First test of the TTS-160 Panther Lite
I’ve known Danish mount manufacturer Niels Haagh for quite a few years now. Niels runs the small company Track The Stars, and produces the well-known Panther alt-az mount, which has become quite popular. Last year, he revealed that he was thinking of making a simplified, manual version of the Panther mount, aimed at the visual observer, who valued simplicity and light weight over tracking. We had many discussions at star parties and over the phone. He specifically asked me, because he knew I was a dyed-in-the-wool star-hopper, and this was the segment he was aiming for. In September, a mutual friend, the Danish amateur Thomas Gera Jensen, brought the prototype mount to the Venø Star Party, as Niels wasn’t able to attend personally. We both thought the mount worked well, but could use some improvements. After implementing the improvements, as well as others that Thomas and I had thought of in the meantime, Niels made six preproduction mounts, some of which he sent out to testers around the world.
I received mine shortly before Christmas Eve, and was able to get first light almost immediately. First impression is very, very positive. This is a superbly manufactured mount. It is extraordinarily smooth and stable. It is similar to the TTS Panther in size and overall design. It fits the same pier, via an adapter. At first glance, you could easily be fooled into thinking it’s just a normal Panther mount, but unlike the Panther Original, the new Panther Lite is fully manual, has the option of side-mounted saddles on both sides, and a modular and very adaptable counterweight system. I received a Panther Lite mount and TTS-160 folding pier, counterweight arms and several counterweights, 2 x 4kg and 2 x 8kg, for review.
The TTS-160 Panther Lite Head without any attachments.
Slides Cluthes
The mount has no slow motion controls, but relies on adjustable friction, via two small, orange knobs on the rear side of the mount, facing the observer. On the front side, there’s an altitude lock knob, for when you’re setting the scope up and don’t want it swinging around in altitude. It has built-in encoders that run via SkySafari. I’ve not tested that part of the mount. The top of the mount is covered by a black, 3D-printed shell of plastic. I’m not sure whether it will be printed or cast in the production version, but it’s very nice as it is, no complaints there.
The two friction adjustment knobs are VERY sensitive, and a small fraction of a turn noticeably changes the friction. Especially in azimuth. After using the mount a few times, I found it very easy to dial in the right amount of friction, simply by feel and how the scope behaved when moved. When tracking, I found it useful to have the scope purposefully a little bit unbalanced against the direction I wanted to move it. IE, if I was tracking Jupiter rising in the East, I wanted the refractor to be front-heavy, so that I had to work against that bit of extra weight. If the scope was heavy in the same direction I was moving it, I found it much easier to accidentally overshoot the target, if I was tracking with the friction knobs only tightened lightly, which gives the smoothest motion at high magnifications.
This works just fine. The scopes weren’t exactly lined up with each other, but the Vixen Cassegrain was a little out of collimation, so I think there’s a chance they might have been closer than they appeared. If you can get both lined up, this could be a very strong setup for outreach, since an experienced observer can look through one scope and guide another, looking through the other scope, around the sky or the object.
And speaking of smooth motions and tracking at high magnifications, this mount is impressive. I can track Jupiter effortlessly at 200x on my APM 152ED, even when observing with orthoscopic eyepieces (6mm Baader Classic Orthos). When using ES82 eyepieces on the binoviewer, I can track planets quite easily at 380x. I only did this as an experiment, though, as the seeing was horrible, but it was eminently doable. The highest magnification I’ve used for continuous observation is 255x on Mars (4.7mm ES82), and that was easy and relaxed. I’ve taken a video of the Moon with my smartphone, while tracking at 215x, which I’ll upload to Youtube.
Different Configurations
Unlike on the original Panther, you can now have side-mounted saddles, and the counterweight arms are removable and can be repositioned in several different positions. In fact, the mount comes “naked” and you have to configure it on your own, to suit your own needs. This opens up possibilities that until now were simply not possible, or only possible with homemade solutions, on any alt-az mount I’ve seen. The most important of which are what Niels calls the “Comfort Balancing”.
In this configuration, you put the telescope in one of the side mounted saddles, and on the other side of the mount, you put one of the counterweight arms pointing straight backwards. Now you can put an 4kg or 8kg counterweight on the arm, and then slide your long refractor forward in its rings, thereby dramatically reducing eyepiece movement! And it works really, really well! By having this laterally movable weight, you can namely also very easily rebalance the scope laterally, when you change eyepieces. You set the scope up with the counterweight as far backwards as possible (or almost) with the lightest eyepiece combination you plan to use for the evening. When you then change to a heavy eyepiece, you simply slide the counterweight forward a little, until the scope is balanced again. You simply loosen the counterweight knob, roll it forward a little, then tighten the knob again.
I have used this combination with my APM 152ED, which the mount handles like it’s not even there. I’ve even tested a combination of the APM 152ED on one side, and a Vixen VMC 260L Cassegrain on the other, while still using the Comfort Balancing mode! The mount handled it just fine. Both Vixen and Losmandy saddles are available. On the setup shown here, I have a Losmandy saddle on the left and a Vixen on the right side. You can also mount scopes on the top.
Stability
One thing I found very fascinating was how stable and solid the whole setup was. As soon as I let go of the scope after repositioning, the image instantly stood still, with essentially no dampening time. This also made focusing very easy. Planetary observing was a true joy. I had a night of good seeing shortly after receiving the mount, and I was observing Jupiter at 179x in some of the best seeing I’ve seen for a while, and Jupiter was just etched sharp in the 152ED, showing a wealth of details.
I initially thought balancing the heavy APM 152ED in the “Comfort Balance” position would be a PIA, but this turned out to be much easier than I thought. I start by putting the scope in the side saddle in a balanced position (or close to it) with the altitude axis locked. I then put on an 8kg counterweight and slide it backwards. Then I point the scope downwards at an angle, roughtly 30° or so from vertical, and loosen the tube rings, until the scope slides forwards on its own. I tigthen the rings and attach the diagonal and other accessories, check the balance, move the scope a bit more forward, if needed, and then tighten the rings. Done. It’s very easy, actually.
I also found that mounting the scope in the side saddles was much easier and felt much more secure than in a top mounted saddle. It’s very easy to “hook up” the lower side of the dovetail in the saddle, swing it up into place, and tighten the locking knobs. I’m holding the scope by its carrying handle all the time, so there’s no risk of it slipping in the saddle. This is very much harder to do on a top mounted saddle, in my experience. The scope wants to slide backwards, unless you have protruding bolt at the front of the dovetail, which many don’t.
I haven’t had a chance to use other telescopes, as I’ve been away from home a lot, and the weather has been the usual bleargh! when I’ve been at home, with a few clear nights sprinkled in here and there. Most days have been rainy or foggy, leaving no options for outdoor photos of the assembled mount in daylight, and it’s too large to set up indoors and take good pictures of. I’ll see if I can get a good photo of the mount head itself soon. I have quite a few scopes I could test on the mount, but I thought that with the limited number of nights available, it was best to first try the most likely setup potential owners of the mount would likely use, namely a large refractor or a Cassegrain-style reflector.
Look at how far forward that big refractor is! Despite the short moment arm, tracking planets at 255x is a complete non-issue.
So, are there any downsides?
A few, but some are the same as on all manual alt-az mounts: As soon as you stop to change eyepieces, rebalance, etc., you lose the object. I found it critically important to have a well-aligned finderscope ready at all times. Changing heavy eyepieces will cause the mount to move on its own, unless you tighten the altitude friction beforehand, and rebalance after changing eyepiece. When changing eyepieces in a binoviewer, it helps changing one at a time.
You will need to learn to adjust the friction and balance more or less on the fly, as that gives you the best performance, but if you take your time to set it up right and learn to tune the friction just right, the Panther Lite is incredibly smooth and a pure joy to use.
Near zenith, the scope will need to be balanced both longitudinally and on the vertical axis perpendicular to it, or else it has a tendency to moving on its own in altitude. This is the unfortunate downside of a low friction mount. I use a small finderscope, but with two ES82 eyepieces in a heavy Zeiss binoviewer, I had to tighten the altitude friction a fair bit, before it stopped moving. The mount comes with a short dovetail for balancing the scope in that axis, but I think there’s a better solution, namely to set it up with two counterweight arms in a V shape, one pointing backwards for Comfort Balancing, and the other one pointing downwards, equipped with a small counterweight. This is a more lightweight solution than TTS‘s own solution, which uses a short dovetail and a 4kg counterweight. And it allows simultaneous use of the Vixen saddle, which TTS solution does not. I’ll need to make my own counterweight for it, though, which I hope to do tomorrow. Stay tuned for updates.
Soooo – I know this sounds awfully like a hyped-up advertizement, but believe me, I am trying to be honest here. This is an amazing mount. I am not receiving any compensation for writing about it, monetary or otherwise. Except, of course, the sheer fun of getting to play with a really nice mount for free!!