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I want to give a brief account of the history and philosophy of the various Hitch mounts, explain the differences between the Half Hitch and the Nova Hitch, and clear up a few misconceptions that are being propagated. The goal of the Half Hitch project was to produced a mount that was highly optimized for grab 'n go astronomy. Everything about the design revolved around the idea that a true grab 'n go telescope can be picked up and carried with ease by one hand. I envisioned lightweight refracting telescopes in the 80 to 90 mm range being used with either a single zoom eyepiece or a small set of similarly-sized, not-too-big eyepieces. I imagined the mount and scope sitting atop a lightweight and somewhat undersized tripod. I also imagined that the ability to "sweep" the sky would be very important to observers since part of the grab 'n go concept is to easily escape bright lights for dark, star-filled skies. And it should be a fantastic mount for 100 mm angle-view binoculars. To implement these objectives, I developed the following engineering criteria: * The mount should have very low-friction rotations to facilitate scanning and sweeping, and to operate without excessive vibration on undersized tripods. * To make smooth, low-friction rotations possible, the mount should support two-axis balancing. * To reduce stress on the tripod and allow for the smoothest possible tracking in azimuth, the mount should have centerline payload positioning to minimize the moment-of-inertia around the critical vertical axis. * The mount structure had to provide good tripod clearance without resorting to a tripod extension column. * The mount should incorporate slow-motion controls for a variety of compelling reasons, not the least of which was to permit low-vibration observing on undersized tripods. But the slow-motion controls would need some very unique properties. They would have to be equally adept at scanning as at tracking and centering -- and they would need to be fingertip-light for effortless variable-speed motion and (again) to allow vibration-free movements on undersized tripods. And they needed to have little or no backlash so one could "cruise" around the sky like they were driving a sports car. * The mount would require a rigid but lightweight structure that was based upon clever geometry rather than a lot of added material. The Half Hitch implemented these concepts and achieved the stated goals -- resulting in a 4.7-pound grab 'n go mount that was unique and compelling. For those who shared my concept of grab 'n go astronomy, Nirvana was at hand. But as for most inventions, at some point, idealized dream meets the reality of the market. There were two dramatic realizations that surfaced immediately: 1.) Most observers wanted to mount 105 mm scopes on the Half Hitch rather than 90 mm scopes, and 2.) most observers owned extensive eyepiece collections, ranging from small and light to large and heavy, and they were going to use ALL their eyepieces (making frequent changes) -- even for what they were calling "grab 'n go" astronomy. Some users were stretching my conception of grab 'n go astronomy even beyond the suitcase full of eyepieces by employing binoviewers. Despite these unforeseen deviations from my definition of grab 'n go astronomy, the original Half Hitch was "in the ballpark" for handling the new challenges. As a business, one must go where customers want to go. So, I revised the mount with a beefed-up structure to accommodate larger scopes and added the balance trimmer to help maintain approximate balance after eyepiece swaps that differed considerably in size and weight. The revised mount was dubbed the Mark II Half Hitch. I offered all 18 "Mark I" owners a complete rebuild of their mounts to Mark II standards, mostly absorbing the cost of the rebuilds myself. All but six Mark I mounts were converted to Mark II units. The owners of the other six Mark I Half Hitches simply told me that they considered their mounts to be perfect as was -- and they did not want to change them. Eventually, I again revised the Half Hitch -- slightly -- to the Mark III. And once again, the changes were driven by customers. The Mark III differs from the Mark II in three ways: * The altitude axis was beefed-up to accommodate the new Stellarvue 115 and similar scopes. * The up-down saddle adjustment was simplified. * An azimuth axis carry-lock was added. The Mark II and Mark III Half Hitches differ so slightly that it takes a trained eye to tell them apart. It is also important to note that any Half Hitch accessory item fits either mount (contrary to some rumors). The Quarter Hitch that was introduced at about the same time is nothing more than a slightly simplified Mark III Half Hitch -- created to offer a mount at a bit lower price. Despite my clear definition of what I considered to be grab 'n go astronomy (which I explained on my website, in ads, and in the user group), people still pursued application of the Half Hitch outside its intended envelope. Introduction of the Balance Trimmer Extension Arm was yet another attempt to accommodate the widening envelope of application beyond the realm of grab 'n go astronomy (as I had extensively defined it). Eventually, I introduced the Super Half Hitch, which was an entirely new mount based on the same Half Hitch design architecture. The purpose of the Super Half Hitch was to provide a quasi grab 'n go experience for compact, lightweight 120 to 130 mm APO refractors like the AP 130 GT. Soon -- people were asking about the TEC 140 on the Super HH. And so it goes ... What I finally concluded was that many people defined any scope they can lift off the ground as "grab 'n go;" that thanks to the clever mind of Al Nagler, most folks were going to make huge eyepiece changes in the course of just about any observing session. Also, binoviewing was becoming very popular and binoviewers were getting larger and heavier. The focusers on most scopes were becoming titanic, themselves creating a large shift in mass. And significantly, backyard astronomy is far more popular than grab 'n go astronomy. What the market was really demanding was a general-purpose alt-az mount -- not an optimized grab 'n go mount. As a business, you can only swim against the tide for so long. You have to follow the market. And so the Nova Hitch was born. The Nova Hitch is a completely new and different mount from the older Half Hitch mounts. It does share the following attributes, which I consider essential: * Centerline payload positioning. * Built-in tripod clearance. * Two-axis balancing for low-friction rotations. * Inclusion of slow-motion controls. * Efficient structure that avoids bending and twisting stresses. The Nova Hitch is a general-purpose mount. Although it is considerably lighter than its direct competition, it does not pretend to be a grab 'n go mount. As a general-purpose mount, the slow-motion controls are no longer biased towards sweeping and scanning, instead concentrating on precision and being house-jack powerful. Although tripod-friendly the Nova Hitch is not required to perform on absurdly undersized tripods the way a grab 'n go mount would. The Nova Hitch assumes that dramatic eyepiece and configuration changes will be the norm -- and it contains multiple provisions to handle such changes quickly, easily, and without tools. And the Nova Hitch provides a large reservoir of reserve capacity -- something that would be inappropriate for a specialized grab 'n go mount. Since the Nova Hitch is a new mount, the family of users is still small. I've seen online inquiries about the Nova Hitch to which someone responded with her/his impression of the Half Hitch as if the two mounts were essentially the same. These responses are completely invalid because the Half Hitch and Nova Hitch are radically different. The Half Hitch has a hard-core group of enthusiasts composed of users who understand its specialized nature and use it accordingly. The Half Hitch is simply without peer as a pure grab 'n go mount. And it might be the best mount for 100 mm angle-view binoculars that will ever be built. Most Half Hitches are still in the hands of the original owners -- or have found second owners who are equally enthusiastic. But the Nova Hitch will likely find appeal with a much broader spectrum of users who wish to use the mount more conventionally. Changes in products occur because of shifts in the market or because an initially targeted market is not capable of supporting a product. The Half Hitch is a great grab 'n go mount -- probably the best ever. But the Nova Hitch addresses the heart of the market. The change occurred not because of any failure of the Half Hitch (although it has often been misapplied by a number of users). The rise of the Nova Hitch in its place is simply a reflection of market reality. Charles

Hello everyone Welcome to join this group where we can share information and experience about these wonderful mounts made by Charles. I'll try to upload all information I have here and you are also welcome to do it. You can find original introduction of the mounts under "Files": /g/halfhitchtelescope/files You can find photos from Charles and users on under "Photos": /g/halfhitchtelescope/photos Thanks Howard

Looking for a Half Hitch L bracket to use with binoculars. Hoping someone has one sitting unused that they would not mind selling. It looks like this: https://astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/half-hitch-dovetail-bar-with-binocular-bracket (dovetail not needed)

Just saw this beautiful mount for sale on CN. I always want one but this is too expensive for me and pick-up only. Sharing in case you are interested: https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/item/398994-telescope-light-speed-wagon-mount/

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/half-hitch-ftx-mount-603635 not mine

Looking to replace the wooden handle on my FTQ with the metal telescoping handle for a more compact mount. Does anyone happen to have an extra that I can shake loose? Willing to purchase or trade the wooden handle + cash.

https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/item/385735-half-hitch-ftx-v2-basic-mount-with-accessories/

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/nova-hitch-and-dovetail

HI Does anyone have a PDF of the setup manual for the HH V.2 FTX? CHeers Joe

Hi All! Does anyone have a Half Hitch they'd like to pass on? I'd love to buy it from you. Ideally it would be a Mark II or Mark III since this is for a ~90mm grab and go setup -George PS I didn't see a classified section to sorry if this is the wrong place to post.

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/half-hitch-ftx-585961

Just saw this one https://www.astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/charles-riddel-v2-ftx-mount-582585

https://www.astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/for-sale-ftx-half-hitch-with-adm-adapter-and-dsc-pro

https://astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/half-hitch-v2-ftx-classic-574032

https://astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/charles-riddel-v2-ftx-mount

Nova Hitch with Skycommander and dovetail for sale on AM https://astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/mounts-alt-az/show/nova-hitch-with-skycommander-and-dovetail

https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/item/327992-quarter-hitch-wencoders-and-argo-navistar-dsc/