Pier vs Tripod

At Walt's suggestion, I am looking at getting a TAL GEM mount. I have the option of getting it with a nice pier or sturdy tripod. I have no idea which to select. Scope is the Burges 127 f/8 achromat. I will be moving it around quite a bit in the driveway/street when viewing and will occasionally bring it to star parties that are on grass. The pier seems like it would be limited in it's ability to be leveld and the tripod seems like it would get in the way at zenith. Any input is welcome for this dob driver.

Clear skies,

Tom

Tom, I find on my TAL-2 with the longer pedestal I can still move the mount, minus ota, by simply picking up and walking with it. I am 61 and not in the best of shape, so I'm sure it would be a reasonable feat for you. Also, you can pick up the entire mount and ota to move a few feet here and there. Just walk with baby steps!
Also note that the counterweight that comes with the TAL is much too heavy for a 13~15 lb ota. If you look at the pic you can see that I made a smaller counterweight of lead that is only about 5 or 7 lbs. Also note the slider locks on the counterweight shaft. They are the slickest things I have discovered lately, available from McMaster Carr.
As for the tripod, the TAL model, the tall one, would really be a good deal. The only problem is that the center hole is for the 3" mount head, or on the 4" there is a collar that has to be removed to allow it to fit in the tripod flange. The rub is removing the collar (remove three grub screws and unscrew) exposes some rather rough threads that when dropped into the tripod flange will most likely be difficult to tighten down sufficiently to totally remove flexure. Even on my mount I had to liberally coat the threads with a commercial type locktite that once setup has to be baked to several hundred degrees to remove. As I don't plan on removing it is not a problem, but on the tripod I don't believe the locktite approach would work in the same manner. You might want to ask Malcolm at TalScopes as I'm sure he would have valuable input.
A close friend has a 5" AP 130 on a Vixen Polaris mount with wood tripod legs. It is fairly stable but not even in the same league as mine. The beauty of the TAL to me is the clutched drive allowing you to move the scope at will and never having to release a clutch lock like the EQ-5 style mounts require.
FWIW!!

Walt