Telescope Reviews: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod?

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Equipment Discussions >> Mounts

Pages: 1

steve-in-kville
super member

Reged: 12/24/07

Loc: Pennsylvania, USA

Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

#5703868 - 02/27/13 05:15 PM

I currently have a 90mm Orion Astroview. I have a 910mm tube. It's been mounted to a Vixen Porta II. I really like this scope but I feel that the mount and tripod is under-gunned. I wonder if stepping up to a medium duty mount and base would help? I do mostly lunar, NEO and some planetary viewing.

I have been looking at the Stelarvue M2 base and tripods. Would this be a step up? Or should I be looking at something else?

I am not unhappy with the Vixen, I just want to go a bit heavier.

Post Extras:

Gary Riley
super member

Reged: 12/01/11

Loc: White Bluff, TN

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5704075 - 02/27/13 07:17 PM

That or maybe the Unistar Deluxe on a wooden tripod or surveyor tripod.

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JMW
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/11/07

Loc: Nevada

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: Gary Riley]
#5704104 - 02/27/13 07:37 PM

Discmount DM4 will handle up to a 115mm refractor and is very well behaved. You can buy the DM4 wooden tripod or mount it on another
sturdy tripod with a 3/8 inch thread post at the top. We the 910 mm
tube you probably need the 8 inch pier extension to help clear the
tripod near the zenith.

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core
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/23/08

Loc: Mostly in Norman, OK

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5704648 - 02/28/13 01:28 AM Attachment (23 downloads)

Quote:

I feel that the mount and tripod is under-gunned. I wonder if stepping up to a medium duty mount and base would help? I do mostly lunar, NEO and some planetary viewing.
....
I am not unhappy with the Vixen, I just want to go a bit heavier.

It's the tripod that is under-gunned. One of the best bet (imo) is to get a set of 'blemished' Oberwerk Wooden Tripod for $120+shipping, or in my case I got the tall version for $150+shipping. It has a 3/8" stud on the top, so you'll need to either have a the correct adapter plate on the Porta II head, or switch out the mounting bolt on the tripod to fit the Porta. The other additions in my setup is a panhandle from Manny Myles here at CN, and a eyepiece tray also from Manny. For high power viewing like you're doing, you'll appreciate the slo-mo controls imo. fwiw I also use a Universal Astronmics MicroStar and UniStar Ligth Dlx, but for long, small (~4") refractors I prefer the Porta.

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Jon Isaacs
Postmaster

Reged: 06/16/04

Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5704801 - 02/28/13 07:13 AM

Quote:

I currently have a 90mm Orion Astroview. I have a 910mm tube. It's been mounted to a Vixen Porta II. I really like this scope but I feel that the mount and tripod is under-gunned. I wonder if stepping up to a medium duty mount and base would help? I do mostly lunar, NEO and some planetary viewing.

I have been looking at the Stelarvue M2 base and tripods. Would this be a step up? Or should I be looking at something else?

I am not unhappy with the Vixen, I just want to go a bit heavier.

Two things:

A stiffer tripod helps the Portamount, the Hands on Optics Wooden legs are a nice improvement but I understand the require a small amount of handiwork.

If you are going to spend real money on a new mount, at least consider buying a higher quality 80mm refractor like the Orion ED-80. Used these can be found for around $300 and ride nicely on an unmodified Portamount.

Jon

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SteveG
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/27/06

Loc: Seattle, WA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: Jon Isaacs]
#5705712 - 02/28/13 04:44 PM

I agree that you should just upgrade the tripod. The Hands On tripod uses your Vixen hub, and is an improvement over the stock aluminum legs. The surveyors tripod as shown above, uses its own hub, and will provide a huge leap in stability due to the tripod design. I'll be replacing my Porta II tripod with the Oberwerk - on its way as we speak.

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steve-in-kville
super member

Reged: 12/24/07

Loc: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: SteveG]
#5705734 - 02/28/13 04:52 PM

Thanks for the replies. Don't get me wrong, I really love my Porta II, but I didn't think about just replacing the tripod or just the legs.

I will need to research this option further.

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GOLGO13
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 11/05/05

Loc: St. Louis area

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5706404 - 02/28/13 11:28 PM

Here is what it looked like with a 102mm F7. I found it was just fine and the scope was fairly heavy. This was the original vixen porta mount...not sure if the porta II is the same or not.

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Don Taylor
sage

Reged: 07/12/09

Loc: Kansas

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: GOLGO13]
#5707680 - 03/01/13 07:31 PM

I understand the difference between the original Porta and the Porta II is that the Porta II adds a collar to allow mounting to other Vixen style tripods. The collar attaches to the head with 3 capscrews (which is how the original Porta tripod was attached). The top of the Porta II tripod is different and it attaches to the head/adapter with a single 10 mm bolt.

This is how you can install the Porta II head on something like a Celestron cg-5 tripod.

Vixen sells the adapter (too expensive at $70) which lets you convert your Porta head to a Porta II - useful only if you want to install on a bigger Vixen tripod, or something like the Celestron etc .

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steve-in-kville
super member

Reged: 12/24/07

Loc: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: Don Taylor]
#5708460 - 03/02/13 10:16 AM

So if I go with the Oberwerk tripod, all I need to do is change a bolt? Or is it more involved?

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Don Taylor
sage

Reged: 07/12/09

Loc: Kansas

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5709006 - 03/02/13 03:32 PM

Quote:

So if I go with the Oberwerk tripod, all I need to do is change a bolt? Or is it more involved?

I have no personal experience with the Oberwerk tripod but I do see on their website that it has a 3/8" stud. This will have to be changed to 10mm to attach the Porta II head. I don't know if any other changes are needed so hopefully someone here on CN that uses the Porta II + Oberwerk combination will comment.

Edited by Don Taylor (03/02/13 03:35 PM)

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SteveG
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/27/06

Loc: Seattle, WA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: Don Taylor]
#5709017 - 03/02/13 03:40 PM

I'll be finding out in a couple of days.

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core
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/23/08

Loc: Mostly in Norman, OK

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: SteveG]
#5709887 - 03/03/13 02:52 AM

fwiw ... I have the original Porta Mount, and already had on hand the required adapters:

1) Porta 3-bolt to 1/4", the first black plate in the photo
2) 1/4"-> 3/8" Manfrotto adapter, the zebra striped portion

the 3/8" stud on the oberwerk is on a removable plate, I'd suppose you need to enlarge the hole and get a 10mm bolt. The plate is a little recessed though, and the diameter of the Porta 1 base may or may not be an issue.

SteveG, looking forward to you reporting back, been looking at getting a Porta II head ...

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Pinbout
Post Laureate

Reged: 02/22/10

Loc: Montclair

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? new

[Re: steve-in-kville]
#5710718 - 03/03/13 02:05 PM

Quote:

Would this be a step up? Or should I be looking at something else?

make one, and you can actually put a geared drive with timing belts.ll

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careysub
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/18/11

Loc: Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Re: Medium-duty Alt/Az mount & Tripod? [Re: SteveG]
#5710921 - 03/03/13 04:12 PM

Quote:

I agree that you should just upgrade the tripod. The Hands On tripod uses your Vixen hub, and is an improvement over the stock aluminum legs. The surveyors tripod as shown above, uses its own hub, and will provide a huge leap in stability due to the tripod design. I'll be replacing my Porta II tripod with the Oberwerk - on its way as we speak.

If someone is looking for a medium duty mount, and does not own a Porta II to upgrade, how would the money be best spent?

Is there a better purchase than Porta II plus additional upgrades?

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