Re: Orion 80mm ED should i buy?

From: Jon Isaacs (jonisaacs_at_aol.com)
Date: 06/19/04 

Date: 19 Jun 2004 19:09:44 GMT

>
>How do you mount the Pronto, Jon (I assume the 80WA came with a GEM as
>mine did -- bought from Eagle a few years back and a great bargain)?

I have it mounted on a Bogen 3040 tripod with a 3047 three-axis head, I flip
the top axis over on its side and this becomes a single sided balanced fork
mount, I call it the "side saddle mount." Works quite nicely, I also use it
with my C-5 with good results. With the Pronto I go over 200X, though I have
some practice making it work. If you want to see a photo of this, do search
the astromart forums for "side saddle."

The other trick is to take the EQ-1 head and set the polar axis to 90 degrees,
this turns the mount into balanced alt-az mount with fine adjustment
capabilities. Works quite nicely, I never bother to use the EQ-1 mount in the
EQ mode any more.

But the big problem with the EQ-1 mount is not the mount but rather the tripod.
 You can simply unscrew the mount from the tripod, it uses the same 3/8-16
thread that Bogen Tripod does, and mount the EQ-1 head directly to the Bogen
tripod. This stiffens things up quite nicely, to the point where I have
mounted by BO 102 mm F6 refactor on it with good luck. Currently I am using
the EQ-1 head with a Bogen 3051 tripod.

In keeping with my character (cheap as nails) I found my Celestron ST-80 EQ in
the local paper for $70 complete with a Celestron Shorty Barlow. It was clean,
barely out of the box... I find those bogen tripods at garage sales for $35 or
so.

I think you might be surprised how nicely your AT-1010 would work mounted to
the EQ-1 head set to 90 degrees and mounted to your Bogen.

jon

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