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ebusinesstutor
sage
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 468
Loc: Nanaimo, BC, Canada
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My birthday falls in December. Years ago, while single, I made the tradition to buy myself nice presents in December for my birthday and Christmas. I still continue this although I now have a lovely lady in my life.
Since I took up star gazing this summer, of course my thoughts are turning towards telescopes for my gifts!
I have an 8" dob and an C80mm ED refractor, so I think I have both the grab and go and the deeper sky viewing covered at the moment.
But I have been thinking about travel. My wife and I regularly travel to Native American flute festivals and many times these are in lovely country near dark skies.
The 80ED refractor on Porta Mini could be taken on a flight but would not leave me enough luggage space for all my flutes and is not really portable for much walking with it.
I have been eyeing the C90 Mak Spotting Scope. Only 3.1 lbs and 9 inches long, it still gives me 90mm of aperature and a 1200mm focal length. And I can use my Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom and other 1.25" eyepieces in it.
But I am not sure what to mount it on for travel.
My C80ED is actually too heavy for the Porta Mini and I think I will eventually get a heavier mount. In this case, I can use the Porta Mini for the C90 for home use. But the Porta Mini is not that portable for walking so I thought I might prefer a table top tripod.
I do have a lightweight camera tripod, the Optex DPT 175 that I take along for my digital and video camera, but I think the C90 would be too heavy for it.
Celestron does have a alt/az table top tripod, but my local dealer feels it would not be heavy enough to support the C90.
Are there any other good options for a tripod suitable for hiking that would support this spotting scope?
Thanks,
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Garland Coulson
Orion XT8i Dob & Celestron 80 ED on a Vixen Porta Mount Mini
Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom & Siebert Observatory 36mm
Siebert Black Knight Binoviewers
SkyWatcher Observing Chair
Celestron Skymaster 15x70mm binos
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Arctic_Eddie
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/30/07
Posts: 614
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
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I have the same spotting scope and will be replacing it with an ES80. It is very handy with both astro and terrestrial ports. For now, I'm using one of the original Orion TeleTracks. It's not a goto but will track ok once Polaris is located(easy to do). One thing you'll find is that the mounting holes on the C90 are not near the balance point. I made a simple aluminum bar from 1/4" x 2" stock and bolted it to the scope with additional tapped holes further forward. This makes the scope fairly well balanced. You could also bolt a short piece of dovetail to the bottom and use other mounts. Eventually, I may switch to an iOptron CubePro when I get my ES80 to have more zenith access and less loading of the mount. The Orion tripod is flimsy but I also have a Berger surveyor tripod that will work nicely. Bottom line, it's a very useful scope and packs well in the back of an SUV.
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The shortest distance between one point is an infinitely small circle.
73's de KF4JU
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ebusinesstutor
sage
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 468
Loc: Nanaimo, BC, Canada
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Hi Arctic Eddie,
Thanks for answering. Why are you replacing the C90 with the ES80 if you don't mind my asking?
The Orion Teletrack looks like a larger scope than I want to take for travel use - even larger than my Porta Mini. And I am looking to pack for a plane, not an SUV! 
What kind of mounting holes does the C90 have? Is it like a standard digital/video camera mounting hole?
Thanks for your help.
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Garland Coulson
Orion XT8i Dob & Celestron 80 ED on a Vixen Porta Mount Mini
Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom & Siebert Observatory 36mm
Siebert Black Knight Binoviewers
SkyWatcher Observing Chair
Celestron Skymaster 15x70mm binos
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Arctic_Eddie
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/30/07
Posts: 614
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
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I'm adding the ES80 to my collection for high quality wide view use and potential imaging. I'll keep the C90 for general use. It's still the most versatile with the two ports, flip mirror, and 45 deg erect image diag.
The TeleTrack tripod will collapse to about 24" or maybe a little less with the mount removed. If you find a custom case it won't be much larger than the scope case. For your use it might be a better deal. The latest TT is a goto mount but you might be able to find the original with a "Wanted" ad in the Shop/Swap forum. The only difference I think is the smart controller.
The C90 has two 1/4"-20 holes in the bottom mount. An aluminum bar will bolt down to these holes. With a couple of 1/4"-20 tapped holes further up the bar will attach to the TT or any other heavy photo tripod. With several tapped holes about 1/2" - 3/4" apart you'll have some balance adjustment for different EP assemblies. Other than the flimsy tripod the TT mount is ok. I just extend only the first large section and leave the lower in the nested position. The tracking altitude angle stops at 60 deg but manual slew goes up to zenith.
Another thought, you could bolt on a short piece of rail like the Orion 8", remove the TT L-bracket, and have infinite adjustment positions.
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The shortest distance between one point is an infinitely small circle.
73's de KF4JU
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ebusinesstutor
sage
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 468
Loc: Nanaimo, BC, Canada
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Thanks again for your help.
It may make more sense to order the C90, try it on some of the various photo and telescope tripods around here and see what I think.
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Garland Coulson
Orion XT8i Dob & Celestron 80 ED on a Vixen Porta Mount Mini
Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom & Siebert Observatory 36mm
Siebert Black Knight Binoviewers
SkyWatcher Observing Chair
Celestron Skymaster 15x70mm binos
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Jeff Lee
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/17/06
Posts: 513
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For quick looks I use my C90 on a Bogen/Man. 055X Carbon fiber tripod and a heavy duty camera mount (rated for 22 pounds). I have an older C90 and it is 4.5 pounds. Use it for quick astro and day time spotter.
One of the modifications I did was to get a large accessory ring so I could use a high quality diagonal. The helical focuser is a pain which the new ones don't have:)
I can easily use the scope @ 180X on this setup and vibrations die down very quickly.
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Jeff Lee
C90,C5,C8, 10 x 50's
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ebusinesstutor
sage
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 468
Loc: Nanaimo, BC, Canada
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Thanks Jeff,
I like the idea of using a heavy duty camera mount since I already take a very light camera tripod on our trips for the video and digital camera. If I take my heavier camera tripod, it can do double duty and work for both cameras and scopes.
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Garland Coulson
Orion XT8i Dob & Celestron 80 ED on a Vixen Porta Mount Mini
Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom & Siebert Observatory 36mm
Siebert Black Knight Binoviewers
SkyWatcher Observing Chair
Celestron Skymaster 15x70mm binos
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