🔭 ZWO AM5 Vs. Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount. The lightweight and the heavyweight 

Some clarifications since the video was posted: Cost! In the video starting at 07:38 I note the cost difference is $1,200 to $1,500AUD. I’ve since looked on a couple of American astro gear sellers, and the difference is next to ZERO! Australia tax strikes again ☹ Curiously though, a quick look at a couple of UK astro sellers and the difference is about £900. W to T actual F? Payload. I never mentioned it, but both mounts are rated to a 20kg/44lbs payload which is why people often think of the two. The AM5 requires no counterweight from 0-10kgs/22lbs, recommend a max 5kg/11lbs counterweight for payloads between 10-13kg, and must use a max 5kg/11lbs counterweight above 13kg/29lbs. The counter weight is not to balance the head, it’s to balance the rig not tipping over. The EQ6-R Pro requires counterbalancing at any payload because it is the mount head being balanced. Drive differences. If you’re looking at this video you probably already know it, but the AM5 is a harmonic drive, and the EQ6-R Pro is a belt/worm drive.

The EQ6 r pro is a belt drive, it also comes with a polar scope, it is also a solid monster stable platform that never disappoints. Heavy, yes, affordable, much more so, it’s built for a pier for sure, I leave mine up year round. Polar Aline every 3 months just to be sure.

I own 2 EQ6-R-Pros [both set up permanently on my driveway] and I also own the AM3 and AM5, which I use for remote work. However, the guiding on my 2 EQ6s at times is .2 arc seconds, and I have been able to guide successfully at over 2000 mm focal length with a 60 mm guide scope [no OAG]. They are absolutely the best as they are so heavy that wind doesn't touch them and vibrations tap down quickly. Oh, as if it sounds like a joke [it's not], I have a 3rd rig set up for wide field imaging with my 16 year old Orion Sirius EQ mount that guides at .6-.8 arc seconds! Love them all!

Hi Clem. Love the video! I live in an appartment and go up to the roof too. I went down this same upgrade route about 6 months ago (I started getting recurring back trouble from lugging my classic EQ6). The camping cart is now half the load (67.3kg -> 34.4Kg) it used to carry. Setup is very much easier and about 20 minutes quicker. A warning though! All this saved "weight" means much less "inertial mass" which plays a big role in damping. Compared with an EQ6, the AM5 PE200 TC40 combo is terrible at absorbing vibrations that can be caused by any slight mechanical flexure in the rig. Every telescope has flexure, and it can be quite significant with bigger payloads (particularly large APO's). For photography it can be a show stopper if there's any wind at all. I was completely unaware that I had a issue when running my EON 130 APO on the EQ6. When unboxing the AM5 it was immediately obvious that I was in big trouble. One tap of the finger and the whole OTA started to buzz. My dealer was a dick about it too, so I was on my own. I tried various mitigations (tripod feet upgrade for the TC40; putting 10kg counterweights + 2kg battery into the TC40's hammock; switching the vixen dovetail for a losmandy item; and removing the optional counterweight in case it was 'ringing'). None of these fixed it for me. While the rig could perform OK on windless nights, the polar alignment and focussing stubbornly remained tediously slow, annoying, and unpleasant. The first (auto) exposure was always a useless throw away whenever I needed to touch the scope. In the end I replaced the TC40 with the EQ6 tripod. It's actually very easy to replace the tripod's central screwthread with a piece of 3/8" 16 TPI rod and some knobs (from amazon) and fit the PE200 up there (I leave it attached all the time). I find this is MUCH BETTER with heavier payloads and I'd recommend you don't choose the TC40 if you go above (say) a 8" SCT or a 4" refractor. Although these legs are 5kg heavier, you dont need 10kg of ballast so you still win out on weight. Longer legs slightly extended are much more stable and this way it feels planted and SAFE to run without the counterweight (I'm right on the limit at about 12.5kg). I've ordered an AM3 and FF80, ASIair mini, and a 2600 duo to go on the TC40 and I'm working on some ideas to make this into a real (one trip one hand) grab and go rig for wider targets where I don't need the reach of the EON.

received an AM5 about 5 weeks ago and love it. Your video is well done - thank you

Exactly what I’m looking at now Thanks for the informative clip 👍🏻

I’ve been using my ZWO AM5 for about 3 months now, it is an EXCELLENT mount and has met/surpassed all of my expectations. I purchased it for roughly $1600 USD which is comparable to the EQ6R pro. When trying to decide between the two the AM5 was a brand new mount so there was not much in terms of reviews or comparisons. I pulled the trigger and purchased the AM5 and am happy I did. The EQ6R pro is a long lived legend and has proven to be reliable, I’m sure it’s a fantastic piece of kit but my AM5 leaves nothing to be desired. I use four scopes of 180mm FL, 525mm FL, 1250mm FL, and 2350mm FL. They all track and guide very well under 0.8.

With some wind I am still guiding at 0.5 with my EQ-6R PRO at 1400mm f7, with my AM5 with some wind I have to pack my material back in home and watch television. For holiday the AM5 is very nice lightweight setup to take with you, but in my opinion way overpriced. It's like an photography tripod, the lighter it is the more unstable, and if you have to way it down with extra materials than the benefit of the light weight is gone. The EQ-6R PRO certainly is a heavy workhorse for sure, but it is solid and proven to be a very good mount. Like I said, I use my EQ-6R PRO at home and the AM5 when I am going to another place or on holiday, but must say that guiding has been way better on the EQ-6R

Great overview Glenn! Subscribed.

The AM5 is a forever mount for portable astrophotography rigs. I get between .3-.5 rms with 30mm scope, 120mm on phd2 1 sec subs, 25 aggressiveness ra/dec and pec training on auto. All the same with my 10lbs scope, 15lbs scope and 20lbs scopes (135mm,600mm,1500mm.) This is one of ZWO's finest products.

One thing I noticed at 1875mm even a tiny amount of vibration becomes very visible - be a good way to test/compare mounts. Especially during tracking.

Great video. Very informative. Thank you & cs

I'm with you all the way. I have the same equipment as you, the EQ6 r Pro and also the AM5. At my age, 67 spring young, portability is very important, but for my Newton, I prefer to use my SkyWatcher mount.

Great review! Thank you 👍🏻

Awesome video, thank you 🖖🏼

Very nicely explained video.

Great video comparison

And now a year later, ZWO releases the AM5N ( N = New? ) mount with a slightly higher payload capacity w/o a counterweight and significantly lower RA Periodic Error and thru-the-mount USB & 12v Power.

I have the similar AZ-EQ6 and as you say, it's a hell of a load to lug around! Luckily I live in a rural area with a sufficiently spacious backyard so I don't mind continuing to use it. I am however considering either the AM5 or AM3 (leaning more towards the AM3 because of the lighter load) as a portable setup. Being able to possibly fit it in a carry-on bag with 1 or 2 lenses for air travel is a very appealing idea to me. Great video by the way and greetings from south Victoria!

That was a good review. I am considering the AM3 as an economy option

Have them both, love them both.

You've about nailed it there. In your position I would go with AM5 too. As I have the luxury of of being able to have my mount semi permanently set up in my back yard, I'll be sticking with the EQ6-R for the foreseeable future as it works just fine.

Ive gone down almost the same path with mounts, started with a cheaper reflector on an alt-az mount, switched to a star adventurer 2i and now I have an EQ6R pro and its been a journey learning all the ins and outs of this. Looking to get a better camera next and then maybe a better scope

The MAJOR issue of the AM5 for me is that it can only go to -15°C in the winter while the EQ6-R can work easily to -25° (yes i did it). So I kept the EQ6-R for real man Canadian winter imaging 😉

Great vid, thank you

Thx, well done! I am really thinking of getting one of those „big boy pants“ 😊! On the other hand you pointed out the pros and cons of each one so well that it only added to the dilemma 🤣 …

Thank you for the conversion to LBS !!!

Have a couple of friends who are both getting terrible guiding with the AM5 near the zenith, which would obviously be a deal breaker...

It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison on a windy night to see if there is a tracking difference. The idea of the battery underneath is a great idea to add stability. Cheers.

5:39 Small remark: the Skywatcher adapter doesn't have 3/8 thread but M10. With that adapter the AM5 fits very nicely onto the Avalon T-pod series. The T-pod is heavier and bigger than the TC40, however it's still extremely portable and significantly more stable. An added benefit is that Avalons red is almost identical to ZWO's. 😄

I wish someone would do an in-depth review of the AM5 or other strain wave mount with a SCT at focal lengths greater than 1400mm. A 71mm refractor probably guides well on an AVX mount which is what I have with my C8.

Nice video! I have one on my channel too (albeit in Dutch - with subtitles though). I am loving it. About the power cable issue you mentioned, you later on in the video show your scope, camera and ASIAIR. Especially the ASIAIR comes with a motherload of cables. I have my AM5 running on a powerbrick though. The ASIAIR I run through the power output on the AM5. My other mount is the CEM40 and I am considering replacing it with a second AM5 at some point. By the way, the timings in the video description are a bit off. Love the outtakes. So recognizable! ;)

I have the AM5. It's incredible and compact. I brought it out on a semi-last minute 9 hour trip out to West Texas. It was super portable, gave me NO heartburn with setup and use, and just simply gets the job done - polar alignment, finding your target, and tracking. If you have the money, and you're one of the those "Do you know what? Let's do Astrophotography last minute!" Type people. It's worth the investment. Spend once, cry once. My ONLY gripes: You kinda need to buy the ZWO tripod (which is expensive and exclusively made for the AM5), and it doesnt come with the power cable... Both are annoying, but relatively inexpensive.

You made things clear within the first two minute, heavy is going to be more stable yet not as portable, i reken you'll get lower ark second wobbles with the older eq 6

I have the EQ6R and been reliable for over 3 years now and I am quite happy with it. I have been considering a smaller mount for smaller/wider field refractor setup, since I usually shoot with Newtonians, but sometimes I want to skip the ritual I do with those and just put a scope outside and image something. So the AM5 is nice, but I'm waiting to see how the upcoming AM3 will do, because it would only have to carry light setup, and that would save me some money, since it'll be cheaper than the 5.

Nice video. New technoligies are always great and mostly user friendly. I am just about to buy new EQ6-R Pro. I have done some research on both of them, and have decided to go with EQ6 even though both are available at almost the same price. I wanted to have something that is stable and can last longer. Research shows that the Harmonic drives have 6000 hours of life, while steppers with belt drives can last more than double. With EQ6, if any thing breaks, one just need to replace stepper motor/belt (extremely cheaper), while its too costly to replace the harmonic drive (I believe). I am going to mount EQ6 on permanent pier, so weight of the head is not an issue at all.

Hmm, some valid points, but they are not the same. Try to put a 6 inch refractor for visual use on both mounts... and see how long vibrations last when manually focusing. For high resolution, there is no alternative but some mass in the mount.

I just bought my first mount.. The AM5 was on the short list but the ER6 won out because of $$$.. Your review pretty much sums up what I found... the added expenses of the AM5 were kind of a deal breaker.. The AM5 seems to be a superior mount but it has its own baggage :)

whenever I look for such videos about new mounts, they are mostly (over 90%) irrelevant in my case, because they waste so much time always talking about the weight and mobilty etc. But I have an observatory. I don't care about the weight. I care about how GOOD the mount is, i.e. the quality, tracking, guiding ...

For anyone wanting a more lightweight and portable set up, it's a no brainer. However, I leave mine set up outside on the legs and cover it over with protective sheeting etc...I do have cameras and security to protect it, however if I was a thief I know which set up I'd prefer to steal. Trying to run away with 35kg of kit vs 9kg is a lot harder!

Wow! the Cost is much hither in your location. Overall I am replacing my EQ6-R Pro with an AM5 Mount. I have two AM5 Mounts and the are great and work I think much better than the EQ6-R Pro mounts. I also have the CEM40/60/70 Mounts and would pay the extra over the EQ6-R Pro any day. Thanks for a great review.

Germany : AM5 + tripod 3K Euros. EQ6R Pro 2K Euros. I'm planning to get the EQ6R GT that does AZ and EQ tracking (2.5K Euros)

One thing I've had in my mind about these new generation of harmonic drive mounts - the way they work is by constantly flexing a thin steel cup. I wonder about how that holds up against metal fatigue and work hardening over the years. Not to mention the big temperature cycles astro gear goes through. I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes a big issue maybe about 5 years from now. Yes, material design and material choice has been looked at for sure. Do we know for sure what materials ZWO is using, and if they are doing this on the cheap? I can't get away from worrying about that thin-walled flex spline being constantly under elastic deformation.

Hi, I am wondering which of the two mounts would be a better fit for my SCT 8inch from Celestron. The alt-az stock mount is terrible with tracking. Which one you think would be a better choice for my f/2000 telescope slightly heavier.

02/02/2024 UK diff is about £1300, Sky Watcher EQ6 Pro second hand for about £750 2-3 years old.

Good video. Thx. Maybe you can help me. I have a homemade 10” f/8 that weighs around 28kg and I need a mount with tracking. Can you recommend one? Thx!

Hello, I'm having the same mount and the same scope and wanted to ask you if you ever had bad stars when the system approaches the meridian and slightly after meridian flip?

Hi i just found your channel. I just subscribed. As you see i also have a astro channel. Great video i just wish they made either AM3 or 5 without goto for us viual only people that need tracking. Maybe both kinds one with goto for those that want that and for rest of us only tracking no goto. Anyway great video. Joe

Thanks for talking in kilos. Love that!

Excellent video; I'm just planning to buy the AM5 and I have the same set (OTA/CAM/ASIAIRPLUS/Guidetube) so this video has clarified my doubts on the wight being OK for this tripod + mount. But could you help me a bit? How did you mount the AsiAPlus on one of the sides? I had to put it on top and place the Guide tuve to the AsiAPlus which I don't like it very much, I would like to place the AsiAPlus on one of the sides as your set...any help on the shoe / size of the screws that are needed? The ones that come with the classical ZWO AsiAirPlus shoe are smaller and do not fit the "holes" of the yellow mounting plate of the WOptics 91...thanks for your help and for this video!

Hi Name Is Jerry Fox I really liked you information. I am a novice sky watcher. I am retired and now have time to do more star gazing. So I have been thinking about a setup with the ZWO equipment. A I feel me being the age I am (70) I think the AM5 would be the much better unit for me. All though from some of the research I have done shows that the tripod for the ZWO AM5 may have some drawbacks as to the stability of it. That is why I like a heavier and maybe less wobbly tripod. But all your information was great. Thank you,

Good review. So how is the tracking between the two?

Hello, I hope you can help me. I have almost the sane set up : mount, trípod and scope WOptocs 91. I do not have a Filter wheel but I have a filter drawer for my ZWO294 color camera. I realized my stars look a bit elongated in the corners; I have checked the “bubbles” of the mount to be Ok, and a good centered position of the scope. This set up is supposed to get the back focus at 5,4mm right? I have also checked and rechecked this but the stars are still not punctual. I have seen the same setup getting back focus at 6,5 mm, I also tried this but did not work for me. Any tips, advice, help you can give me? Thanks indeed in advance.😊

Could you measure the dimensions of the AM5 case - I'm flying out to a dark sky site in the autumn and the overhead cabin bag limit is 8kg and 56 x 45 x 25 cm (for Airbus fleet low cost carriers).

I have the AM5 and the AM3. The AM3 is now my go to travel mount - it has similar tracking to the AM5 for a light rig. The scope/camera/mount all fits into a bag all assembled and ready to go. Minutes of setup, and that suits me just fine :-)

I am considering the am3 mount, however I need to know on this mount , do I need a computer to move the mount, is there a hand controller. Sometimes I just want to view, I am just starting astrophotography.

I got the AM5 as my second mount upgrading from the SkyWatcher SA2i and it’s been great but surprisingly I find it difficult and even a pain to PA. The declination adjustment works decently fine but the RA adjustment screw/knob is pretty bad. It either doesn’t work at all or it’s very janky and I always have to settle with the bare minimum PA. If anyone else has this issue or could help me find out what’s wrong I would greatly appreciate it. I also don’t know if I’m using good guide settings for my setup (Redcat 51 and 533mc pro). For calibration step and max dec and RA duration I use the default setting of 2000. My RA aggressiveness is 70 and dec 100. When imaging my total error is normally between .7-1.2. My only other complaint about the mount is that there are a lot of knobs and such that stick out so supervision during slewing and meridian flips is a must. It would be nice to go to sleep and not have to worry about setting an alarm for 3am to go outside and watch it. Other than all that it’s a great mount of high build quality and quite portable. It also works very well with asiair and other zwo stuff if you use that but it can be used with other stuff as well.

a tip for conversion or modification to fit a conventionel tripod: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jNvy1Lg1-1s.html

Maybe I missed something, but these mounts are about $100 USD apart from each other, tripod and all. Do you still recommend the Eq6-R Pro in any way if the price difference is marginal?

For apartment living am5 is must. For that rig, anything below 1.5” rms is also fine. Do you worry that someone could get you rig ? It is so lightweight.

What was your battery please 🙏🏼

Well if you consider the price not the weight then i think go for eq6r and if you got plenty to spend then go for am5 😅 for me i consider go for eq6r cos my pocket not thick enough for am5 😂

Hi nice video, is the AM5 mount compatible with the EQ6R-pro tripod?

Ok so one it’s lighter, that’s pretty obvious with a 1 second glance… how about short and long term performance and actual operation, guiding, PE, tip-overs and frustrations with each, performance in wind and tripod flex with over 50lbs on it like the EQ6 handles? Unless I’m hauling it up a mountain in a backpack it’s 5kg vs 17kg, not really a massive difference as 5kg is starting pretty low, it’s not 100kg vs 300kg, and neither are a 2 man operation…

AM5 looks like a child toy while the eq6 looks like a proper scientific instrument that is one more advantage.

Feel bad for people who have to travel to clear sky’s, the big 6 clearly isn’t designed for that. Not sure why you’re comparing it here, makes no sense ?

We will start using kilos when you stop saying Zed