Nov 12 2008
The MiniTower(TM) Telescope Mount developed by iOptron Corporation has been named "Hot Products 2009" by Sky and Telescope Magazine, the world-wide leading publication for amateur astronomy. This is the second year in a row an iOptron product has received such a prestigious award.
In January 2009 issue of Sky and Telescope Magazine, the editors note: "iOptron has responded to consumer requests for a heavy duty version of its groundbreaking Cube alt-azimuth mount (a Hot Product Pick for 2008). The MiniTower wraps a 25-pound capacity and very accurate GoTo performance into a compact mount that's exceptionally easy to set up and use. It's sold as a package noteworthy for its completeness, since it includes a tripod, multiple power options, adaptors for mounting scopes of both sides of the altitude axis, counterweight and hard-sided carrying case".
Sky and Telescope Magazine also published a "Quick Look" test report on the MiniTower™ in its December 2008 issue. In this test report, Sky and Telescope praised MiniTower™ for its highly accurate GoTo pointing, very easy setup and operation and the complete package. "The mount's pointing accuracy was a real treat during daylight hours. I could park the scope at night, and the next day simply power up, wait for a GPS fix, and resume accurate GoTo pointing. One sunny September afternoon, I hunted down all the Big Dipper's stars, including Mizar's 4th-magnitude companion, Alcor, with a 111-mm refractor at 86X. At lunch-time a few days later, several colleagues and I repeated the feat from the company parking lot. Finding stars during the day is a lot easier when you are confident that they are centered in the eyepiece", wrote Dennis di Cicco, a Senior Editor at Sky and Telescope Magazine.
MiniTower™ advanced GoTo alt-azimuth telescope mount is iOptron's answer to increasing demand for portable telescope mounts to counter light pollution and for travel convenience. It is a perfect combination of capacity and portability. With a 25lb of payload and universal dovetail adaptor, MiniTower is capable of handling the majority of the portable telescopes that has ever been made. With a 32 channel internal GPS, lightweight packaging, fast assembling procedure, easy setup and alignment and highly accurate GoTo auto-pointing and auto-tracking, MiniTower™ offers amateur astronomers a completely new star-gazing experience.
Since its introduction in August 2008, MiniTower™ has received overwhelmingly positive responses from early adapters and the amateur astronomy community in general. Users have flooded online discussion groups with messages describing their experience with the new mount and iOptron and leading iOptron dealers also received a great deal of user feedback. Cloudynights.com, the leading online astronomy discussion group, has witnessed enormous interest in MiniTower™, including a great number of detailed user reviews. One of MiniTower™ users commented: "The MiniTower is a perfect set up to help me remain a mobile astronomer. (I live in the center of Manchester, NH and the light pollution here is horrible, to say the least!) If there is a better and more capable mount, with the same features for the same small cost, I am not aware of its existence! iOptron has hit the ball out of the park with the MiniTower."