Hi Woody,

It is the weight of the mount that I am trying to step down.  The AP site says that the Mach1 is 28 lbs.  The 900 specs say that the weight is 54 pounds assembled. 

I have long since stopped trying to lift the Pelican case with the assembled 900 inside off the tailgate of my 1 ton 4WD pickup.  ;-)  I now open the case on the tailgate and lift out the two halves separately.  ;-) 

I used to have a 2005 model 1200 which I used for 8 years.  The 1200 was a beautiful mount that worked flawlessly. Lifting that one out of the truck influenced me to get the "lighter" 900.  And then there was the part about lifting that ATS 10" pier for the 1200 in and out of the back of the truck.  Ouch!

I think that the force of gravity has gotten stronger over the last 5 or 6 years.  ;-)

I rarely use my larger scopes any more for my desert imaging trips.  Too heavy to lug around.  My go to portable imaging scopes are the Takahashi FSQ-106 and the Takahashi MT-160 if I want a slightly longer focal length.

Dean Jacobsen