Simple-to-use mount

The AR-80/640 Nano’s altaz mount is simple to use as it has no control knobs to adjust. The mount consists of a single arm that’s slightly offset towards the right and to the rear. It holds the telescope in such a way as to prevent it from clashing with the tripod’s legs when you point it at the zenith.

What, at first sight, appears to be the adjustment handle of a pan-and-tilt head, is actually a convenient rod for moving the telescope both in azimuth and altitude. The telescope’s position is maintained by the friction of the two axes although we found that the vertical axis was too tight and had to make a small adjustment to slacken it off and make it usable.

The AR-80/640 Nano’s mount incorporates a standard Vixen-style dovetail clamp with a single locking bolt. Conveniently, the supplied dovetail bar has a small recess for the locking bolt that serves as a catch should the bolt come loose.