so setting up each time is not really an issue apart from the time it takes at present. The garden is a building site while we do the conservatory, so I don't have shed space to store the gear. I am having to keep it in the living room - which, as you can imagine, really pleases the wife!!!