Peregrine Took
Well-known member
I'll add to the recommendations for the Opticron MM4, which I owned for the last year. Mine came with the HDF T eyepiece, but I recently tried one with the latest SDL v3 eyepiece and it is a great improvement. Not on sharpness or colour correction, but it gives a wider field of view, so viewing feels more immersive... like you're 'in' the scene, rather than looking at it 'through a tube'. That said, I was happy enough with the HDF T for a year, until I used the SDL v3.
The only reason that I sold the Opticron was that I moved on to the Kowa 773, which is portable enough for me, and compact and light enough for a compact tripod, the pair fitting into a small backpack. The point being, that your choice of scope will dictate your choice of tripod, so you need to consider the two together - for travel, no point a small scope and a large tripod.
FWIW, I use the Manfrotto BefreeGT, which is a beefed up BeFree. It has a height that doesn't require the centre to column to be raised for an angled scope (for anyone up to about 6ft), keeping it more stable. Which is just one reason that I feel you'd be better off with an angled scope.
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The only reason that I sold the Opticron was that I moved on to the Kowa 773, which is portable enough for me, and compact and light enough for a compact tripod, the pair fitting into a small backpack. The point being, that your choice of scope will dictate your choice of tripod, so you need to consider the two together - for travel, no point a small scope and a large tripod.
FWIW, I use the Manfrotto BefreeGT, which is a beefed up BeFree. It has a height that doesn't require the centre to column to be raised for an angled scope (for anyone up to about 6ft), keeping it more stable. Which is just one reason that I feel you'd be better off with an angled scope.
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