76 replies to this topic

[Sacred Heart]

Hello,

 

Just curious, what is the largest refractor used in portable setting that you know of??  Also, how is it set up??  Is it rolled out or hoisted onto the mount everytime??

 

Reason, yes I'm crazy, thinking of a SD130. I have a HD steel cart to roll it out on.  44 pounds and 63 inches long.  Total weight on cart 150 pounds.  Paramount ME circa 2000, Parallax Instruments portable pier. Four wheel cart is made of 3" channel iron.

 

Thanks,  Joe

[Dave Novoselsky]

StellaMira 125 carbon fiber using a Skytee clone alt az mount both available from FLO in the UK and they will ship both safely and quickly to the US.  The mount on a decent, sturdy tripod can be hauled out quickly and the scope hoists up easily.  Of course, if you can track down the hard to find as hen’s teeth Borg 150 ED which actually was a tad less than the 5” SM that will work on this rig as well

[auroraTDunn]

II have seen people man handle larger then 130 but dang even my 130, by myself is such a pain (literally thanks to bad back and knees, oh and now shoulder waiting on surgery on Monday) that its stored away. BUT I did bring it often, as in for years. The only truly hard part was getting it back onto the mount as close to what I desire it to be at as possible. I never dropped it but sure feared it every time.

But don;t let me scare you, remember  have used that scope for years and plan on using it again!

 

I should add if you are storing it someplace that you can wheel things around with you can get special dollys to move the entire rig around! Sadly I have lots of stars to deal with. If only a could put an elevator in LOL!

Edited by auroraTDunn, 16 October 2024 - 04:23 PM.

[Scope2]

Tele Vue np 127   Plenty of horse power to take you were you want to go and

easy to hoist onto many different mounts.  Mine rides on a G11 but also works

fine on a Orion EQG with mount height extension and little weight on the tripod Clear skies.

[Alrakis]

https://www.cloudyni...age-to-9-glass/

 

That Clarke 9" was on the road many times. There was a YouTube video of it being setup.

 

Chris 

[slavicek]

Do not be afraid, I lug around my TEC 180 as a portable telescope! Mounted on DM-6 and ATS pier.

[Jared]

I used to use an APM/LZOS 152 as a portable scope. I found it was too big. It wasn’t that I couldn’t transport it or set it up single handed. I absolutely could. But I found it was just too much of a hassle. I didn’t take it out as often as the scope it replaced. I ended up selling it and buying a 130. It was the right choice for me.

I would recommend you consider not just what you CAN do, but what you actually WILL do. That 152 was the best visual scope I have ever owned, but it spent too few hours under the stars.

I would recommend the largest refractor you can afford and will use FREQUENTLY. If that’s a 130, great. A 140? Cool. A 102mm? Sure. Whatever you are actually willing to take out routinely. For me, a 130mm or 140mm is the max. But that’s me. For others a larger refractor would work. For some, even a 130 is too big.

[dan_h]

A few years back ( like 20),  there was an 8" f6 in a collapsible wooden tube that showed up on the market.  I don't remember the mount but I think it was some sort of Alt/Az arrangement.  

 

dan

[ninelives]

A TEC 180mm would be about as big as I would go.

[photoracer18]

The lightest big scope is the Borg 150ED but there are less than 10 of them in all of North America. It was so light I used to bring it to star parties on a Vixen Super Polaris and it only needed 2 CWs. I think it was lighter than my current SVX127D, around 15 lbs.

[Stellar1]

Do not be afraid, I lug around my TEC 180 as a portable telescope! Mounted on DM-6 and ATS pier.

Wow! I can’t even imagine carrying around a 180mm TEC howitzer, when you say “lug around” you mean you drive out to spots for sessions? wow.

[Refractor6]

https://www.cloudyni...age-to-9-glass/

 

That Clarke 9" was on the road many times. There was a YouTube video of it being setup.

 

Chris 

 Amazing picture and telescope  .....I commented recently about the focused careful mounting of my 152 f.8 OTA on the mount for observing sessions at age 66 but that scope takes things to a WHOLE new level of set up challenges indeed 

[Wildetelescope]

My AP Starfire 152mm F9, tops out for me:-).  I do not do it often, but if I am going somewhere for a multiple night session then it is not to bad.  My 127 mm Starfire is a not hard to take if I want to go that route as well.  both are good for visual on my Atlas mount.  I suspect both would ride well on an AM5 too.   

 

If I want easy transport, i have several 4 inch scopes which are the sweet spot for transportability/aperture/acclimation, etc… in my opinion.   But if I want a big gun, then the 6 inch pretty much rules:-). 

 

Cheers!

 

JMD

[fishhuntmike]

My homemade wood refractors are portable.  The 9" f7.7 ota is about 50# and takes less than 10 minutes to set up.  My 8" f5.9 ota is about 40# and it takes only a couple minutes.

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[Wildetelescope]

 

 

My AP Starfire 152mm F9, tops out for me:-).  I do not do it often, but if I am going somewhere for a multiple night session then it is not to bad.  My 127 mm Starfire is a not hard to take if I want to go that route as well.  both are good for visual on my Atlas mount.  I suspect both would ride well on an AM5 too.   

 

If I want easy transport, i have several 4 inch scopes which are the sweet spot for transportability/aperture/acclimation, etc… in my opinion.   But if I want a big gun, then the 6 inch pretty much rules:-). 

 

Cheers!

 

JMD

 

I see you have a parallax “portable” pier, lol.  If you consider one of those portable, then you should not sweat the 130.  I have one that is more or less my permanent setup in the back yard.  They are FANTASTIC, and it is probably the best piece of gear I have purchased, but portable is a bit of an optimistic adjective, lol.  

 

JMD

[Wildetelescope]

My homemade wood refractors are portable.  The 9" f7.7 ota is about 50# and takes less than 10 minutes to set up.  My 8" f5.9 ota is about 40# and it takes only a couple minutes.

Those are beautiful!  

 

JMD

[paul32444]

I thought long and hard about a Tec 180 but ultimately, I went with a CFF 160/6.5

I travel to dark sites in a class B rv so space is at a premium.

 

 

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[skyward_eyes]

I use my Stellarvue SVX-180 for outreach events. I wouldn't want to move anything bigger than this refractor. Its doable but its big and requires a large mount to handle it. 

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[John Rogers]

Probably not quite what you are looking for, but here is a vintage portable setup of a 9.5" Zeiss telescope:

 

https://justacarguy....california.html

 

And here is an 11" portable refractor from a few years ago:

 

https://www.cloudyni...ctor/?p=1742981

[Dave Novoselsky]

The lightest big scope is the Borg 150ED but there are less than 10 of them in all of North America. It was so light I used to bring it to star parties on a Vixen Super Polaris and it only needed 2 CWs. I think it was lighter than my current SVX127D, around 15 lbs.

It is considerably lighter, I had but sold the SVX as a bit too heavy for my current physical abilities but have and still use the lighter Borg 150 ED especially after I had a set of Rouz cf rings/dovetail/handle made for it that makes mounting it on an alt az mount even easier than the a tad heavier SM 125.

[Exnihilo]

6", either my F5 Omni, or the F8 SW.

[ichdien]

The answer of course depends on your definition of portability, but FWIW I use an AP155 f7EDFS as a portable scope.  Mounted on a DM 6 resting on a Rob Miller 36M tripod, it's easy to haul out even for short sessions at home, and easy to transport by car to dark skies.  The 155 is pretty light and short for its diameter and cools quickly.  To put this in a little more context, I'm 5'8" and 69 years old.  I know these scopes haven't been manufactured for a long time, but you may be able to pick up a well-maintained example on the used market.  That's what I did around 12 years ago.  In case this scope is too big for you or difficult to find, I'd suggest a TEC 140.  A beautiful scope that I enjoyed before swapping it (plus cash) for the AP.

[Spaceaholic]

AP180 (34 pounds) on Software Bisque's lightest mount (similar weight Paramount) with carbon fiber extruded rings.

 

Easily portable

Edited by Spaceaholic, 16 October 2024 - 08:16 PM.

[RichA]

Hello,

 

Just curious, what is the largest refractor used in portable setting that you know of??  Also, how is it set up??  Is it rolled out or hoisted onto the mount everytime??

 

Reason, yes I'm crazy, thinking of a SD130. I have a HD steel cart to roll it out on.  44 pounds and 63 inches long.  Total weight on cart 150 pounds.  Paramount ME circa 2000, Parallax Instruments portable pier. Four wheel cart is made of 3" channel iron.

 

Thanks,  Joe

Home-made units always made up the largest.  11 inches for an amateur is what I remember, f13 or thereabouts.  But there a few 7-8s floating around out there that are portable.  In addition, folding a refractor makes even larger ones portable.

[mac57]

At my age my AT115 triplet is about the biggest refractor that I can easily drag around.