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Curt B
super member
Reged: 08/02/05
Posts: 191
Loc: Regina, Canada
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I just received my Vixen PortaMount last week. I have not had a chance to try it yet, because it was either cloudy, or too cold to go outside. By looking at it, it looks pretty robust for a small mount. The manual said it is rated for about 10 lbs., although to me, and I might be wrong, but it looks like it could handle a bit more, especially if it is a shorter OTA, like an 8" SCT that might be around 12 lbs., minus accessories. Has anybody here pushed the limits of this mount with anything bigger than 10 lbs?
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TV 85
24mm Pan,13mm Ethos,6-3mm Nagler Zoom
Celestron Power Tank 17
Astro-Tech Voyager Mount
Celestron SLT Mount
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ad701xx
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/22/03
Posts: 999
Loc: Aloha, OR
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I regularly use my SV80S on the PortaMount but I replaced the Vixen Dovetail Mount with a 3" Stellarvue saddle so I can use Losmandy style dovetails. The weight of the OTA plus accessories is around 12 lbs.
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Dave
2 scopes with 3 pieces of glass in the front, one has a little oil in it.
3 scopes with shiny glass at the bottom.
A few eyepieces.
No more wife 
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Rick
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/12/05
Posts: 3047
Loc: Tokyo, Japan
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I had a Vixen VMC200 mounted on a Porta for awhile. Problem with tubes >7" is it will hit the base so you will not be able to view lower than about 25deg above the horizon. There are some work arounds to solve this issue though. Still the Porta is limited to about 250x max so you will not be pushing your optics.
cheers,
Rick
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www.japanastro.com
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 2069
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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I regularly use my TMB 105/650 on a portamount, although I have it on a Bogen 3068 tripod which is sturdier than the regular portamount tripod. The TMB fully loaded with 2" Diagonal, laser finder, 50mm SV Finder, Denk II's and EP's is about 15lbs, but it still works just fine on this mount. Settling time after a hard rap is about 3.5s without vibration pads and just a bit over 2s with the pads, which is quite acceptable to me. At lower magnfications, I regularly crank up the center column on the tripod to make viewing more comfortable.
I have tried it with my 14lb NP-127 (Fully loaded - getting on for 18/19lbs), but that is not acceptable - the longer tube induces too much vibration to make it usable.
The PortaMount is certainly not as stable as my DM6 which settles in about 1/2s and doesn't move at all during normal focussing even at relatively high powers. But I find the slow motion controls especially convenient for tracking items at higher powers and it's better suited as a Grab&Go as I take the tripod/mount/scope out in a single trip.
The tripod is definitely the weak link here. Like some others on this forum, I put in an order for the new Astro-Tech Voyager mount a month ago and will be interested to see how well that works compared with the PortaMount.
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