It all started with a trip to the scientific center in my home country of Kuwait. I was 8 years old. I remember being mesmerized from the start when I saw those mini telescopes lined up in the gift store. A decade and some years later, I was back home after spending 12 years abroad. That's when I rediscovered my love for the sky. I spent weeks researching the hobby, quickly familiarizing myself with all things optical! Recalibrated my budgets and bought my second telescope. It was a 12 inch dobsonian that I can barely move, and I took it to the desert the following night. It was there that I captured my first astro-image of Saturn.
"There has to be a better way to do this," I told myself.
At around 6am that very same morning, I placed an order for my first ZWO planetary camera and down the rabbit whole I was blissfully lost.
I used mine for the first time (under the stars) last night. It was a complete disaster! I dont know which one i had more, when the app crashed or when something failed. Focusing completed "successfully" a couple of times, but none of them had anywhere near to focus. Even when i manually got it close to focus, it is just messed it up. Polar alignment after a few failed attempt was completed. Guiding calibration completed once, it was very bad. Tried to clear the calibration and calibrate it again, but it was always failed. PLatesolve also failed numerous times, but even when it was "successful" and picked a target, it turned the mount to a completely different place. Also, i took a few bias frames before it got dark, i set that images would be saved on a pendrive, but i cant view images through the app, the view sections say there are no images. The images are there on the pendrive when i check it on my laptop. It was a beautiful clear Bortel 4 night, wasted.
Thank you for your review! I would like to use it with a TC40 Tripod. Wich adapter I need? What do you mean with the TC40 adapter plate? Thank you for your help!
I saw your video - link to it was over at Cloudy Nights. Excellent job of breaking things down for using MetaGuide - I had been struggling with collimation of both my C8 and C9.25 and gave up hope of ever using it. First time I tried it was on the morning of 7/14 with the C9.25 and the improvement in my pics was tremendous! Thanks!
AstraPharmaq8, have you tried this yet with the Juwei-17? I'm not worried about the Bets Bugs in the software (and firmware) as that will (or should) be taken care of before release. Equipment control is the most important, mount (especially meridian flip), focuser, guiding, imagers, dew heaters, etc. The rest can be dealt with using external software if needed for now. Nice first light and review!
I have this same mount, but in Blue instead. For the price of a Strain Wave Gear (Harmonic) mount, it can't be beat. Cabling isn't a big deal, if you take the time to make a "harness" that fits everything, and is routed to not snag on anything. The other good thing, is it will help to drive down the costs of other mounts too. 😁
Hi, first thank you for your test ! I'm very interrested by this mount because i need to upgrade my setup (eq3.2 + onstep for motorisation). I realy hesitate between an HEQ5 Pro v2 with Rowan kit and this harmonic mount. The prices for both are about the sames for me (in France... so sorry if my english is not good ;-) and I don't know what are the pro and cons for each mount. So can you give me your opinion please ?
@@AstraPharmaq8 Hi, I've a Skywatcher 150-750 telescope with a PlayerOne ARES-C Pro (imx533) and an SVBony SV105 with 120mm lens for guiding. Thank you
Interesting. Thanks for this video. I'm not in the market for a new mount, I have an Eq6r-pro which I'm happy with, but as someone who sets up and breaks down every night, I could use a lighter mount. I'm still in the "wait and see" phase, there are so many strain wave mounts currently, I want to see how they perform in the medium term. Are they durable? any parts that suffer wear and tear? The zwo am5 has been around for a couple of years and so far no horror stories that I have known of, people seem to love it. Hopefully it will be the same with this newer mounts? We'll see. Thanks so much for the info, clear skies!
@@sjpp71 You want my advice? Don’t sell your Eq6r-pro. I am all for the harmonic revolution out there but the EQ6 was and still is the best mount I’ve owned, I regret selling it. It is future proof! The am5’s stated payload may be the same with a CW but that’s only at 20cm from the axis of rotation. It would never handle a larger SCT like the eq6 would!
Ali shows this mount again and again but no review found. Finally, here you are. Many thanks. Plus, can I ask how weight your equipment on the JUWEI mount on the video?
I don’t think astrophotography is for the people who can’t afford a decent mount. The fact that you don’t even know who manufactures the mount is a red flag to everyone. Buy cheap, buy twice!
TY for this great review. Your honesty and concerns for your subscribers comes thru. I am saving for an AM5. Takes time as a retired old geezer. Risking $1000 on something new is difficult for me. I will be waiting to see how your experiences with it continue for a while. Keep up the good work.
The wedge is quite nice actually. It is more than adequate for the total payload capacity. The ALT adjusting mechanism is nicer than many other mounts having actual bearings. I had mine fully apart to properly measure for, and make adapters for mounting it to two different tripods without a pier extension. That was so the AZ "peg" would align properly with the AZ adjusting bolts I relocated. I had to drill and thread the holes and couldn't accurately do it without disassembling the wedge. Then I made 2 pier extensions, one short, and one long which will fit the AVX tripod. Plus I made an adapter for my Meade LX-80 tripod with "fine" leveling adjusters on the tripod legs. They are blue so I got the Juwei-17 in blue. 😁
@@sharonsharonsharon1 I made a 60mm diameter "puck" and attached it to the bottom of the Juwei-17 mount. It (the puck) has a center threaded hole so the center rod of the AVX tripod threads into it, and holds the mount quite nicely. The "puck" to fit the Skywatcher tripod should be the same 60mm diameter. The AVX center rod is M10, not sure what the SW threads are on the rod. With the puck and center rod holding the mount on, the 2 outboard AZ bolts aren't really necessary.
So this has an in-built OnStep controller? I use OnStep for my EQ-5. Would I need my current controller alongside this or is it straight to PC via ASCOM?
The board is a complete OnStep controller board. It is a clone of the miniESP3 board, which is very similar to the maxESP3 pinmap. It uses a rtc module ds3231, it runs the web server and wifi through the esp8266, and onstep and Bluetooth on the esp32. All you need to do as AstraPharma says, is connect with either the USB, or with BT or WiFi. The ASCOM driver is available to download. The range of the wireless isn't very far though. Being enclosed by the aluminum mount body cuts down on the signal strength. There is a "passive" antenna on the inside of the black power panel though, but it only helps so much. Be aware mine came with tracking enabled upon power up. You need to reflash the firmware to turn it off, which is pretty easy. You want it off in case you aren't paying attention to the imaging equipment, and there is a power interruption. When power comes back on, the mount will keep on tracking until your scope hits something.
Another great video ! It’s an outrage that you don’t have more followers :) BTW Have you had any updates on the Touptek Astrostation? I’m tempted (currently all my gear is ZWO but I’m fed up waiting for their camera rotator to go on sale) as it looks a lot more flexible in terms of equipment?? It might even control the DIY Cheapodc dew heaters shown on the Stellamate website :)
@@Lord_Whiteley Thank for the feedback and I’m glad you are enjoying the content! The Touptek team are iterating fast with a new update every week! It is still not a complete app nor is it as advanced as the ASIair yet but surely it must be close to an official release. It doesn’t have a rotator control module either, not yet at least.
Nice review and thanks for pointing out the original 'defect'. It was good the manufacturer got back to you with a solution. My defination of good company is how they handle problem if one does occur. Seems like a good mount, wonder if it was produced at the same place that the AM5 was made.
@@beatsntoons Elite level complement! Thank you very much! Great idea for a video, I want to make a video on some power/usb hubs soon so maybe I can touch on it on that video 😄
Can you show in a litle more detail what repair you made to the Dec axis? I am seriously considering this mount but it is still an expensive gamble if it doesn't pay off and how good are they at answering your questions?
Great review Ali! 👍Initially I was also thinking about affording the Juwei17 but I then went a tiny bit more pricy with the UMi17 as I could find even less info about the Juwei17 on the net than for the UMi17. I think the Alt setting knob on the Juwei is much nicer than the EQ5 style knobs on the UMi17. Maybe the Juwei17 could make a great mount No. 4 for me. 😄
I like it, i mean the review, it is kept short, yet still has all the information i want to know about a mount! Do you know the UMi mounts from Proxisky/Meow Astro? Those are in the similar price range, maybe slightly more expensive. I have their first mount, the UMi17, it is great, i got 0.4-0.5 guiding with the 250PDS (with counterweight), usually similar or batter with the 150 Quattro without counterweight.
@@harynjk Thanks for the positive feedback on the video, It means a great deal! Sure, I was debating getting one of those too!! The harmonic revolution is here to stay it seems and the more competitive the market becomes the better for us!! CS!
Really nice video. You are really getting good at this. Thanks for talking just a little slower :)f. Looking forward to more of them. Do you have any idea how to get service on the mount?
@@marvinwhisman3333 Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. You can always contact the seller if you need help on issues with the mount, unfortunately it being shipped from china may present logistical issues
Awesome review - I've been looking at these for a cheap second rig I'm putting together. Its only going to be carrying a small refractor or possibly even a camera lens and CMOS camera, so I'd say its good enough. I certainly didn't want to pay for an AM5 for a second rig that won't get used all that often.... Great channel too by the way...
@@AlexN-Astro That’s precisely why I bought mine. I couldn’t believe that a mount half the price of the AM5 and even cheaper than the AM3 with comparable specs to the AM5 would deliver like it did. I was going to be happy with less than average performance that is good enough for wider setups but it exceeded my expectations! Thanks for the feedback on the channel!!
Juwei now have developing a use 14 motor version, you can think it. is same with am3 details , ah hey bro next time maybe you can ask the manufacturer, because I get it is eng version
