Bino Mount

Here is my solution for eliminating neck strain, vibration, and long term comfort. I've made parallelograms, chairs with attached and unattached articulating arms and even bought and modified a dentist's chair at an industrial sale. (my wife called the dudes in white coats)!
It can be mounted on a pier for sitting or standing, or on a table. It's a "Dobino"!!
I don't understand some people's reservations about a reversed view. It's only objectionable if you never try it!
Newts and refractors aren't correct views either.
There is a production model advertised in S&T that I'm sure is fine, although it doesn't appear to rotate in azimuth. If you have a copy of Astronomy, Feb 1997, there's
a step by step article for making the mount just as you see in this photo.
The "arm" is a red dot finder that makes pointing second nature. The mirror is a high quality flat purchased from American Scientific for five dollars.
And NO, the mirror doesn't degrade performance! If a mortal can detect the difference it's only in the mind beforehand.
I've used several binos on this mount. Try it!!
Good times!
John

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For some people, in some climates, mirror mounts seem to work OK for them. I tried a couple of them here in NC and found that they dewed up very quickly. I also found that I really didn't care for the whole concept but won't belabor that point since it's been made numerous times before, and is merely one subjective opinion.

Mirror mounts are so easy to make that I'd suggest folks try them. Then if they decide to try something else, they at least have some idea of what they might want to look for (or make) in another mount.

The one John made in the photo above looks to be of better quality and to be a bit better thought out than at least one commercial mirror mount coming out of Canada. I like the addition of a Dob style base rather than relying on a photo tripod which may or may not have the correct height and azimuth adjustments. The Dob base would solve for that if pier mounted as in the photo.

Regards,
Mike Swaim