Telescope Reviews: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives

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BKBrown
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/09

Loc: Northern Virginia, USA

Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives
#5716866 - 03/06/13 05:12 PM Attachment (50 downloads)

This is the year I want to complete my "Away" rig, and I have been researching mounts to support both imaging and purely visual work. The folks at Hands On Optics e-mailed to tell me that they would (unexpectedly in view of an earlier Orion announcement) be getting an Atlas Pro AZ/EQ-G in shortly. So, despite having a T-Rex Apex on order (already paid for and due here on Friday) I ended up trading in my field Atlas and some other gear for the new model. My intention has been to acquire two heavy mounts for field use: one for imaging, the other for visual while the pix are being acquired. While I hadn't planned to replace my trusty Astrotroniks tuned Atlas this soon, the opportunity arose and I jumped on it. In the coming weeks I should be able to do some comparison testing of these two mounts which I will share here. For now, here are some pix. The first is my TEC 140 riding in the saddle with the mount secure atop a Losmandy HD tripod...

Clear Skies,
Brian

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BKBrown
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/09

Loc: Northern Virginia, USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5716870 - 03/06/13 05:13 PM Attachment (37 downloads)

Next is a shot of the Optical Supports adapter connecting the mount to the tripod...

Clear Skies,
Brian

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BKBrown
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/09

Loc: Northern Virginia, USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5716881 - 03/06/13 05:17 PM Attachment (37 downloads)

And finally, here is a shot of one of my favorite new features: the very secure, screw in power receptacle...no more accidentally pulling out the power cord in the dark! I will provide updates and field comparisons of the alt-az performance of the new Atlas and my T-Rex (patience please, the weather here is fickle

) in the upcoming months.

Clear Skies,
Brian

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rmollise
Postmaster

Reged: 07/06/07

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5716900 - 03/06/13 05:23 PM

Sweet.

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Mike X.
professor emeritus

Reged: 06/28/10

Loc: Greece-Athens and Rome-Italy

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: rmollise]
#5716902 - 03/06/13 05:25 PM

Very nice! Congrats on the new mount

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BKBrown
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/09

Loc: Northern Virginia, USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: Mike X.]
#5717129 - 03/06/13 07:36 PM

Thanks Uncle Rod and Mike! I'm looking forward to a star party weekend and will give it a good shakedown. More later...

Clear Skies,
Brian

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Bluejay08
member

Reged: 09/29/09

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5717309 - 03/06/13 09:22 PM

great mount!

Jay

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rigel123
Postmaster

Reged: 06/29/09

Loc: SW Ohio

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5717332 - 03/06/13 09:37 PM

Quote:

And finally, here is a shot of one of my favorite new features: the very secure, screw in power receptacle...no more accidentally pulling out the power cord in the dark! I will provide updates and field comparisons of the alt-az performance of the new Atlas and my T-Rex (patience please, the weather here is fickle ) in the upcoming months.

Clear Skies,
Brian

That screw-in power receptacle was the first thing that caught my eye (although I haven't had my plug pop out of my Atlas yet) and the second thing was the beefy CW bar. Can't wait to hear how it performs!

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10gauge
sage

Reged: 10/31/10

Loc: Boston

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: rigel123]
#5717365 - 03/06/13 09:59 PM

Congratulations, Brian! Hope you get to test it soon...

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timmbottoni
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/25/05

Loc: W Chicago suburbs, IL USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: 10gauge]
#5717493 - 03/06/13 11:05 PM

Congrats - that is a beautiful setup!

Timm

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JMW
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/11/07

Loc: Nevada

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: timmbottoni]
#5717557 - 03/07/13 12:05 AM

The setup looks nice. Has the Altitude adjustment method been improved over the original Altas?

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frolinmod
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 08/06/10

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: JMW]
#5717666 - 03/07/13 02:36 AM

Yes, the altitude adjustment is very much improved over the original Atlas / EQ6.

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Mike X.
professor emeritus

Reged: 06/28/10

Loc: Greece-Athens and Rome-Italy

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: frolinmod]
#5717686 - 03/07/13 03:11 AM

I tried it 2 weeks ago on a demo SW mount, it is a great improvement over the classic adjustment!..although i think the CGEM one is still a litle smoother and "lighter" in the touch.
Probably just a litle bit of lubricant can make it even better. I like it.

Edited by Mike X. (03/07/13 03:12 AM)

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David Pavlich
Transmographied

Reged: 05/18/05

Loc: Mandeville, LA USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: BKBrown]
#5717931 - 03/07/13 08:55 AM

Really nice mount! The threaded power cable is great, but if you do the same thing and trip over it, instead of coming unplugged, the wires can be ripped from the plug.

My cure is to loop the wires (power cable, dew heater) through the ep holder (CG5). Very little chance of pulling hard enough to unplug the cable.

David

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BKBrown
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 08/23/09

Loc: Northern Virginia, USA

Re: Unexpected Tenant: Atlas AZ/EQ-G arrives new

[Re: David Pavlich]
#5718084 - 03/07/13 10:36 AM

Thanks gang

There are several solid improvements I can see, I'll test them out hard this weekend.

Jeff - the altitude adjustment is significantly better and uses a beefy offset elevation screw you can just see off to the side in the first image. When not in use the bar can be hidden out of the way inside the assembly, at least in alt-az mode.
David - I tend to do my cables the way you suggest out in the field, running them through the eyepiece tray and down to my power box between the tripod legs.
On another note, the manual is pretty well written, and I suggest folks follow it carefully. For operations like changing from equatorial to alt-az mode there are steps explicitly laid out in the instructions that you need to follow to avoid damaging the mount