Celestron Heavy-Duty Alt-Azimuth Tripod for Spotting Scopes & Telescopes

I was surprised of the quality of this tripod... it's well made, and adjustable to a good height. Just right for a small telescope or heavy camera.

Nice for the price. Well made. Took a while to arrive as it shipped from the States, but still arrived sooner than expected.

Not really worth the money, but so little else to choose from. That being said it is sturdy and very stable. The fine adjusting knobs work well. A major omission is a handle to direct the head for course adjustment - even the instructions say to grab the telescope and move it into approximate alignment. I made a handle that uses two existing bolts in the head to allow for better handling. Height adjustment is by changing the leg lengths as there is no vertical adjustment at the head.

Sturdy and holds VERY still my Celestron C90.

Simply the best.

I have had Celestron equipment before and always been happy with it, however this item failed to meet the standards I have seen in the past. First the centre brace is very flimsy and relies on a lightweight plastic tray to screw in place to try and stiffen it. Now we come to the head unit , this would not move I eased off the main bolt a little but the movement was very rough when rotating the unit. Likewise the tilt function was locked solid but easing the holding nut just a little resulted in the movement been two loose to the point I would not trust it with optical instruments attached. It seems like the whole head unit needs stripping down cleaning and greasing which is something you do not expect to have to undertake on a new item. Also due to condition of the inner retail box makes me wonder if this item had been opened before.On the plus side Amazon we’re most helpful in sorting out issues regarding returning the unit

Good value tripod and seems quite sturdy, the mechanism looks like cast metal and feels solid enough. The slow-mo controls work well enough. The legs can be brought together for storage even with the tray fitted which works nicely. My tripod came without instructions so was a bit of a puzzle to get things going but nothing too difficult - things are intuitive enough. What did puzzle me though was that this tripod has a release knob for the azimuth control but not for the elevation - having a large nut instead which requires a spanner or hex key of some kind. This seems a bit crude to be honest and the addition of a similar knob as for the Azimuth would have been almost obligatory in my opinion whether using for terrestrial viewing or not. I am going to make up some kind of key with a socket bit and see how that goes. The point is that the scope needs to be freed up when finding objects in the sky - ie freed up from the slow mo controls so that large movements can be made. The Nut on the Elevation control is not really good enough.It is now a few days on and I have got a 19mm spark plug wrench which also has a screwdriver as a handle which is useful for tightening the slow mo rods. I have put something on the metal shaft to make it look nicer and more comfortable to handle.

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 am satisfied with this device's stability, that is the reason I purchased it. Ordinary camera tripods is not capable.I mounted my Celestron C90 scope on it.The images were stable. The movements up and down and left a d right is slow enough that you don't loose the planets or stars.The third, smaller control knop disengages the upright axle to enable rapid movement to the left or right or I lift everything and point it to the right direction.I welded a smal steel rod to the back of a metric 19mm impact socket, and now I have a handy tool to disengage the large nut, to enable rapid up and down movement.This is not an equatorial mount, mut light enough to carry, but stable. I will recommend as a good purchase for a small telescope, for stargazing.

Worth the 110.00 and I got it quick. After reading lots of reviews on Amazon.com, I thought I would give an honest assessment.PROS:- Full range of altitude and azimuth- strong large movement friction clutches- Decent gauge aluminum construction- solid alloy cast mount with large balance plate surface- fine alt-azimuth adjustment flex rod handles- locking free spin azimuth- very simple and easy to use- Overall a very sturdy tripodCONS:- Center piece hinges are flimsy and weak- Eyepiece tray too thin and fragile- should be 60" total height- could have large adjustment handles as wellFINAL THOUGHTSOther than moving the mounted scope to the object by hand, the fine adjustment handles work well keeping it in view. It should be taller. Either have another section or have solid adjustable feet extensions with the screw in type for different surface applications. The flex rod handles work well with a scope, but apparently not for binoculars. Could have removable flex rods or just the handles. Some plastic parts on the tripod may wear out or break, but for the money, it's a great altazimuth tripod. Can't go wrong. Very happy with the purchase. No regrets.

La verdad quedé muy contento con la montura, necesitaba una montura mas estable y precisa para mi telescopio pequeño y no me defraudó. La montura es robusta y con las perillas de ajuste milimetrico pude seguir el movimiento de la luna de manera muy estable. Nada más creo le haría falta un dial de ajuste de azimut vertical, porque ahi si lo tuve que ajustar con las manos desde donde se enrosca el telescopio ya que la perilla del ajuste milimetrico vertical tiene un limite, de ahi en fuera todo genial

Lo compre de segunda mano y para mi telescopio en visual para iniciación y es impresionante puedes moverte por el cielo con mucha precisión y cuando le coges el truco tambien rápido.