The Strain Wave Telescope Mount REVOLUTION!

thank you very much indeed for mapping these new Wave Mount, I am quite convinced to step in. I dare to ask you the model of autoguide OTA you put over C8 (like mine) at minute 2 of the video? I am tryin gto pratice with autoguide with C8 Edge HD. Thanks again and best wishes

My AM5 literally changed the game for me. It cut in half the total weight of my setup from an eq6. I find myself going out a lot more since I’ve had it.

There is no reason that I can think of that an equatorial mount using stepper motors and toothed belt drives couldn't be built with superior weight capacity at a similar mount size and weight. Virtually zero backlash. All that is needed is to replace those massive pot metal castings with CNC machined housings like the ones used on these harmonic drives. And it should cost less than harmonic motors and be more reliable. The controller can be open source such as OnStep.

This was great to hear. I am just getting into the hobby and I was indeed wondering if I would be better off buying a heavy German equatorial mount. It helps to understand there may not be much advantage in spending more on a heavier kit, and that the strain wave mounts are a progression of economy and performance.

Yes, SW mounts ARE superior. Saying that they are not better because they don't track any better than traditional worm gear mounts, while true, is not really accurate. SW mounts don't seek to be a tracking solution, that's been well solved for centuries. But, SW mounts ARE better than worm gear mounts(consumer grade, that is) in nearly every way you can compare them(similar weight cap), and supersede them even, in a few features, and PE is a non issue. The idiot proof, resilient strain wave gear alone, is a game changer for beginners. You can't hurt these things if you tried.

I don't drive, so my options for a full setup were limited prior to harmonic drive options becoming popular. Now that I have a HEM15 (5.5lb) mount, it's not hard to use transit to carry my Sharpstar 61 EDPH III refractor, Asiair Plus, Asi533mc Pro camera, 120mm guide scope, asi120mm guide camera, Celestron Lithium Pro battery, Surface Go (for PA and flats), and all the cords and other pieces I need to get it up and running.

Wild that if I chose to use the CW, this tiny mount would have a payload equivalent to the much, much larger HEQ5 Pro.

So what makes it able to run with no counterweights?

Thanks Trevor for your videos.
Been in the ZWO environment for several years and when I heard about the AM5 it was a natural to add that to my gear. Being able to transport this mount compared to my EQ6 is night and day. It is compact, lightweight, accurate, and works seamlessly with the ZWO program. Using the ZWO stacking on deep sky objects is perfect for those outreach events. I highly recommend this to beginner and advanced astronomers.

I will stick with my heq5 mount. I have no problems with this mount and it tracks and runs accurately very well. Great mount.

Warpastron WD-17S user here. I love it! It's a game changer for me.. setting up dual 80mm's on it.

Adds are getting ridiculous. I kept pressing skip but it went on for 9 minutes...?

Love my AM5. Its a contradiction- light weight and portable, yet the best tool to mount on my backyard Primaluce pier. I have used a first generation RedCat51, an AT115, and a 6" SkyWatcher Mak on this mount. All three are outfitted with their own ASIAir, guide scope, and cameras, so change out takes less than 5 minutes. I just leave the AM5 on the pier and cover with a 13 gallon trashcan during wet weather. The AM5 stays high and dry; more importantly, polar aligned and ready to go.The only time I get out one of my HEQ5s is for a second telescope.

Will you write or say something about calibrating the polar scope in Star Adventure 2i because it turns out that it is often not calibrated with the device's axis. There is something written in the user manual, but it is not entirely clear to me how to manipulate the calibration screws. Could you at least point to a source where this is more clear. Thank you

Haha, a pleasure to see Kevin on here, love you guys!

I used to love my HEQ-5 but it seemed like I threw out about 1/3 of the frames due to guiding issues. I’ve used my AM-5 for about a year and I rarely throw out frames at all. I haven’t used the HEQ-5 since and will probably try to sell it. I recently bought an HAE-43 for a larger refractor and am really looking forward to using it once the weather improves.

A staradventurer sized strain wave mount, with both RA and DEC tracking would be something.

EM31,the pioneer product of harmonical equatorial mount in China is also one of the best choice. Its upgraded model EM31Pro has maintained an excellent reputation among Chinese astronomy enthusiasts for over two years and is known as the highest quality harmonic equatorial mount in China.

Elon Musk will make this hobby vanish very soon

Hi Trevor. Asiair user, I'm waiting for a ZWO AM7 to hold my 160FL apo refractor !

I keep hearing that strain wave mounts don't use worm gears, but how do they work? How are they different? What are the tradeoffs? I certainly can (and will) investigate this for myself, but social media channels that continue to avoid explaining this are simply regurgitating marketing copy rather than providing useful technical information.

Semi-tangent: ZWO (don't pander to us 'muricans, keep saying zed instead of zee!) is a non-starter for me. As a software developer and contributor to open source software, I can't imagine buying into such an obviously shady walled-garden ecosystem. Stealing the hard work of both software and hardware developers by reselling free software and a Raspberry Pi for a huge markup while not supporting other devices would be a hilarious gambit except for how well it seems to be working.

Buy a Raspberry Pi and astroberry (astroarch if you want RPi 5 support), save a ton of money, and then have full access to the wide ecosystem of devices available.

Well done video as usual Trevor. I did not think I would get a strain wave mount so soon but the AM3 was the perfect fit for my Askar FR300. Interestingly, I thought this was new technology and it may be for mounts, but it is anything but for other purposes. I was listening to a fantastic audiobook about the Lunar Rover program, "Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings", and the strain wave/harmonic system was used primarily for the Rover 60 years ago. Cheers Kurt

I have used the AM5 with a C11 at a fl of 2000mm. It works.

My Wallet Trembles every time this guy uploads

For me right now, the wave 150i is my option, if I had a backyard like yours, for sure I will go at least for the Skywatcher 350, but as I have to move from Bortle 8 sky to the fields and find a bortle 4 sky, portability is what I need, and it will hold an 72ed and also a C8 with counterweight.
But will try to wait till the end of the year to get it, and see reviews an comparison with others. I'm NINA user, and won't move to ASIair

Have to look into this..... I'm digging the form factor.

I feel like this is a great time to be involved in astronomy. So many new devices and improvements in technology make it possible to get started and be successful quickly. I put the AM5 and AM3 in that category.

I have an EQ6R-Pro. But I will get an AM3 for taking on trips. Having a travel friendly setup will just help me get to darker skies with less hassle.

I'm not totally ready yet, because my EQ6r pro works better it has ever worked after I did a tune up and maintenance last year. I did think about getting a smaller strainwave mount, but it's just so new and maybe I'll just wait until the vers. 2.0 of all of these mounts. The Skywatcher does interests me, because they got a proven record and my seal of approval, but regardless it's still their first versions of them. Having 4 years of experience in astrophotography and about 15 years as a visual observer, I am very skeptical about equipment, I've been shaken down with poor quality products sold for premium prices while denying me the option to return the product for RMA, despite their claimed warranty.

Trevor, thanks for the overview. I was looking athe the AM5 but may consider the new sky-watcher 150. Great video ascalways.

Trim that beard you Sasquatch.

I've taken my old LX200 10" SCT off of its fork mount and put it on the AM5 with 8lb counterweight with absolutely no problems.

After using the AM5.... i really dread ever setting up my CGX-L again. I basically just don't use my 11" RASA anymore lol!

Correction: Israel = Occupied Palestine territory;.

clicked video because i thought i saw eminem, was not disappointed. didnt know you were into telescopes

The only issue I have is with this is calling strain wave gears a "new type of technology." The strain wave gear was inverted in 1957 and first used in 1960. It is sometimes also called a harmonic drive, which is actually a brand name. It is used in all sorts of industrial robots and drives where high torque and/or high accuracy is required. I have been in semiconductor manufacturing equipment maintenance and field service since 1987 and this technology is used on nearly every piece of equipment. It's not a new technology, but it's use in astronomy is new.

Thanks for the overview! Strain wave mounts have definitely changed the grab-and-go market and I have an AM5 myself that I use mostly for solar and shorter focal length imaging. As you point out though, they tend to have much larger and much more rapidly changing periodic error than worm gear mounts, with my AM5 charting 21.7" max (compared to 7" for an A-P Mach1 and 0.25" for the encoder equipped A-P Mach2). This requires rapid guiding, typically around 0.5 seconds. The 1000mm recommendation for the AM5 comes from the average guided performance of the AM5, which tends to be around 0.6" RMS unless you happen to have an exceptionally good copy. At 1000mm with an ASI2600 (3.67 u pixel), pixel scale is 0.78"/pixel, so most of your error will be contained within a single pixel. This is mainly significant for long exposure imaging of course, for planetary or solar with lucky imaging, not really an issue. Notably, the iOptron mounts like the HAE29 are equipped with high resolution encoders, and produce unguided periodic error of around 3-4".

these are very high priced 😵‍💫😅

Hey Trevor, great video as always. Just a thought, it would be nice if you could run a little experiment with AM5 with a SCT and evaluating the results for deep space images, especially with tracking and guiding. Not a lot of video exists on YT, and the CN forums have divided opinion on SCT-AM5 setups.
Cheers

And the battle of "which one is better" on Cloudynights - starts anew :) Yet none of these new mounts were the first on the market. I am curious to hear long time users of Hobym or similar. They were very expensive proposition.
At the same time, while I was dreaming of upgrading my AVX to something more... better, and even contemplating spending $13K+ on 10Micron - the ZWO came along and made me re-think my priorities - ease of use, how tiresome is to drag all gear - set it up etc. I had to face the reality, and now I am looking at these mounts.

Can I know about AM3 and cat 51 bundle

The problem is that there nothing for smaller budgets with strain wave mounts.

What's going to happen to GEM manufactures like Losmady?

Gee, what crazy technology is out there?
I'm still monkeying with my 40 years old Vixen SP mount+ SS2K goto!
😧😫😱

the only gripe i have is that there is NOTHING in them that needs to make them so expensive

To damn expensive, Im stuck with the Sky-Watcher AZ GTI wifi. This guy is to rich for me. And talks with hands like Tigan? Teagan? At Highpoint.😢

Just bought myself a NYX-101 with a AskarPHQ65 and PHQ130 in dual configuration. This baby can lift some weight 😮

Not sure that this has been mentioned before, but, unlike the Wave 150i, the Wave 100i does not use a "standard" mount adapter, it is 73mm and not 85mm, so it will NOT fit on a tripod designed for the AM5 style 85mm adapter. Thought I found my mount, but nope...

A mount like this with a goto hand unit and manual polar align would be nice. As an option.

The price though.