Astro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with Tripod
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Astro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with TripodAstro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with TripodAstro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with Tripod
Astro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with TripodAstro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with TripodAstro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with Tripod

Astro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with Tripod

£249.00
  (2 Reviews)
✓ 2 year warranty

:  

4x in stock shipped 1-2 working days

About this product

Model:  ae_az5_mnt

Astro Essentials Alt-Azimuth Mount with Tripod

A useful alt-azimuth mount with tripod for convenient grab-&-go astronomy.   

This unbranded product is part of our 'Astro Essentials' range of affordable, trustworthy products. 

Weight: tripod ~5kg, head ~3kg 

FEATURES

  • Quick and easy to setup
  • Slow motion controls on both axis for smooth adjustments
  • Adjustable head angle to suit different telescope types
  • Powder coated aluminium Vixen-style saddle with dual-locking knobs
  • Adjustable stainless steel tripod with spreader plate / accessory tray
  • Maximum payload up to 7kg (we think 5-6kg works best)

Customer reviews

Average Rating (2 Reviews):  
Write a Review and share your opinions!

Rating (max 5):  
Not a bad mount at all
23 April 2024  | 

Great mount. Looks fab, is sturdy, takes my Mak 127 perfectly. As in the above review, it does need a wee bit of “fettling” but, that took a couple of minutes to sort out especially if you know your way around the various mounts. Quick to set up, quick to put away, scope loves it and I will be trying a 120mm refractor on it soon .


Rating (max 5):  
Basic tripod and Mount
17 January 2023  | 

First of I would will say a big thanks to First light Optics team for email responses to queries and assistance.
Now onto the tripod and mount.
Both of the units arrived well packaged and looked good. There were no instructions included as to how to assemble the mount, (I was informed a quick user guide will be included in the future)
as it came with additional washers and disc plate. A quick email and it turn out they are for "The washers are used between the tripod bolt/rod and mount, accessory tray and under a circlip at the top of the tripod, as seen in the Bresser manual diagrams. Spares are included, too. The disk is for adapting the tripod for a standard 3/8" photo thread instead of M10 used by the mount head. It attaches to the mount and then allows a 3/8" thread to be used instead, using a different tripod"
Quality of the finish is a little on the rough side, not the same quality as my Bresser Mount.
The M8 Black Bolts for locking of on the ALT / AZ needed some work to get them to insert correctly. I ended up using an M8 / 1.25mm Tap to clear out the threads of the bolt hole as the bolt would not go into the bolt threads easily and forcing in was causing the bolts to clog up on the threads which then meant using an die M8 to clean the threads on the bolts.
On the slow motion controls, these also needed a little fettling to get the tension on the plates just right as on first use the azimuth slow motion control would not move the mount all the time (seemed to be slipping), and the small bolts on the slow motion controls rods are have rectangular heads with shape corners, so trying to tighten these up in a cold winter night is painful, and they have shape edges on cold fingers., as I find they come loose and need re-tightening often.
The information of the mount mentions it will support up to 7kg, but I think it may struggle with this unless perfectly balanced. As I had my Evostar 80ed with diagonal and 2'' eye piece mounted and unless the Altitude locking bolt is done up tightly I found it slips a little if left un attended for 5 minutes while grabbing that all important flask of coffee on a cold night.

Overall and basic cheap mount and tripod that needed a little after sales fettling. First light optics responded to all my queries as already mentioned and have said they will look into all issues.

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