Customers and dealers need to know, import freight is killer and you lose the quality to shipping costs!  Compare a typical Vixen 8Lb powder-painted steel weight that sells for $80 to our price below.  Not to single them out - check on Tak too - ouch!  We manufacture right here in central USA and ship direct to you, or via any dealer order direct to you, without the "middle-freight" that costs so much.  How would you like stainless-steel performance at painted steel price?  HAH! - Now you have the alternative from Tech2000 - low cost and top-quality and some very unusual extra features!  Users, dealers, all need to know about this, you simply cannot sleep well in the morning after without a PROPER counterweight.  We ship these all over North America  in USA/Canada/Mexico, from Acapulco to Saskatchewan, LA to NY.... no matter how you spell your town, your cost and the cost from your favorite astronomy dealer does not change... it is ALWAYS the SAME!  Now everyone is happy.

What now?  Well... first you should check it out fast because these are REALLY getting popular quick and the lead time is running up for us to keep in demand.  Like the proverbial "marriage-made-in-Heaven" - you automatically KNOW IT'S RIGHT.
Here are the current specifications...

• Boosters have a choice of 6mm or 8mm stud threads which are used on telescope counterweight shafts to replace your existing "toe-saver" bolt and its washer that prevents a counterweight from sliding off the shaft if it loses grip.  You can see in the photo above where the usual bolt and washer have been replaced with our trimmer weight (the Booster).  Measure your bolt diameter - if it looks like 1/4" roughly then use 6mm, if it looks distinctly larger than 1/4" then get 8mm thread.


• All counterweights pictured above fit all mainstream consumer import telescopes (they are all standard 20mm).  If you measure the diameter of your counterweight shaft you would see it is just a bit fatter than 3/4", then you know it is a 20mm shaft.  Many dealers make the mistake of advertizing counterweights for "3/4 shafts" when they all are actually 20mm (.787 inch to be precise).  On rare occasion a US-made mount does have a 3/4" shaft... these weights fit those fine too!


• All of our weights have many coats of black durable epoxy with a very slow cure schedule that ends up with a serious attitude to behave like it were steel instead but with flexing resilience, and pretends that there is no such thing as oxygen corrosion., and flake-off like you get with powder coated weights.  Even the core throat is completely coated with the same epoxy as the outer shell.  It is very very tough stuff and a lot more work to apply than you might think, yet we like it for beauty as well as durability, and we do it for you since we think it is what we would want every time we make them.  The entire process to make any of these weights takes a calendar time of 8 weeks minimum!  We try to stock-up ahead of course.


• There is NO metal contact in the counterweight to your telescope balance shaft.  All have epoxy-cloth flex-shoe inside that prevents any possibility of marking your shaft.  This is a major improvement above any counterweight we have ever tried no matter how they are made.  And they are still low cost!  How is that possible?  Only because we care.


• Not to forget an important feature.  All 20mm counterweights are Gravity-Gradient (GG).  It means Reversible.  Another Tech2000 innovation.  When you run out of inward travel - reverse the weight and you have less weight.  When you run out of outward travel - reverse the weight and you have more weight.  We told you that there are some unique features.  Its not magic and the weight sure looks just like any other counterweight cylinder.  But it does work since we make them with an internal gravity-gradient!  Now you carry less weight out with your travels and do not get pinched changing an occular.


• For users particularly in the deep southerly latitudes, check diameter and length of weights to be sure your choice will not hit the tripod leg on an equatorial mount used near the equator.  If it is close then you south folks want to use the trimmers and heavier shaft weights both , because weights will be higher up on your counterweight shaft and not come into contact with the tripod legs, and the trimmers will allow you to use less (thinner) weights.


• Power weights (PwrWt-xxxxxx) have an automotive cigarrete lighter socket with a captive foldover water/dust cap of rubber and come with a charger and a fused cord.  They look just like the counterweights in the photo above except have the power socket on one end face.  If you specify that you have an LXD mount from Mead then we include a connector on the cord for that mount, if not - then the automotive plug cord will have a plain (blunt cut) end.


• And you always thought counterweights were mundane.  Now you know they can be cool technically.  Send any comments or advice to us, you never know where the next corner of innovation will bend.