Hioptic 6" Maksutov Cassegrain NMC1900x152 Telescope Review

HiOptic 152 > Mount & Tripod

EQ3 MOUNT & AT3 TRIPOD

MINOR DAMAGE

The mount supplied with this Hioptic 6" Mak package was an EQ-3 on top of a set of lightweight AT-3 tripod legs.

Assembly was quite straining forward, even though there were no instructions included. One of the tripod legs showed signs of possible previous use with a gouge in it, typical of a counter weight scratching across it, but it's something you could live with.

BALANCING ACT

The mount and counter weight just about manage to balance and support the weight of the 6.5kg/14.4lbs of Maksutov OTA. The counter weight has to be perched right at the end of the metal bar. It looks a little bent, in the image below, but this is just an optical illusion from the camera lens curvature. Anyone having balance problems is advised to turn the weight the other way around as it has a recess inside the weight helping it to hang a few centimetres further away from the OTA.

The tripod legs have a very small accessory tray holding them together. It only holds 2 x filters, 2 x 1.25" eyepieces and 2 x 0.96" eyepieces. Users will probably find this a bit limiting but it's okay for the two supplied eyepieces.

EQ3 MOUNT

The mount has four locks. One allows for horizontal polar alignment adjustment on the base, another locks the latitude screw. The other two lock or release the Dec and Ra gears allowing you to slew the scope by hand or with the fine motion gears. On the opposite side of the manual Ra control is a large gear wheel. This allows the user to add an EQ3 Ra motor drive for object tracking. Even with the weight of this OTA everything seem to move fine via the fine motion hand controls.

There are a pair of setting circles to help with "star hopping" but they were very stiff to rotate. Int cold conditions they totally seize up! I don't know what passes for grease in China but it seems to be more like tar in low temps so you will need to clean this out if you intend to star hop. There are no star charts or software provided to help locate star co-ordinates and no instructions manual on how to use an GEM mount. This will probably leave first time astronomers confused and disappointed with not being unable to find objects but the information required can be found on the Internet or by joining an astronomy club.

AT3 TRIPOD

The base of the mount and legs look like they are straining at the limits of their design. With the tripod legs extended the telescope is high enough to provide comfortable viewing for persons of six foot. However there is quite a lot of wobble in the mount, due to the weight put on it, that makes gaining focus a chore. Typically 4-5 seconds are needed for any knock to settle down in the eyepiece. If the legs are in short mode (as shown above) and the OTA is removed the mount and tripod want to fall forward towards the counterweights. Readers are warned to be careful of their toes! The weight should be positioned directly over a tripod leg to avoid the tripod falling over.

COUNTER WEIGHT

The counter weight supplied is 4.5kg/10lbs. It has a line running down the middle of it making it look like two separate weights but it is infact just one. The weight can easily be removed by untwisting the bar which helps break the telescope down into three parts, although the whole setup can easily be moved as one or two parts.

SUMMARY

The EQ3 mount provided is only just good enough to hold this scope. You'll get away with it for visual use but if the reader has any plans for astro photography they are highly recommended to invest in an EQ-5, LX75 or a CG-5 goto mount.