ZWO AM5 Harmonic Drive Equatorial Mount

[The Admiral]

Pictured on the ZWO mount facebook page (of which I am not a member), the first batch of mounts undergoing testing. They said the second batch expected June. I have a feeling that the first batch will not be very large though. Still, at least there's progress.

Ian.

[Ouroboros]

That testing would probably be interesting and fun to watch. 

[The Admiral]

20 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

That testing would probably be interesting and fun to watch. 

Hmm, it might get a bit boring after a while 😀.

I visited the BMW Mini plant a few years ago and to see all those robot arms 'doing their thing' is something else

Ian

[Whirlwind]

On 03/05/2022 at 13:33, The Admiral said:

Are we sure cable tangle isn't going to be an issue with these mounts...?

[The Admiral]

Now that the Covid situation in China has eased and manufacturing and shipping are getting underway again, we can at last looking forward to seeing deliveries starting up again. Anyone who's been following the ZWO mount Facebook pages will know that last Saturday there was a live streaming of unboxing and setting up the mount, with questions and answers, hosted by one of the early testers. Here's the YouTube version, for anyone interested.

 

 

Ian

[Ouroboros]

Thanks, Admiral. 

[knobby]

Just watching this ... looks very interesting.

[nfotis]

Nice presentation. The AM5 looks quite slick.

If I am not mistaken, the AM5 mount app his its own self-contained app when trying to polar align and go to some target? (timestamp after 1:45)

In general, it's quite a sleek mount, and it seems quite usable even without ASIair.

N.F.

 

[gilesco]

Nice to see one set up in the video.

Do FLO have the counterweight and shaft on their website or compatible? Apparently the shaft needs to have a M12 screw.

[The Admiral]

45 minutes ago, gilesco said:

Do FLO have the counterweight and shaft on their website or compatible? Apparently the shaft needs to have a M12 screw.

If I remember correctly, ZWO are working on that but as yet it hasn't hit the streets. I imagine any existing M12 CW bar would do. I did see one mentioned, but I don't recall which.

Ian

[The Admiral]

On 08/06/2022 at 09:26, gilesco said:

Do FLO have the counterweight and shaft on their website or compatible? Apparently the shaft needs to have a M12 screw.

According to the FaceBook page, the counterweight bar is now available on the ZWO website, https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-counterweight-bar. No doubt coming to a place near you soon .

Ian

[gilesco]

32 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

According to the FaceBook page, the counterweight bar is now available on the ZWO website, https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/zwo-counterweight-bar. No doubt coming to a place near you soon .

Ian

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/category-537/zwo-counterweight-shaft-for-am5.html

FLO are quick...

[Astroscot2]

It's just jumped up in price again!  Looking out of my range now. 😞

[Steve143]

Looks like all ZWO products have just gone up in price. I have a few in my FLO wish list and every one has gone up! 

I didn't see that price increase announcement coming or I might have pulled the trigger on one of them.  

[gilesco]

49 minutes ago, Steve143 said:

Looks like all ZWO products have just gone up in price. I have a few in my FLO wish list and every one has gone up! 

I didn't see that price increase announcement coming or I might have pulled the trigger on one of them.  

It might be a price rise due to exchange rate changes, Sterling has taken a real hammering recently, expect more across the board price rises I'm afraid...

[Steve143]

12 minutes ago, gilesco said:

It might be a price rise due to exchange rate changes, Sterling has taken a real hammering recently, expect more across the board price rises I'm afraid...

It can't just be exchange rate changes as the percentage increase varies from product to product - some are increased by over 10% while others by about 5%.    

Edited June 17, 2022 by Steve143

[FLO]

32 minutes ago, gilesco said:

It might be a price rise due to exchange rate changes, Sterling has taken a real hammering recently, expect more across the board price rises I'm afraid...

@gilesco is right. The recent price increases are a result of an unfavourable $ <-> £ exchange-rate. 

21 minutes ago, Steve143 said:

It can't just be exchange rate changes as the percentage increase varies from product to product - some are increased by over 10% while others by about 5%.    

This is because for some products we have absorbed some of the increase and/or have been able to off-set it with existing stock. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[FLO]

PS: All our customers with existing backorders are not affected by recent price increases 😇 

[The Admiral]

YAY!! My AM5 mount and tripod is going to be delivered on Monday.. It's been a long wait and here's hoping it will have been worth it. Well, it has to be really, I've been mount-less for quite a few months now . Mind you, I've had a lot of back trouble this year and wouldn't have been able to set up anyway, and now it's Summer.

Thank you FLO.

Ian

[Ouroboros]

I’m sure I’m only one of many who will be very interested in your experiences with this mount. Keep us updated won’t you?🙂

[The Admiral]

8 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I’m sure I’m only one of many who will be very interested in your experiences with this mount. Keep us updated won’t you?🙂

Well, when we get some longer nights - I'm no good with staying up into the (late) early hours . Huh, silly me having a hobby like this isn't it? .

Ian

[Ouroboros]

58 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

Well, when we get some longer nights - I'm no good with staying up into the (late) early hours . Huh, silly me having a hobby like this isn't it? .

Ian

Yeah, that’s how I feel. I don’t like late nights and I don’t like the cold. ….. oh and I’m not grabbed by solar astronomy. So I think I must have some kind of strange compulsion to do astronomy. One thing about imaging is that nights clear enough to take some decent pics are infrequent, and one good session provides a lot of data to process.

Never mind. You can still post some pics of unboxing and running it through its paces during the day I guess? 

[The Admiral]

13 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

You can still post some pics of unboxing and running it through its paces during the day I guess?

I'll do what I can

[The Admiral]

Imagine my surprise when I received an email saying that the mount would be delivered yesterday afternoon, rather than tomorrow. Indeed it did arrive, but alas sans tripod . I'm hoping that the tripod will be delivered tomorrow, but I've contacted FLO as well to advise them of the situation (which they'll see when they open for business tomorrow).

Anyway, I've made a start on documenting what I can, as a separate post. When the tripod arrives I shall be able to reveal the whole mount. Without a tripod, it would just fall over!

Ian

[Macroscopic]

On 01/07/2022 at 15:37, The Admiral said:

YAY!! My AM5 mount and tripod is going to be delivered on Monday.. It's been a long wait and here's hoping it will have been worth it. 

Just out of curiosity, when did you pre-order? I was late Jan so I’m not that hopeful. Glad yours arrive though.