One mount to rule them all?

[Cjg]

So, a smaller HEM 15 or AM3 would comfortably carry my Stowaway 92mm f6.65 'frac meaning I could do away with the Skywatcher AZ GTi and AZ5.

Who is using them for visual, could you fit a ball head to them (would replace my Sky Guider pro!)?

And which of the two would be better, I'm not ever planning to buy an astro camera, but reducing the amount of kit I have..

@FLO a side by side shoot out or guide to help choose between the makes would be useful if you have any pointers too, please?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Chris

[Elp]

If portability is a concern the hem15 is far less bulkier than the am3, it's easier to store with the OTA and everything else in one bag if you happen to setup and breakdown.

The am3 though you don't need to balance the payload at all as it has HDs in both RA and Dec, the hem15 is RA only with ioptrons traditional drive in the Dec.

Hem15 you can't setup to use in alt az, unlike the am3 which works in both EQ and altaz (once you set the physical two stage range altitude adjustment, yes you need to do it with the am3 too, it's a bit fiddly to do with the hem15 but it doesn't take long). The am3 you can control with the Stargazing app, roughly point the mount north, scope on LHS, then you're literally done, goto a target, if it's off slew target with the hand controller joystick (it's not a traditional hand controller, it's just like a Nintendo Wii joystick), then sync to mount. I believe the ioptron hand controller has a much larger catalogue built in though.

Hem15 uses slightly less power than the am3.

You can fit a ball head to a dovetail bar and use it like that but I don't see why you'd want to. Just put the OTA on a vixen dovetail, it's far more solid and secure.

Haven't done DSO imaging with the am3 yet but if it's anything like the hem15 it'll be great. The hem15 is more quiet than the am3 (which isn't too loud, I think it's an ioptron thing, they're very quiet in use even when slewing at max rate). If you've got a long refractor on a tripod you'll need a pier extension for both to prevent the back end interfering with the tripod.

[Elp]

Your choice will inevitably come down to budget.

[Cjg]

14 minutes ago, Elp said:

Your choice will inevitably come down to budget.

Both mounts are similarly priced, so budget not really an issue. Have you experience with either?

Sorry, just seen your earlier post, thanks for the info!

Edited June 14 by Cjg
revised

[Elp]

1 minute ago, Cjg said:

Both mounts are similarly priced, so budget not really an issue. Have you experience with either?

From the above you can deduce I own both...

[Cjg]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

From the above you can deduce I own both...

Which gets the most use, or do you use a different scope on each mount? Thank you!

[Elp]

I haven't had the am3 long enough as I wanted to test its guiding at 1000mm FL which HD aren't supposed to be good for. I've imaged long FL with the hem15 and it's been fine (fully autoguided mind).

Initially for me it was one or the other also coming from an azgti. The am5 was more than I wanted to pay (which would be the logical choice for future proofing due to its carrying capacity), I went with the hem15 in the end because I couldn't justify the price difference being in favour of the am3 for the little additionals it offers. The hem15 is smaller, slightly lighter, uses slightly less power (important to me when I go off site), PA wasn't an issue as I use an Asiair. That would be one advantage of the am3 (and 5), of doing visual you can loosely align it north and use it in alt az mode with the goto work being done via the app, the hem15 you'd have to loosely PA (if you don't get the ipolar versions if you do you'll also need a laptop to use the ipolar) and subsequently use the hand controller to slew to target but you'd have no visual aid to know how far off target you may be if looking for DSO objects other than your own vision, I suppose with either mount this can be an issue.

The other reason I went with ioptron is I didn't quite like the idea of using "all" ZWO equipment as I know from experience what their software updates are like (don't be surprised with unreliability after an update), luckily the mounts been okay.

I don't have massive scopes, the most demanding torque wise is probably the Starfield 102 and both have worked well with it. If I had to buy one and cost wasn't a factor I'd probably err towards the am3 for the one reason of EQ or alt az use, it'd be a direct upgrade from the azgti. Because I mostly image and cost was a factor at the time I went with the hem15 initially.

Note the HD mount floodgates have opened, ioptron have many hybrids (hem) and dual HD drives (hae) as well as alt az versions, Rainbow have had the RST135 out for years prior to anyone else, there are many Chinese brand ones available currently, the most promising at the moment is the Warp Astron WD17 and 20 (see Cuivs review of the 20 on YT). Pegasus have the Nyx and a smaller Nyx is due out in Autumn which is also near to when Skywatcher will release their Waves, the smaller one of which has dual OTA mount capability with the added bracket (their larger one doesn't have this).

[Cjg]

Thank you @Elp that’s a detailed, helpful answer. 
Need one for early August, so a couple of weeks to decide.

Many thanks, 

Chris

[Alan White]

I have to say thanks for asking the question Chris and thanks for such a full set of answers from @Elp,
I am sitting watching the newer mount type play out.

 

[Elp]

A further point to add is the PA mechanics.

The am3 is smoother in its movement and when an OTA is on top still moves smoothly (acting against the added weight causing resistance), the hem15 altitude you feel the resistance more as the knob becomes harder to turn, but it has holes in it so you can insert the Allen key (there's a retaining hole to store the Allen key within the mount) as a lever to turn easier (same as my gem), you can set the outer side bolts of the mount to tightness to suit which has a bearing how easily the top of the head moves.

So whilst PA, the hem is actually easier to do slight movements making tiny adjustments, the am3 due to the smoothness moves a lot more so takes a bit longer to dial in. Both knock the PA out when you lock each axis, I've never used a mount that didn't, so you have to be very slight on the azimuth locking, the am3 has altitude locks on both sides of the mount head which are okay to hand tighten, the hem15 doesn't but I find leaving it, and also the azimuth knobs unlocked on the hem15 doesn't affect anything. Note with ref to PA accuracy we're at around 50 arc seconds here, for visual you will never notice the difference of the knock even at a few arc minutes I think.

Edited June 14 by Elp