23 replies to this topic

[GrnXnham]

Several companies sell these vibration suppression/dampening pads for our tripods or EQ mounts.

So do these things really help with vibration or is it just hype? Who here has used these and tested vibration both with and without the pads and noticed a difference?

I have to admit that my scope is slightly under-mounted, so I do have some vibration when I bump my scope.

The pads aren't that expensive so I guess if it made a noticeable improvement I might get them.

I tried to do a search here but I was unable to find anyone else talking about these vibration suppression pads.

Thanks

[davidmcgo]

I have the Celestron ones and I use them under the feet of my C10 pier and they really dampen out the ringing oscillations very well. The C 10 and wedge are very cantilevered and is nearly unusable without them by my standards. With them, I can focus without inducing shake and wind is not as bad. Highly recommended.

Dave

[Midnight Dan]

With my Nexstar 8SE I found they reduced focusing-induced vibrations by about 50%.

-Dan

[GOLGO13]

I've also had great success with celestron vibration pads

[rmollise]

Oh, they help. The Celestron ones anyway. Here's a story I tell about them.

A buddy of mine had his classic C11 out on the field chasing Herschels visually. He was wont to tap the scope on the rear cell to bring out the dimmer ones--the eye perceives moving objects more easily than stationary ones. After just a few minutes he started cussing. He couldn't use his favorite trick anymore. Tapping the C11, even fetching her a right good whack just didn't make the stars dance like they used to.

[Eddgie]

Very effective at reducing the dampening time.

If your scope shakes when you focus, they will not fix that. What they will do is reduce the amount of time that it takes for the thing to stop shaking.

If your problem is that the scope shakes bad when you focus or slew, don't expect a mircale and you may do better by upgrading your mount, tripod, or both.

VSPs are a "Cheap fix" though for getting faster settleing times. They may reduce vibration a bit for focusing or slewing, but again, don't expect a miracle. If a particular scope/mount shakes bad, a 50% reduction is only 50% as bad, but bad is still bad, but that is still 100% worse than a properly sized mount that does not shake when you touch it.

[rgsalinger]

I've tried the celestron ones with two different mounts and have found no benefit whatsoever from using them. I'm pretty much 100 percent an imager but I've asked people to stomp around the tripod before and after and seen no improvement. So, if you're visual maybe they help in some way but they really have done nothing for me.
Rgrds-Ross

[Midnight Dan]

Very effective at reducing the dampening time.

If your scope shakes when you focus, they will not fix that. What they will do is reduce the amount of time that it takes for the thing to stop shaking.

Good point! When I said above that it reduces focusing-induced vibrations by 50%, I should have said it reduced the settling time of focusing-induced vibrations by 50%. You're correct that it won't change the amount of shaking that occurs when you're actually touching the scope.

-Dan

[GOLGO13]

I've tried the celestron ones with two different mounts and have found no benefit whatsoever from using them. I'm pretty much 100 percent an imager but I've asked people to stomp around the tripod before and after and seen no improvement. So, if you're visual maybe they help in some way but they really have done nothing for me.
Rgrds-Ross

Maybe it depends on the mount and what material is on the bottom of your tripod? I've used it on my sky view pro mount and my Vixen porta mount. I've seen vibrations go from 2 seconds down to a half second. May also depend on what type of ground you are placing the tripod on. If it's concrete or gravel the pads will certainly help. Maybe grass wouldn't make as big a difference (though I have seen it work well there as well.).

[BoldAxis1967]

I use the ones from Celestron. When I set-up on concrete they reduce vibration damping time by a third, to a half. They make a noticeable difference. I think they are worth the money. But, as stated above, if there is something fundamentally wrong with your set-up the pads will not perform miracles.

LB

[PJ Anway]

I've had the Celestron vibration dampers for several years and they have worked for me on every mount/tripod combination I've tried them on. A useful accessory in my opinion.

[rmollise]

I've tried the celestron ones with two different mounts and have found no benefit whatsoever from using them. I'm pretty much 100 percent an imager but I've asked people to stomp around the tripod before and after and seen no improvement. So, if you're visual maybe they help in some way but they really have done nothing for me.
Rgrds-Ross

Not my experience. Which is that they are as helpful for imaging as for visual.

[GrnXnham]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

That was very helpful.

[rgsalinger]

Sorry to be disagreeable but these pads have proven to be worthless on my CGE mount, my iOptron Mount and now my AP Mach 1. Maybe, if your tripod is *BLEEP* enough then they might help you, don't know, but with the three tripods that came with these mounts, they were just a waste of money. I do see a lot of people "claim" that they work but when I measure my guiding error it doesn't change...............
Rgrds-Ross

[Lane]

What they reduce are those small vibrations you can only see in the eyepiece. You thump your scope while looking in the eyepiece and it takes 4 seconds for the stars to stop shaking. Put a set of Celestron VSPs down and you will reduce that time to 2 seconds. I have found it works well on every mount I have except a very light photo tripod. They work on concrete or hard packed grassy turf. I don't know how well they work on softer surfaces because I never set up on a surface like that. My guess is that a soft surface might already do the damping and there may be nothing left for the VSPs to do.

I don't think they could help on a mount that visibly shakes. If that is the problem you need a bigger mount or a smaller load.

Not really sure how they could help for AP. You are not touching the scope so there should be no vibration. Perhaps if you had some gusty winds they might help. Mainly they help during visual observing after you remove your hand from the focus knob or you accidentally bump the eyepiece.

[samm]

one great feature of vibration pads is they prevent the feet of your tripod from sinking into damp soggy ground.

[Noisykids]

i had my eon 80 set up on the atlas pointed out the window at a factory window several hundred yards away. the furnace kicked in and since the plenum is attached to the joists in the room where i was, the view in the eyepiece started bouncing. i slipped the pads under the tripod and the bouncing stopped.

[timmbottoni]

I have the Celestron ones, bought from Amazon, as this was the best price at the time. I use them on my wooden deck which transmits vibrations easily.

For visual use, they are fantastic, easily dampening a lot. For AP, they work, and you can see a difference, but you still can't walk on the deck while the shutter is open. The deck is just too good of a conductor of the vibrations from human feet.

Timm

[Rachal]

Anybody had any experience with the German brand SEBEN vibration suppression pads?

[hardwarezone]

Anybody had any experience with the German brand SEBEN vibration suppression pads?

http://www.cloudynig...6431862/page...

[seawolfe]

Thanks for this discussion as I've been holding out for these. Time to make the decision and get 'em. I probably will be out on an asphalt surface soon this year. But also thanks for the tip that they help keep the tripod feet from sinking into wet earth...I've experienced that numerous times (even with a tarp down).

[Rachal]

Thanks for the link to the earlier post regarding the SEBEN pads. I went ahead and ordered a set. My mount is on a balcony and at times I can definitely see continual vibrations, so I am looking forward to trying these out. I just didn't want to spend a lot of money and you don't see these for sale used that often. I read somewhere that they work better if you remove the rubber tips from your tripod before using the pads.

[Paul G]

As long as they utilize enough sorbothane they should work. I use the Celestron pads and the cut the damping time in half. Sorbothane is the key since it absorbs a large amount of energy and doesn't bounce back. Anything that bounces back could easily make the vibrations worse. An example is the development of safer seats for helicopter pilots. Many helicopter crashes involve the aircraft hitting the ground very hard but in its normal position. To reduce the injuries to the crew they first mounted the seats on springs. But since springs bounce back the injuries increased in both number and severity. They wised up and started mounting the seats so metal tubes from the seat were anchored in slightly larger tubes whose sides were scored longitudinally. When the helicopter came down hard the smaller pipes were shoved into the scored larger pipes and the scored pipes peeled away like a banana peel so the onset of force was slower and there was zero bounce back. Clear as mud, right?

[NHRob]

Shmeh?