TheSkySearchers

I noticed awhile back that the left hand side of the Twilight II mount I own had a severely bent tension knob. Apparently the tripod, which was wrapped in a moving blanket on the way from California to Washington, fell over and the knob was damaged. Although I hammered out the curve in the metal yesterday, I found that the mounting thread which attached to the dovetail also was damaged, and that prevents putting any telescopes or gear on that side of the mount.

Fortunately the right side was not impacted so that dovetail works, but it's not perfect as the plastic buffer attached to the bottom of the tension knob with a tiny screw became loose. So that means attaching the scope to the dovetail is a bit tricky, at any rate I rotated the OTA of my 102mm f/9.8 XLT so it is accomodated on the mount. An issue though is the weight and bulk of the mount's tripod and pier, which is necessary for the heavy AR152 but less so for the XLT which is half its weight.

So I think I'll be in the market for a new mount that is less bulky and heavy to carry outside. Any recommendations? I'm just looking for a suitably rated alt-az configuration that will work. As it is right now, hauling out the Twilight II is more difficult than hauling out my former Z10 Dob...

I went to the ES site to see what the pricing was to recommend something similar but they do not list it anymore.
I would highly recommend the Stellarvue M2C az/ alt mount though.

https://www.stellarvue.com/m2/

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 4:17 pm I went to the ES site to see what the pricing was to recommend something similar but they do not list it anymore.
I would highly recommend the Stellarvue M2C az/ alt mount though.

https://www.stellarvue.com/m2/

Thanks Gabrielle. I may try something other than ES for the XLT and for now will use the TII for the 6" scope most of the time, that is when I haul it out.

Stellarvue looks good but I just chatted with B&H technical support and they said the Celestron Heavy Duty Manual Alt Az with tripod will work pretty well. Costs $92 which seems cheap. They said as long as you don't need goto it will be fine. I bought the Twilight II from those guys a few years back....

Any other thoughts???

helicon wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 5:32 pm Stellarvue looks good but I just chatted with B&H technical support and they said the Celestron Heavy Duty Manual Alt Az with tripod will work pretty well. Costs $92 which seems cheap. They said as long as you don't need goto it will be fine. I bought the Twilight II from those guys a few years back....

Any other thoughts???

Hi Michael, I would not recommend Celestron Heavy Duty Manual Alt Az. I had a rebrand of this mount. The main issue is Alt axes design. You can't balance or control the tension properly and the design is too primitive to have smooth movement.

My all time favorite manual mount is the Skytee 2. However, it is about the same weight and dimensions as Twilight 2.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 6:05 pm

helicon wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 5:32 pm Stellarvue looks good but I just chatted with B&H technical support and they said the Celestron Heavy Duty Manual Alt Az with tripod will work pretty well. Costs $92 which seems cheap. They said as long as you don't need goto it will be fine. I bought the Twilight II from those guys a few years back....

Any other thoughts???

Hi Michael, I would not recommend Celestron Heavy Duty Manual Alt Az. I had a rebrand of this mount. The main issue is Alt axes design. You can't balance or control the tension properly and the design is too primitive to have smooth movement.

My all time favorite manual mount is the Skytee 2. However, it is about the same weight and dimensions as Twilight 2.

Thanks Andrey and Happy Holidays.

I ended up pulling the trigger at $92 plus free shipping after reading all of the reviews. Somebody used it for a C5 and another for a 127mm Mak

At any rate, if it doesn't work for the XLT I'll slap the binos on it...

Happy Holidays to you to! I did use the mount for about half a year with 90mm and then 120mm short tube fracs. It is serviceable but very basic design.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 6:55 pm Happy Holidays to you to! I did use the mount for about half a year with 90mm and then 120mm short tube fracs. It is serviceable but very basic design.

OK, thanks for your response...the mount is supposed to be delivered the 27th, already shipped via Fed Ex from their warehouse in NJ.