Mount Recommendation? Stellarvue or UA?

I have been using an Orion ST80 for almost 12 years now and am finally in the process of "upgrading" it a little (until I can afford a nice 90mm+ apo). I've added a GSO crawford focuser and am upgrading my EP's. Now I want to upgrade my mount.

Currently I have a Celestron Heavy-Duty Alt-Az mount. Its okay, but difficult to look high overhead and tends to slip when using a heavy EP (unless the tension is adjusted so tight that it becomes difficult to slew).

Anyway, I'm considering either a Stellarvue M1 or a Universal Astronomics UniStar Light or dwarf-star. I would probably mount the head on a camera tripod so that I can make this as "grab-n-go" as possible. Does anyone have a preference of the stellarvue versus the UA?

I've never used the UA mount but I use the M1 on a Bogen475 with the ST80/GSO Crayford and it's a very nice, portable, lightweight combo for that scope. This is not a scope where you're gonna really ratchet up the power, but, especially using wide-field 2" EPs, it's very nice for MW scanning and the M1/bogen combo works very nicely for that.

Phil

John Stark said:{snip}...Anyway, I'm considering either a Stellarvue M1 or a Universal Astronomics UniStar Light or dwarf-star. I would probably mount the head on a camera tripod so that I can make this as "grab-n-go" as possible. Does anyone have a preference of the stellarvue versus the UA?

John,
I have a Stellarvue M1 and M3E, plus a UA Unistar, Unistar Light and Microstar. Performance-wise they are equal except for the M3E and Unistar having greater load capacities than the others. The major difference is that the machining and assembly of the Stellarvue mounts is more refined, but that's an aesthetic, not a functional issue. You can't go wrong with any of them. If you're looking for the lightest weight, the UA Dwarfstar is probably the optimum of the bunch for your ST80. However, if you intend to keep the mount for a 90mm or larger apo the Dwarfstar may not be the best choice. I use the M3E (a discontinued item) with my 90mm apo, and my wife uses the Unistar with her 102mm achro.

Jim

Have you considered the Astrotech voyager?
It has a fairly high weight capacity 20#s
I have one and like it alot.
You would be able to balance it out for any eye pc(you may have to slide the scope back and forth a bit if you switch between a small plossel and a heavy WFOV)
Edit- I forgot to mention its pretty light and portable!
http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/455BS0F9RD968KREF4BQ6FGR63/product_id/ATV