iOptron Tripod for SkyHunter, iPANO, SkyGuider Pro, SkyTracker, SmartEQ, Cube

After an unfortunate incident of driving down the road with the tailgate down, I needed to replace my friends tripod. She wanted the exact same one that she had before and this is it. I have no experience with this other than my picky friend must like it since I had to buy the exact same thing that she had. I know she uses it with her full frame Canon camera and a Star tracker which would be a fairly heavy combination.

I purchased this tripod for the skyguider pro. I tried it with a 5lb telescope and it is at its max in this configuration.If the legs were 1.5 inches and the plastic eyepiece holder didn't have so much play it might be ok. also where the legs attach to the head could be beefed up a bit. I think it will be good for a lighter payload.thanks

The tripod is okay, the one issue is the cheap plastic ring to hold the legs together. It broke on our tripod, they want me to ship the unit back for a refund. I need the iOptron tripod specifically to work with the iOptron polar alignment unit. That in itself is another issue with the tripod, the handle to tighten the alignment device is too close to the tripod legs, it needs to be further out to be able to lock it in better. I will fix the tripod legs myself. Replace the cheap plastic with better material.

Full disclosure, I bought this off ebay because it was a few bucks cheaper. I found this tripod sturdy enough to handle my ioptron skytracker and my Pentax DSLR. The issue I've had and others may have too is that it's not tall enough to make it comfortable to use the spotter scope for finding the north star. I have to get on my knees to look through the scope. I'm going to look for a taller tripod. Once you're ready to take a photo. But the height was an issue for me.