Tripod Reviews

If you're thinking of an entry-level scope but can go a few dollars more, the "kit" form of the NexStar 5i that includes the computerised hand control and the tilt-plate wedge tripod is a great place to start. You won't have the mediocre tracking issues you find in the under $500 scopes, and you have classic, well regarded optics in the Celestron "C5" 5" Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube assembly (OTA).

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this scope. It tracks extremely well for a non-worm driven telescope and it is good enough that even in alt-az (non-equatorial mode) you can do short exposure astrophotography. If you utilize its tilt-plate wedge and use the built-in polar alignment routine (on the hand control -- it talks you through polar alignment) you can do even better, taking many good 90 second to 2 minute images. You will have to toss some of them because tracking isn't wholly consistent, but still, we're talking about an under $1000 kit so this is good stuff!

The whole unit can stay put together if you've got the room, which means that a smallish person can carry the whole thing in one hand and be set up in minutes (assuming you've given the scope enough time to reach the outside temperature of course). If you add an external power source -- rechargable 12V DC of at least 7 amp-hours like a "jump start" type battery) and a dew shield straight away, you'll have everything you need for some incredible viewing for a long time. You'll want to add eyepieces so look at the Celestron eyepiece kit as a good starter package.

All you need to do after ordering or before if you're smart, is check out the Yahoo NexStar group to ask for help in learning your new cool toy. And check out the NexStarSite dot com for an "i" series specific alignment guide. You'll need to follow it to get the best GOTOs and tracking.

After that, if you kick yourself because you didn't buy an 8" OTA, don't worry. You can add it later. Ask how on the group and they'll direct you to the hardware you'll need. I regularly swap OTAs on my NexStar 5i.

This isn't a long exposure astrophotography platform (for CCD imaging) but if you are interested in starting somewhere, it isn't half bad. And even if you upgrade later to a more appropriate platform for imaging later, I bet you'll keep this little guy.

I don't need to say much about this wonderful device, the documentation goes in depth all over the place. In the city I have gotten great views of the planets, their moons(Jupiter is outstanding), and our moon. I can't wait to get out of the city to see some really impressive galaxy and nebulae views!! A great buy with all thats included (Even the Nexremote) which I didn't expect!!

I purchased this monopod because it folds up to only 10" and fits easily in my video camera bag. I take a lot of video and digital pics of my daughter when she is performing with her high school marching band. This monopod has been a great tool. It not only is adjustable from 10" to 54" but has a tripod base for table top use. It is well constructed and has multiple locking positions as it is extended. Great for sitting in the stands and filming in tight quarters. Saves a lot of arm and hand strength and ensures much steadier shots.

The ETX125 with Autostar is a very good telescope for a reasonable price. It is portable (not as much as the ETX90) and has a generous 5" objective in the small package afforded by the Maksutov-Cassegrain design of a lens and two mirrors. The optics are of high quality, as are most commercial Meade and Celestron scopes today. The included 26mm Super Plössl eyepiece gives it a magnification of 73x. A good first accessory would be a 15mm or 12mm eyepiece for higher magnification. The views of Mars and the Moon through this telescope are stunning. With enough practice, quite a bit of detail on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn is visible, in appropriate seeing conditions (steady skies). The mount is adequate for mounting the scope in altitude-azimith mode (as pictured), but a beefier mount is needed if one wants to use the telescope in polar mode for imaging. The Autostar is a great boon to this telescope, if one takes the time to learn to set up the telescope properly, and learns the locations in the sky of the stars the alignment routine uses for set up. Taking time to calibrate and train the drives really improves the pointing accuracy. One annoyance is the delay and backlash (initial move in the wrong direction) of the controls to move the scope. The focus knob can be akward to use with the scope in certain orientations. There is a third party accessory that remedies this, or one can get Meade's motorized focuser (I ordered this with my scope when I was purchasing it based on my experiences with the spotting scope version of the ETX90). Another annoyance I have experienced with the tripod is that the clips on the mounting bolts tend to slip off. Each of the two mountng bolts has a clip, washer and spring that can be difficult to find in the dark if the clip slipping causes them to shoot in a random direction. I bought this scope to use to observe/image the planets and moon from New York City, while my bigger scope is in a less light polluted site.

This is a wonderful little robust tripod for low or ground shots. It is well built, study, rugged, and low cost. Highly recommended!

Recien adquirí este tripode para mi cámara digital sony DSC-V1 y trabaja exelente. De construcción resistente y estilizada, permite por medio del manubrio controlar el encendido/apagado, disparo de la fotografía y el zoom + y el zoom -. La altura maxima que alcanza es la necesaria para tomar fotografías que no queremos salgan borrosas por el temblor de las manos. Muy útil tambien para tomar fotografías con el temporizador (timer) y ahora siempre salgo en mis fotos. Realmente es una muy buena adquisición y su precio es bastante razonable. Altamente recomendable. Espero sea de ayuda. (En español es mejor!!)

great addition to my sony V1. very sturdy. well built. looks great. it comes with a carrying case and a soft towel to wipe it down with. overall good.

This tripod has alot of basic tripod features, and I like that. I used to make my wife hold the camera while I did the surgerys that I perform at home but she kept saying that made her an "accessory." Now with the tripod around, I don't need my wife anymore. It's like having three wives or at least one wife with three legs. Either way, the tripod doesn't comlpain when I play my Joey Lawrence CD. If the time does come however, it will be alot easier to bury the tripod in the backyard.

CCD-CR1 CCD-SC65 CCD-TR3300 CCD-TR514 CCD-TR516 CCD-TR54 CCD-TR555 CCD-TR64 CCD-TR66 CCD-TR67 CCD-TR714 CCD-TR716 CCD-TR74 CCD-TR78 CCD-TR814 CCD-TR818 CCD-TR84 CCD-TR86 CCD-TR87 CCD-TR88 CCD-TR910 CCD-TR916 CCD-TR917 CCD-TR930 CCD-TR94 CCD-TR940 CCD-TR96 CCD-TR98 CCD-TR99 CCD-TRV101 CCD-TRV108 CCD-TRV11 CCD-TRV112 CCD-TRV118 CCD-TRV119 CCD-TRV12 CCD-TRV128 CCD-TRV15 CCD-TRV19 CCD-TRV21 CCD-TRV211 CCD-TRV212 CCD-TRV215 CCD-TRV22 CCD-TRV25 CCD-TRV29 CCD-TRV308 CCD-TRV312 CCD-TRV318 CCD-TRV32 CCD-TRV328 CCD-TRV33 CCD-TRV36 CCD-TRV40 CCD-TRV41 CCD-TRV43 CCD-TRV46 CCD-TRV512 CCD-TRV52 CCD-TRV53 CCD-TRV57 CCD-TRV58 CCD-TRV608 CCD-TRV615 CCD-TRV62 CCD-TRV65 CCD-TRV66 CCD-TRV67 CCD-TRV68 CCD-TRV715 CCD-TRV72 CCD-TRV75 CCD-TRV81 CCD-TRV815 CCD-TRV82 CCD-TRV85 CCD-TRV87 CCD-TRV88 CCD-TRV93 CCD-TRV95 CCD-TRV98 CCD-TRV99 DCR-DVD100 DCR-DVD101 DCR-DVD200 DCR-DVD201 DCR-DVD300 DCR-HC20 DCR-HC30 DCR-HC40 DCR-HC65 DCR-HC85 DCR-IP1 DCR-IP220 DCR-IP55 DCR-IP7BT DCR-PC1 DCR-PC10 DCR-PC100 DCR-PC101 DCR-PC105 DCR-PC109 DCR-PC110 DCR-PC120BT DCR-PC330 DCR-PC5 DCR-PC7 DCR-PC9 DCR-SC100 DCR-TR7000 DCR-TRV10 DCR-TRV11 DCR-TRV120 DCR-TRV130 DCR-TRV140 DCR-TRV17 DCR-TRV18 DCR-TRV19 DCR-TRV20 DCR-TRV210 DCR-TRV22 DCR-TRV230 DCR-TRV240 DCR-TRV25 DCR-TRV250 DCR-TRV260 DCR-TRV27 DCR-TRV30 DCR-TRV310 DCR-TRV315 DCR-TRV320 DCR-TRV33 DCR-TRV330 DCR-TRV340 DCR-TRV350 DCR-TRV360 DCR-TRV38 DCR-TRV39 DCR-TRV460 DCR-TRV5 DCR-TRV510 DCR-TRV520 DCR-TRV525 DCR-TRV530 DCR-TRV6 DCR-TRV7 DCR-TRV70 DCR-TRV720 DCR-TRV730 DCR-TRV740 DCR-TRV8 DCR-TRV80 DCR-TRV820 DCR-TRV830 DCR-TRV840 DCR-TRV9 DCR-TRV900 DCR-TRV950 DCR-VX1000 DCR-VX2000 DCR-VX2100 DCR-VX700 DSC-F505 DSC-F505V DSC-F55 DSC-F707 DSC-F717 DSC-F828 DSC-F88 DSC-P1 DSC-P10 DSC-P100 DSC-P100/LJ DSC-P100/R DSC-P2 DSC-P20 DSC-P3 DSC-P30 DSC-P31 DSC-P32 DSC-P41 DSC-P5 DSC-P50 DSC-P51 DSC-P52 DSC-P7 DSC-P71 DSC-P72 DSC-P73 DSC-P8 DSC-P9 DSC-P92 DSC-P93 DSC-S30 DSC-S50 DSC-S70 DSC-S75 DSC-S85 DSC-V1 DSC-W1 MVC-CD1000 MVC-CD200 MVC-CD250 MVC-CD300 MVC-CD350 MVC-CD400 MVC-CD500 MVC-FD100 MVC-FD200 MVC-FD5 MVC-FD51 MVC-FD7 MVC-FD71 MVC-FD73 MVC-FD75 MVC-FD81 MVC-FD83 MVC-FD85 MVC-FD87 MVC-FD88 MVC-FD90 MVC-FD91 MVC-FD92 MVC-FD95 MVC-FD97

Yes, it's small. But what a wonderful tripod for travel! It's sturdy enough to hold my Nikon 990 digital camera in place, and swivel head on top provides for excellent camera positioning. The small size make it perfect to toss into a camera bag, backpack, purse, or even a coat pocket. I've used it as a ground tripod, a tripod to take "trashcan" pictures (i.e. putting it on top of a trashcan at Disney World!) and it even works well to hold up against a wall to take those long exposures where you don't have any other surface to place it on. I can't get enough of these!

Unfortunately these tripods are hard to find nowadays.......