The am5 telescope mount totally flipped the script for those of us who hate lugging heavy gear around every time the clouds finally clear. For years, if you wanted to do serious long-exposure astrophotography, you basically had to accept that you'd be visiting a chiropractor sooner or later. We were all stuck with these massive, heavy German Equatorial Mounts (GEMs) that required a bunch of counterweights just to balance a modest refractor. Then, out of nowhere, ZWO dropped this little red box on the market, and suddenly, the "back-breaking" part of the hobby felt like it was finally over.
I've spent quite a bit of time playing around with strain wave mounts lately, and it's honestly hard to go back once you've experienced the freedom they offer. If you're sitting on the fence about whether to upgrade or if you're just getting into the hobby and wondering why everyone is obsessed with this specific mount, let's break down what actually makes it tick and whether it lives up to the social media buzz.
Why Strain Wave Tech is a Game Changer
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, we should probably talk about what makes the am5 telescope mount different from the mounts we've used for the last few decades. Most traditional mounts use worm gears. They're reliable, sure, but they're also bulky and require very precise balancing. If your scope is even a little bit heavy on one side, your tracking goes to mush, and you end up with "eggy" stars.
The AM5 uses strain wave gearing (often called harmonic drives). This tech was actually designed for industrial robotics, where you need high torque and extreme precision in a small package. Because of the way these gears work, the mount doesn't need counterweights for most setups. I know, it sounds like physics is breaking, but it's true. You can slap a medium-sized triplet refractor on this thing, and it just moves. No more sliding weights back and forth in the dark while hoping your cables don't snag.
Portability and the "Grab and Go" Factor
Let's be real: the best telescope is the one you actually use. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a clear sky, thought about the forty minutes it would take to haul out my old EQ6-R Pro and its three heavy weights, and just decided to stay on the couch instead.
The am5 telescope mount head itself weighs only about 11 pounds (5kg). That's practically nothing. You can throw the whole thing—mount, tripod, and even a small scope—into a padded backpack and hike it out to a dark sky site without needing a nap afterward. For people living in apartments or anyone who has to travel to get away from city light pollution, this is a massive deal. It turns a "big production" setup into something you can have running in ten minutes.
The Counterweight Question
One of the most common questions people ask is: Do I really not need counterweights?
The answer is mostly no. The am5 telescope mount is rated to carry about 28 lbs (13kg) without any counterweights at all. If you want to push it up to its max capacity of around 44 lbs (20kg), you'll need to add a weight bar and a small weight just to keep the tripod from tipping over.
But for most of us shooting with wide-field refractors or even a 180mm SCT, you don't need them. It feels a bit sketchy the first time you see your expensive camera hanging off the side of a mount with nothing balancing it on the other side, but once you see how smoothly it slews, that anxiety pretty much disappears.
Setting Up the Tripod
It's worth mentioning that because the mount is so light, the tripod becomes the "anchor" for the whole system. If you're using the carbon fiber tripod that often comes in the bundle, you'll definitely want to hang a weight bag (or just your battery pack) from the center hook. Since the mount has so much torque, you don't want a gust of wind or a heavy lopsided scope to tip the whole rig over.
Performance and Guiding
Now, we have to talk about the "catch," because there's always a catch. Strain wave mounts like the am5 telescope mount aren't perfect out of the box in the way a high-end $10,000 mount might be. They have something called high periodic error. Basically, the gears aren't perfectly smooth, so if you just let the mount track on its own without any help, your stars might look a little wonky on long exposures.
However, this is totally solved by guiding. If you're doing astrophotography, you're probably already using a guide camera and software like PHD2 (or the ASIAIR). The AM5 responds incredibly well to fast guiding pulses. As long as you're guiding at 0.5-second or 1-second intervals, the tracking is usually rock solid. I've seen people get total RMS error readings under 0.5 arcseconds regularly, which is plenty good for even high-resolution imaging.
The ASIAIR Integration
If you're already in the ZWO ecosystem, using this mount is a breeze. The am5 telescope mount talks to the ASIAIR perfectly. You just plug it in via USB, and you have full control over slewing, polar alignment, and target framing from your phone or tablet. It's a very "it just works" kind of experience, which is rare in this hobby where we usually spend half the night troubleshooting driver issues.
Some Things to Watch Out For
I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out some of the quirks. First off, the AM5 doesn't have clutches. On a traditional mount, you can loosen a knob and move the telescope by hand to balance it. You can't do that here. If the power goes out, the mount stays exactly where it is (it has a brake to prevent your scope from crashing into the tripod), but you can't just swing it around manually. You have to move it using the hand controller or the software.
Also, it's loud. Well, maybe "loud" isn't the right word, but it makes a very distinct robotic "whirring" noise when it's slewing at full speed. It sounds a bit like a high-tech coffee grinder. It's not a big deal if you're out in a field, but if you're imaging on a balcony at 2 AM, your neighbors might wonder what's going on.
Is it Worth the Price Tag?
The am5 telescope mount isn't exactly cheap. You're looking at around $2,000 just for the mount head. For that same price, you could buy a much larger traditional mount with a higher payload capacity.
But you aren't paying for raw weight capacity; you're paying for convenience and technology. You're paying for the fact that you can fit your entire mount in a small carrying case. You're paying for the lack of a balancing headache. For a lot of us, that's worth every penny. If the gear is easier to set up, you'll use it more often. If you use it more often, you get more data. If you get more data, you get better pictures. It's a pretty simple equation.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the am5 telescope mount has kind of redefined what a "mid-range" mount looks like. It's perfect for the person who wants to get away from the heavy lifting and focus more on the actual imaging. It's not for the person who wants a permanent observatory setup with a massive 14-inch EdgeHD (though people have tried), but for the vast majority of amateur astrophotographers, it's a sweet spot of performance and portability.
If you're tired of dragging 50 pounds of iron out to your backyard every night, or if you've been dreaming of a setup you can actually take on a plane, this is probably the mount you've been waiting for. It's not magic, but it's about as close as we've gotten in the world of amateur astronomy gear lately. Just make sure you bring a good guide camera, and you'll be set for some seriously impressive nights under the stars.