It is a unique product in which almost every piece of it is custom made. There are only a handful of off the shelf parts in a PortaBall and as you will see later on, there is good reason for this. Never once did he say a disparaging word, or in any way push his PortaBall by pointing out the faults of the other designs. Consequently, these folks don't view themselves as competitors, but rather like kindred spirits who genuinely want to see high quality instruments in the hands of amateurs. In a country that has become culturally obsessed with quarterly profits and marketing, such a philosophy is refreshing.
Differences exist in the size of the upper tube assembly and the weight of the sphere.
Mag 1 exclusively uses Zambuto mirrors in their PortaBalls . The Zambuto Optical Company has gained the enviable reputation of consistently producing the highest quality mirrors in the world. In fact, I have never met an unhappy Zambuto mirror owner. Amateurs rave to each other about the images they are getting from these mirrors, whether they are in a PortaBall or one of the competitors dobs. I mention all this customization to give the rest of this article some context.