The mount arrived well-packed, with warranty card and instructions in English. The quality of construction is very good. Although the mount’s motor housings and other external casings are plastic, it is heavy gauge and finished nicely. The alt and azimuth gears appear to be nylon, and well-lubricated.

The hand control is small, but well-designed, and comfortable. The controller cord is substantial, and plugs into the mount securely.

To use the mount, you loosen the azimuth knob on the bottom of the mount and the altitude handle, move the mount much the same as you would a tilt & pan camera mount, center the target, then tighten the azimuth knob and altitude handle. From that point, you track the object using the buttons on the hand controller. The buttons are easy to locate by feel, and very intuitive to use.

The mount is very quiet when slewing at high speed, and almost inaudible at low speed, with virtually no vibration.

One concern: the base plate of the mount is made of relatively soft aluminum.  It works fine as long as you dont screw the mount onto the tripod too hard.  I  had  a local machinist fabricate a new base plate  from stainless steel after I stripped mine.

Just a reminder, the mount is NOT a goto, and does NOT auto-track.  

For what it is designed for, I am very pleased with the quality and ease of use of the Hutech Motorized Alt-Az mount, and I recommend it.  If the base plate was made of a stronger material, Id give it a 10.

From: | Created on: 10/16/2009 1:48:43 PM