#Which Harmonic Mount?

19 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

glass orchid
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So I am getting very close to pulling the trigger on a new Harmonic mount and help @karmic rune out using one of his links!

Basically, Whilst I'm strongly heading towards the AM5n, I'm interested in experiences and thoughts as to why I might want to opt for a dirrerent solution?

My reasons for the AM5n being:

  1. All my scopes (Redcat 51, Z61 dual scope, Esprit 100 and Edge 8HD) are within the max payload without a counterweight
  2. Seemless integration with ASI Air which I use for travelling
  3. The excellent guiding reporting and lightweight I have seen in pretty much every review I can find!
  4. Availability from mainstream suppliers (and astrobiscuit links) in the UK

I'm currently using Losmandy mounts and NINA in the back garden, but the weight and bulkiness of the Losmandy mounts is becomming tedious as I set up and tear down each night, which is putting me off! My aim with the lighter harmonic mount being to image more and travel with kit more.

Whilst I do like the look of a nyx 101, I don't need the additional cost or payload. Similar for Warp Astron WD20. The WD17 looks interesting, but having come from one "quirky" environment in Losmandy to another with the Warp Astron (from what I gather from reviews anyway) and seemless integration with ASIAir for travel, probably swings me towards the AM5n. Similarly for Ioptron, with ASIAir integration.

At home it will be mounted on a berlebach uni or AVC steel tripod. Travelling mounted on either these mounts or a rigid carbon fibre camera tripod I already own. Used with pier adapter for most scopes (but not the redcat I'm thinking?)

I'm open to any thoughts and experience with harmonic mounts, especially if I've missed something big? Its a large investment for me so want to make sure I've considered everything, or at least as much as I can?

Please be gentle, its my first post! Cheers

astral island
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I have a umi17, similar characteristics to the am5 but higher reduction and works with onstep and most importantly waaay cheaper

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I've used it so far up to 1m of fl with a 8" f/5 on top but the same mount has been used with a edge hd at full fl and with a 10" meade sct

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the current gen is the ragdoll 17, around 1500$ for am5 performance. the maker is proxisky and admittedly I'm a little biased

glass orchid
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I hadn't come accross that mount. I'll look into it, but suspect its a direct from China purchase? This would rule it out for me as I want a UK support option. But I'll certainly check it out thanks

astral island
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yeah you have to buy from their site or directly from them on their discord but they do ship to the uk

karmic rune
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thx for thinking of me. I have an em31 pro with onstep now which I bought at half price to review its as good as the am5 but I personally prefer the am5's simpler user experience.

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the am5 I used was guiding at 0.3arc seconds on the baby eagle head up the volcano in La Palma

meager stratus
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I own a proxisky ragdoll 17, love it and i managed to get 0.6-0.7 arcseconds guiding (seeing wasnt the best), but i think i can do better

astral island
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I've noticed with my umi that guiding is dependent on seeing in a very noticeable way

dry bough
meager stratus
white remnant
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I got a Wave 150i, and while I haven't had a ton of time to fully evaluate it (particularly for imaging), I will say this: the locking pins that allow you to balance the mount are a bigger hassle than you may think. The declination screws need to be Hulk smashed into place to prevent the saddle from wiggling. I've decided to avoid messing with them. (The RA pin is nowhere near as problematic, which is good if you use a counterweight.)

Also, if you plan to use it for visual, the SynScan Pro app struggles to connect with the mount over Bluetooth sometimes.

That being said, a harmonic mount significantly reduced the amount of mass I need to haul to my observing sites and I'm very happy about that. If you want some extra payload capacity margin (which might be a good idea with a EdgeHD 8") it's probably not a bad idea.

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Regardless, I haven't seen anyone not like the AM5N.

glass orchid
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So I pulled the trigger and a shiney new AM5n arrived from FLO today. And miracles of miracles, I had an hour of clear skies to test things out!

First surprise. The max/min periodic error chart. 5.4/2.2! whilst I’ll always be guiding, this is the lowest figures I’ve seen posted?

After initial set up, was guiding around 0.5 arcseconds. This using an ASIAir without much tweaking of guide settings. A few test shots of 600 seconds yields round stars on a Redcat 51 and 533 camera.

Polar alignment seems so much finer than on my Losmandy GM8, it’ll take me a little while to get used to it, but the ability to easily rotate the whole head in the carbon tripod is neat for coarse adjustment (up until the main load isn’t over a leg anyway) is another novelty for me.

Finally, oh boy, the joy of lifting the carbon tripod, mount and scope in one easy move to get in and out of the house, I will not under estimate. Even tonight, for just an hour or so, it’s worth it!

My next opportunity after the storm will be to refine guide settings in the Air. After that, change scopes to my Z61 based NINA setup, then Esprit 100 setup then finally the Edge 8HD at some point, but that’s probably a good few weeks off?

pseudo drum
# white remnant Regardless, I haven't seen anyone *not* like the AM5N.

It’s technically not am5n but am3. My unit is/was faulty I think. It was stopping in the middle of slewing and giving a strange sound (similar to the one coffee grinder gives). I sent it once back, I was told it was the cable that wasn’t right and I got it back with a new cable. The issue occurred again so I sent ot back and apparently it was a power issue. Zwo decided to give me a new unit that I haven’t had a chance to test it, but out of 5 months that I have this harmonic mount it wasn’t working or was being investigated by technicians for most of the period.

astral island
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High aggressiveness and short guide subs, then slowly adjust the settings to see what works best

glass orchid
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Currently getting around 0.5 arcseconds with 0.25 guide rate, 1 sec exposures and 75 aggressiveness on Dec and RA with 800ms duration. Pretty much the only things I can change on the Air.

I’m ecstatic as with my GM8 the best I ever got was about 1.5 arcseconds (although I’m not finished tweaking and improving that mount just yet!)