"Harry ?" wrote in message
...
"Bill McKee" wrote in message
m...

"Frogwatch" wrote in message
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On Jul 29, 8:01 am, Harry? wrote:
In article ,
says...





On 7/28/10 6:56 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
It is hard to beat a good pair of 10X50 or 7X50 binocs for casual
astronomy but I bought my daughter an Orion "Go-Scope" for use in
Wyoming. It is a nice little scope optically with an erecting prism
so it can be used for terrestrial things. However, the mount they
sell for it is useless. The mount is obviously intended for use with
cameras and is in fact identical to a cheapo Chinese Wal Mart tripod
I
have. Any kid will be very frustrated trying to use this mount.
So, I intend to have my guys make a real mount for the "Go-Scope"
that
will fasten to the cheapo tripod but will be very stiff. As it will
be made using CNC, it will be cheap. Not much more than Chinese cost
at far better quality. If interested, let me know.

If the tripod is cheap and crappy, it will still be wobbly with a
better
mount.

I popped for a really good tripod a year or two ago. It makes a big
difference.

As you can see by the owl pics I took in my back yard. Oh, wait, never
mind.

Improving the mount removed 90% of the wobble. The cheapo tripod is
not a major issue.

I have an Orion 4.5" and the tube flexes so much at the mount that it is
almost to much of a pain to use. Probably should get some rings for the
tube. Or buy a new automatic pointing scope.


I have a Skywatcher 90 mm long tube refractor with the AZ3 mount. It's an
entry level Skywatcher but it's built like a tank and it comes with nice
optics and eye pieces.
I also have a Meade short tube go to scope which is fun to use when
travelling. It comes either as a backpack scope with a flimsy lightweight
tripod or with a standard tripod which is much more stable.
Both scopes were around $200 ea. including tripods.

--
Me


Big deal. I have the Orion Short tube and optically is good. Physically it
sucks. My spotting scope does a better job.