Clayton Cramer Reviews

I borrowed one of these from a friend, and it makes me regret that I didnt spend the extra money to buy a G-11 instead of a GM-8. Dont get me wrong; the GM-8 is a very nice, well-made mount--the G-11 tripod is just a reminder that sometimes you do get something extra for the extra money you spend. The adjustments for leg height feel like precision pieces of machinery, and use the same knob/screw mechanism that holds the legs onto the tripod head. Even in places that you arent going to be looking--such as the inside of the tripod legs--surfaces are smooth and silky. About the only criticism that I have of this tripod is that the clamps that hold the legs in place are pretty easy to install a few degrees off of the exact angle required to get the legs to make a perfectly flat position on the floor. This is easy to fix after your mount is on the tripod; just loosen the clamp and the weight will tend to correct this, but it does seem as though Losmandy could have keyed the leg and clamp to force them into correct position every time.

I love my Losmandy GM-8--but with a 5 f/9 refractor on it, objects high in the sky require a bit too much bending, twisting, and lying on the ground to use--even with the GM-8s tripod legs fully extended. The obvious solution is the Losmandy Tripod Extension 12 Lift. [ARTICLEIMGL=1] The exterior finish is what you would expect from Losmandy--finely finished, flat black. (As my wife has noticed, the <I>last</I> thing you want a telescope to be is black--too easy to trip over in the dark.) The interior, while reasonably well-finished, reminds you that this is welded together from other parts, but everything is still reasonably finished inside. If you are used to getting down almost on the ground, a 12 lift doesnt sound like much, but in fact, it was sufficient to get my 5 f/9 refractor to a position that I can stand for most objects, and even looking at objects at the zenith, I can sit comfortably in a chair, instead of getting grass stains (or worse) on the seat of my pants. Here you can see the before and after: [ARTICLEIMGL=2] [ARTICLEIMGL=3] The extension adds a few pounds of weight to the mount, but more importantly, it raises the center of gravity of the telescope and mount combination several inches. If you have a very heavy telescope, you need to be aware that your mount may be a little more prone to tip over if you get it much off of the vertical. I have not had any problem with my telescope, and I suspect that if you do have such a problem, you are probably putting too much weight on the GM-8 mount, but think about it the first few times you decide to put this combination anywhere but on the level.

Parallax makes a variety of rings, and while the rotating ring sets were mildly attractive, I concluded that the 5.5 standard ring set (then priced at $160) made the most sense. It turned out that my tube diameter was not exactly the same as the sizes that Parallax was making, so they asked if I would prefer a liner to fill the space, or to spend a bit more money to have a smaller diameter bored out to 130mm. I decided to save some money and use the liner approach. My reasoning was not only would this be less expensive, but if my tube was a little larger than 130mm, I could cut or sand the liner to a slightly larger size--something that would be impractical for me to do with metal. It took about three weeks, but the Parallax rings arrived. They are quite solid--in fact, I would say that they are probably heavier than they need to be for my application. The thumb screws that hold the rings together are very solid, beautiful pieces of work--much nicer than what came with the refractors original rings. The liner is cork--a good choice, because it wont damage the finish on an OTA. Within reasonable limits, the cork will compress, reducing pressure on the tube. I must confess that I was a little put off by the finish. It is a black, crinkle finish. Theres nothing wrong with it--but I was expecting a glossy finish like the rings others make. They arent unattractive, and in the dark, you wont be able to see the difference. They attached easily to the Losmandy dovetail plate, and in almost a year of use, they have given me absolutely no concern about their durability or mechanical quality. One nice and unexpected feature: the tops of the rings have threaded holes as well, making it easy to attach more hardware (such as camera mounts, guide scopes, and your one megawatt laser for clearing out clouds) on top.