Celestron – Heavy Duy Alt-Azimuth Tripod – Sturdy Extendable Aluminum Tripod – Use for Spotting Scope, Binocular, Camera, and Small Telescope – Slow Motion Handles for Smooth Small Adjustments

I got this Tripod to go under an Orion Apex 90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope as an upgrade from the camera tripod I was previously using. It's gotten a fair amount of use since I got it and believe its a 5 star tripod for what it's built for but definitely not for everything.Pro's1 It's very solid compared to other tripods at this price point. A light breeze or nudge doesn't make you totally loose whatever you're looking at. It's heavier than my camera tripod but I don't feel wary about slapping a big telephoto or actual telescope on my DSLR when using this. That being said...2 It's surprisingly light. It's pretty much my grab and go tripod now. It's not a chore to pick the whole setup up and reposition for a different view.3 It's fine controls work well. For sky viewing or photo's at a distance having micro adjustments really help. You manhandle it to get close and then dial it in.Con's1 They use a nut and screw mechanism for the fine adjustments. So trying to track an object moving across the sky for extended viewing you will find yourself running out of fine adjustment. Then you have to twist the knobs to get everything in the center (or a little bit the other way), and then find whatever you were looking at again by manhandling the scope. This was most likely done to keep the costs down as it's cheaper and easier to do this robustly than for a worm and wheel type adjustment seen on more expensive mounts.2 Virtually no declination. This scope has a hard stop that prevents you from pointing it more than a few degrees below the horizon when orientated correctly. Now you can always take a rotary tool to the offending lip to free up some more play but as is, no "top of mountain looking down into valleys" action. Not a deal breaker but 10-15 extra degrees would have been nice as I don't like setting anything expensive on a not balanced and level mount.3 It's a bit short for some applications. This is both a pro and a con but unless you have a 90 degree star diagonal and a shorter scope (like a Maksutov-Cassegrain) looking at things near apex (or straight up and down) will have you about sitting on the ground. Even with the diagonal when I tried out a friends 60mmx700mm refractor there was a limited range of things I could look at "comfortably" .4 The cheap plastic cover that hides the side to side adjust screw has already broken off. It is just there to hide the mechanism and not worth me taking a star off. Actually this with a little glow in the dark paint made it easier for me to eyeball how much more travel I had left before I need to reset so if it hadn't broke I probably would have taken it off eventually.Overall this is a good deal if you have a compact scope with a decent star diagonal or want to strap a really beefy telephoto lens on your camera and take LONG distance photos. Not so much if you have a longer scope or need something that can track accurately over long sweeps of travel. Still it has a place in my camping kit or when I want to check out the moon or planets and don't feel the urge to drag my much larger and bulkier telescopes out. Also at this price point and with the Apex 90 I don't have a problem letting somebody I don't know handle the scope and tripod (e.g. kids the next campsite over wants to look at Jupiter). Something I can't say for some of my more expensive setups.

I was beginning to think I would have to spend $300+ for a decent tripod but this thing has been great. It's very rigid when the legs are retracted, but definitely loses some stability when extended all the way, so I tend not to extend them at all and instead set the tripod on an elevated surface. The altazimuth mount feels of great quality and the slow motion knobs are very responsive. One thing to know, is that the range of motion using those knobs is VERY limited. The vertical control to incline the telescope only lets you point the telescope up maybe 30 degrees or so. I thought I was going to have to send the tripod back but then I learned you can just loosen the bolt on the mount (pictured) slightly and this will enable you to manually tilt the telescope up and down through a full range of motion, and then use the slow motion controls to fine tune your aim.

I see a wide range of opinions on this, and I'm writing this because I think they're all missing a piece of the puzzle. Here's the deal. When I buy an optical instrument for astronomical viewing, my thoughts are that I should expect to pay about as much for my mounting system as for the instrument itself, give or take. However, if I've got something cheap, say a C90MAK or C130MAK or similar, what are my mounting options? A sturdy, but sub-professional photographic tripod is problematic. First, you're probably pushing the weight capacity of the mount. Second, since most tripod manufacturers are thinking "camera" (or maybe camera with a moderately long lens), the moment arm of a telescope is probably larger than the mount manufacturer expects. Third, it's hard to point, especially if you're close to the limits of the mount.The "Heavy-Duty" tripod addresses these three issues. It's sturdy enough to hold small telescopes, and provides fine motion controls which are extremely useful for high magnification optics, and it does so at a reasonable price.That said, there are some issues with this piece of equipment. First, while there is a fine control for altitude adjustment, and both a fine and coarse control for azimuth adjustment, there is no coarse altitude control, like a tilt lever for a "normal" tripod. Instead, you grab the scope and push or pull on it to tilt. I wish there were a lever for this, and I wish I could tighten it or loosen it like on a regular telescope. It's possible that adding the tighten/loosen feature and making it hold the projected equipment isn't possible without adding significant cost. I can see that. So at least give me a lever with which to tilt the existing head. How much could that cost, really?Some parts are also a bit flimsy. The tripod legs are hollow aluminum, and I wish they were maybe one gauge thicker to make them a little sturdier. Of course, this would add cost and weight, but I'd be cool with that. I'm also a bit worried aboutthe leg cross brace/equipment holder. While I think it feels flimsier than it is, I could easily see it getting bent and causing problems. Again, I'd be good with paying a little more for something a little sturdier.Third, the tripod has no bubble level. This isn't a huge deal, at least not nearly the deal it would be on an equatorial mount, but still, if I can get one on a $14.99 photo tripod, it can't be that expensive.Fourth, my only choice for leg tips are plastic points, which will sink into mud or soft grass and transfer vibration well on bricks or paving stones. Having the option to use rubber feet would be nice.I don't expect that making the changes I recommend would cost more than, what, $20 extra? I'd be willing to pay that, bringing the Amazon cost from $80 to $100, in order to make this thing more generally useful to me, but if I'm careful, it works fine with the equipment it was designed to be used with, and it's a lot cheaper than going to the "next step up", which will probably cost about $200.One additional problem with the tripod, though, is that I don't think it's very suitable with the 20x80 or 25x100 binoculars that are listed in the product description. First, with a maximum height of 45" ... well, you do the math. Yeah, you could try to use that combination in a seated position, but once you tilt the binoculars off the horizon, it's going to get crowded, and you'll wind up with a frustrating experience. If you're looking for a real mount for your big binoculars, I don't think you'll be able to do something decent for less than the cost of a decent tripod base plus a low-end parallelogram mount, which means spending $250 or more.For a small, inexpensive reflector, though, such as those listed in the product description or others with a standard tripod 1/4"-20 screw receptacle, it works well enough without breaking the bank. If you've spent $300 on your scope, go ahead and buy a better mount than this, but if you've just bought a C90MAK or something similar on Amazon for $150, this will do.

This tripod is much more stable than the cheap camera tripod that I was previously using with my 20x80 binoculars. The altazimuth adjustments are really handy when trying to keep a celestial body in view. I can now get a much better look at craters on the moon without the image excessively shaking.My only nit is that it's not tall enough to enable me to comfortably stand and look through the binoculars (I'm 5'11" tall), but it works great when sitting in a camping chair placed just behind the tripod.