How much can the ZWO AM5N carry?

15 kg without a counterweight and 20 kg with one, from a 5.5 kg head. The spec card in my showdown video read 13 kg without a counterweight, the original AM5 figure; ZWO, First Light Optics and High Point Scientific all state 15 kg.

How well does the AM5N guide?

In my seven-mount showdown it averaged 0.99 and 1.10 arcsec total RMS over four targets in its two runs, sixth and eighth of the eight rows; its best target was the North America Nebula at 0.66 arcsec. Its guide log split the first Heart Nebula run into 0.92 arcsec in RA and 0.89 in Dec, and the second North America Nebula run into 0.46 and 0.46. Its polar alignment was almost spot-on, so its weaker rounds were not down to that.

What changed from the AM5 to the AM5N?

The payload capabilities without counterweight have gone up from 13 kg to 15, and the power port has been relocated to the saddle, as well as the inclusion of a USB-C port to control the mount with.

Can the AM5N take long exposures at long focal lengths without guiding?

My M 13 through the Skymax 180 at 2,700 mm is 15 unguided exposures of 60 seconds, and it came out surprisingly solid.

Does the AM5N come with a tripod or a counterweight?

Neither. The head comes with a hand controller, a travel case and cables; the tripod and the counterweight bar are extra. First Light Optics sells it with ZWO's TC40 carbon fibre tripod as a set at £2,419 against £2,099 for the head.

Is the AM5N worth it over a cheaper strain-wave mount?

On guiding alone, no: the ClearSky ST25, EM31 Pro, TeSeek 17, TeSeek 11 and JUWEI-14 all averaged lower in my showdown, most of them for far less. You pay for ZWO's app and ASIAIR integration and the ports on the saddle.

ZWO AM5N review: a 5.5 kg head for 15 kg of telescope

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 18 mounts on my board, against price
Rank	Mount	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	TeSeek NanoTracker	100 out of 100	£52
2	ClearSky ST25	94 out of 100	£1,259
3	TeSeek 11	93 out of 100	£252
6	TeSeek 17	88 out of 100	£536
8	ZWO AM5N	71 out of 100	£2,099
12	EM31 Pro	52 out of 100	£1,679
16	ZWO AM3	34 out of 100	£1,599
17	Sky-Watcher GTi Mount	33 out of 100	£435
18	Celestron CG5	24 out of 100	£299

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 What would you put on it?
05 How well does it guide?
06 What is it for? In my words
07 Here's what I captured with the AM5N
08 Raw against finished
09 Watch the review
10 Every row of my showdown, and the readings behind each one
11 Should you buy it?
12 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 71/100

Reviewed 7 Nov 2024 Updated 24 Sep 2026

Rank: #8 of 18 mounts
Verdict: Worth a look

Written by Damon Scotting 8 min read

Buy it if

You use an ASIAIR and ZWO cameras and want the mount, the app and the controller to work as one system.
Your rig weighs up to about 15 kg and you would rather not carry counterweights.
You travel with your rig: the head is 5.5 kg and packs into hand luggage.

Skip it if

Guiding per pound matters most to you: several cheaper strain-wave mounts track as well or better.
Your rig is under 5 kg: a TeSeek 11 carries it for a fraction of the price.
Your rig is over 15 kg: the ZWO AM7 and ClearSky ST25 carry 20 kg without a counterweight.

“This mount is versatile. It's unbelievably lightweight and, above all else, it's very good at what it does, and that is finding and tracking the wonders of our night sky.”

Specifications and features

Against the strain-wave mounts I have reviewed

Compare with

ZWO AM5N reviewed #8 of 18	EM31 Pro #12 of 18	MLAstro SAL-33 #4 of 18	ZWO AM5 #9 of 18	JUWEI-17 #7 of 18	TeSeek 17 #6 of 18
Recorded UK price	£2,099	£1,679	£937	£2,099	£669	£536
Stars for Your Buck	71/100	52/100	91/100	58/100	85/100	88/100
Average guiding RMS	0.99 and 1.10 arcsec	0.73 arcsec	0.7 to 0.8 arcsec	0.6 to 0.8 arcsec	0.40 to 0.61 arcsec on M 31, 1.52 to 1.57 on M 45	0.85 arcsec
Best target in my showdown	0.66 arcsec, North America	0.61 arcsec, Heart	0.41 arcsec, Elephant's Trunk	not in the showdown	0.40 arcsec, Andromeda (M 31)	0.45 arcsec, Heart
Type	Harmonic drive (strain-wave) head for equatorial and alt-azimuth use	Harmonic (strain-wave) head, equatorial or alt-azimuth	Harmonic (strain-wave) mount, equatorial or alt-azimuth	Harmonic drive (strain-wave) head for equatorial and alt-azimuth use	Harmonic (strain-wave) equatorial mount	Harmonic (strain-wave) equatorial mount
No-counterweight payload	15 kg	15 kg	15 kg	13 kg	13 kg	13.5 kg
Counterweight payload	20 kg	20 kg	20 kg	20 kg	18 kg	18 kg
Mount weight	5.5 kg head	4.0 kg head	5.3 kg	5 kg head	5.15 kg head	3.2 kg head
Periodic error	±10 arcsec	not recorded	not recorded	under ±20 arcsec	Approximately 25 arcsec peak-to-peak in one owner's unguided, drift-corrected RA test; not a factory limit	not recorded
Gearing	Harmonic drive and synchronous belt, 300:1	Strain-wave gear and synchronous belt, 300:1; RA brake	Low periodic error 17:100 harmonic drives on both axes	Harmonic drive and synchronous belt, 300:1	Two size-17 harmonic reducers, 400:1	Two size-17 harmonic gearboxes, 400:1 on both axes
Control	ZWO app over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, USB, ASIAIR; hand controller in the box	OnStep; hand controller, ASIAIR	OnStep X	ZWO app over Wi-Fi, USB, ASIAIR; hand controller in the box	OnStep app	WiFi and Bluetooth app; ASIAIR
Power	12 V DC, 3 A minimum (5 A recommended); DC out and USB-C on the saddle	12 V DC, 5 A; DC 12 V and Type-C ports	12 V DC, 3 A minimum, 5 A recommended	12 V DC (11 to 15 V), 3 A or more; USB, autoguide, hand controller and power ports on the head	12 V DC; no power output port	12 V, 2 A
Tripod or pier	Not included; ZWO's TC40 carbon fibre tripod is sold with it as a set	85 mm base, 3/8-16 fixing; optional EMTC44 tripod or EMH150 pier	3/8 inch thread and three M6 holes, as the ZWO AM5	Any tripod with a 3/8 inch screw; not included	GEM4 base; 125 mm diameter; 12 mm centre column	Metal latitude base included; no tripod
In the box	Head, hand controller with 2 m cable, travel case, 2 m USB-B and 1 m USB-C cables, performance sheet, quick guide, M6 Allen key; no counterweight bar	Mount; hand controller; Vixen/Losmandy saddle; mounting adapter; 0.5 m and 2 m USB 2.0 cables; soft bag	The mount head only; no power supply	Head, carry case, 2 m USB 2.0 cable, hand controller with 2 m cable, performance sheet, quick guide, M6 and M4 Allen keys	Head, data cable, counterweight bar, adjustment column, Allen key; no counterweight	The mount; no tripod

In the hand

Five frames of my own footage: the head on the turntable and on the trip it went on

On the turntable

Saddle ports, straight on

Carrying the ZWO FF80

The FF80 on the AM5N at night

Watching the sky

What would you put on it?

The AM5N's 15 kg and 20 kg ratings under a rig you can change part by part, then the same rig on six other mounts

How well does it guide?

My seven-mount showdown of 28 to 29 Sep 2025, where the AM5N ran in both groups as the reference mount: the published average and per-target figures

“The total RMS over a very long period of 40 minutes was 1.53, which if we're being honest, isn't acceptable.”

“The odd part is that its results aren't down to a dodgy polar alignment. In fact, its polar alignment is almost spot-on.”

“The rest of the bunch seem to be producing solid numbers, with the AM5N mount eventually giving readings that are almost identical to its scores in the small mounts test. So, it is proving to be consistent.”

About this visualisation

This visualisation illustrates the guiding figures on this page: the published RMS for each target and the ASIAIR readings from my showdown. It is not the AM5N’s precise recorded tracking, and the moving traces are drawn to those figures, not replayed from the mount.

What is it for? In my words

Four things the AM5N is for, in my words

Power and USB-C on the saddle

When using a larger scope, the issue of cable snags was consistently on my mind, especially when needing to do a meridian flip.

15 kg without a counterweight

Very few of us will be using setups that exceed 15 kg in weight, but you never want to tiptoe the line of exceeding the recommended weight limit.

Deep sky at 2,700 mm, unguided

I have no doubt if you'd put forward the question to a group of elder astrophotographers and asked whether or not the AM5N mount could capture unguided 60-second long deep sky images at 2,700 mm focal length, they would have just laughed at you.

Built to travel

That small bag really starts to go a long way once you notice there's actually no weight restrictions, and you can fit two, that's right, two AM5 mounts inside of it. Talk about travel friendly.

Here's what I captured with the AM5N

Askar 140APO and Skymax 180, headers and captions naming the AM5N

M 42 Orion Nebula, Askar 140APO

Integration: 1 h 15 min (15 x 300 s)
Field: 2.09 x 1.37 degrees
Telescope: Askar 140APO
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 42 Orion Nebula
Type: Emission nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 45 Pleiades, Askar 140APO

Integration: 1 h 45 min (21 x 300 s)
Field: 2.04 x 1.36 degrees
Telescope: Askar 140APO
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 45 Pleiades
Type: Open cluster and reflection nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Leo Triplet (M 65, M 66, NGC 3628), Askar 140APO

Integration: 3 h 25 min (41 x 300 s)
Field: 2.08 x 1.36 degrees
Telescope: Askar 140APO
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: Leo Triplet (M 65, M 66, NGC 3628)
Type: Galaxy group
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 51 Whirlpool Galaxy, Askar 140APO

Integration: 1 h (12 x 300 s)
Field: 2.10 x 1.40 degrees
Telescope: Askar 140APO
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 51 Whirlpool Galaxy
Type: Galaxy
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 13 Hercules Globular Cluster, Sky-Watcher Skymax 180

Integration: 15 min (15 x 60 s, unguided)
Field: 0.27 x 0.18 degrees
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Skymax 180
Camera: ZWO ASI183MC
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 13 Hercules Globular Cluster
Type: Globular star cluster
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

Raw against finished

Watch the review

The 4 targets, the raw combined stack against my finished image, each with its integration, the camera and the palette:

M 42 Orion Nebula: 1 h 15 min (15 x 300 s) of light, ASI6200MC Pro, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
M 45 Pleiades: 1 h 45 min (21 x 300 s) of light, ASI6200MC Pro, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
Leo Triplet (M 65, M 66, NGC 3628): 3 h 25 min (41 x 300 s) of light, ASI6200MC Pro, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch
M 13 Hercules Globular Cluster: 15 min (15 x 60 s, unguided) of light, ASI183MC, the raw combined stack with one automatic stretch

Why it is BETTER than most Mounts? | AM5N Review. · published 7 November 2024 · 9:24 · Watch on YouTube · 18,802 views, 578 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

0:58 The changes: 15 kg and the ports on the saddle
1:37 Why the saddle ports matter
2:34 The Skymax 180 test at 2,700 mm
3:35 M 13 through both telescopes
4:28 Go-to with the app alone
5:25 Against the Celestron CGX
6:14 Strain wave against a German equatorial
7:10 Two heads in one bag
7:29 The TC40 tripod
8:20 Verdict

Transcript of the review video 1,741 words · 12 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

0:00 What is new in the AM5N

0:02 last year the AM5 mount was one of the most popular telescope mounts in the world this year they've taken existing design and improved upon it renaming it to the 0:09 AM5N I'm like 90% certain the N is just to designate that it is new so what is new well in today's video I'm going to 0:16 be finding out as well as putting the mount to some unusual tests including deep Sky Imaging with a Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 at 2700 mm focal length yeah 0:27 and I'll be setting the mount up to be your extremely precise deep sky guide as well as showcasing why it is infinitely better than its older German equatorial 0:35 companions so let's get started I'm Damon Scotting and this is astronomical I'm already a huge fan of the AM5 it's lightweight portable easy to set up and can carry a significant 0:48 payload but most importantly it gets the job done with some very precise go-to and tracking capabilities so upon hearing the news of a newer model I got 0:57 very excited before being quietly underwhelmed these are the improvements the payload capabilities without counterweight have gone up from 13 kg to 15 the asmf locks have been removed and

0:58 The changes: 15 kg and the ports on the saddle

1:07 instead replaced with an allen key slot the mounting bracket on the side has been removed the ZWO logo has also been removed and perhaps most interestingly 1:16 the power port has been relocated to the saddle as well as the inclusion of a USB-C port to control the mount with so at the time of the announcement I 1:25 thought that's not enough of an improvement to make me want to upgrade nevertheless I took the AM5N mount on my upcoming 1:33 trip abroad and in hindsight I'm happy to admit although the improvements are let's just say it subtle they do

1:37 Why the saddle ports matter

1:41 have a significant effect on your workflow when using a larger scope the issue of cable snags was consistently on my mind especially when needing to do a 1:48 meridian flip having the power output and mount control Port both located on the same axis as a telescope makes a lot more sense and reduces this issue almost

1:56 Why 15 kg matters

1:58 entirely I have had a Celestron 10in Newtonian for large on andof periods of my life I love it and then I yearn for more so I sell it and then I buy it back 2:06 again because it's the most cost- effective option there ever was 2:14 it weighs 14 kg without attaching a camera to it meaning I never dared risk it using it on my AM5 without the addition of a counterweight so the 2:22 increase in payload without counterweight to 15 kg from 13 kg is a welcome addition for the AM5N Mount very few of us will be using setups that 2:30 exceed 15 kg in weight but you never want to tiptoe the line of exceeding the recommended weight limit right let's test it out alongside the Skymax 180 I'm

2:34 The Skymax 180 test at 2,700 mm

2:39 using an ASI183MC now this is a dumb idea so dumb not only to be deep Sky Imaging at a ridiculous focal length of 2:48 2,700 mm and an F ratio of 15 but to be shooting at such a high focal length with a camera like the ASI183MC which 2:56 has a very small pixel size it's just foolish these two things don't go together at tool by the way for comparison my RedCat shoots at 250 mm 3:04 and an F ratio of 4.9 as you can imagine I use each of these items for different purposes right now however I'm filming a video for my 3:12 Patreons thanking them for their support and showcasing their new stickers i've made to attach to my gear that they are funded each image includes every single 3:20 one of my members names multiple times with the bigger names corresponding to those who have donated more I did want to showcase some images captured with 3:27 this gear so I popped the Skymax onto the AM5 and and mounted my RedCat onto the AM5 to take some comparison images so I pointed both telescopes at the same

3:35 M 13 through both telescopes

3:36 time to M13 the great globular cluster in Hercules now this is a raw stacked image of 15 1 minute exposures captured with the RedCat and the powerful ASI2600MC Duo 3:47 ASI2600MC Duo not bad whilst this is a raw stacked image of 15 * 1 minute exposures captured with a Skymax 180 and the ASI183MC 3:56 ASI183MC if you've ever used this scope before you'll be well aware that the focuser is a bit of a nightmare nevertheless this image is surprisingly 4:04 solid I have no doubt if you'd put forward the question to a group of elder astrophotographers and asked whether or not the AM5N Mount could capture 4:12 unguided 60-second long deep Sky Images at 2,700 mm focal length they would have just laughed at you I'm not arguing the AM5N is heavily underrated and actually 4:23 better at tracking than most conventional German equatorial mounts I'm just saying people often disregarding the instrument's potential before they've even pushed it to its

4:28 Go-to with the app alone

4:30 limit with the aid of an ASIAIR the mount is super easy to control but I've been using it quite a lot recently with 4:36 its own personally designed app in fact whilst I have the currently unreleased Sky-Watcher HAC125 mounted on it I was actually unable to use the ASIAIR as it 4:44 doesn't acknowledge cameras that don't belonged to the ZWO sphere so I couldn't plate solve which made the ASIAIR's purpose redundant so instead going by 4:52 the mounts app alone I pinged between different deep Sky objects and was very surprised by the swiftness and accuracy of the AM5N's go-to abilities it's also 5:03 a very quiet mount which means whilst it's zipping between objects on opposite sides of the sky it's not producing any Unholy sounds like other mounts such as 5:10 a cg5 which is very nice much like the 10-in Celestron Newtonian this has been my go-to go-to it's cheap and as far as mounts go it's

5:25 Against the Celestron CGX

5:26 relatively lightweight however last year I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to try out Celestron CGX Mount and at a similar price to the AM5N 5:35 AM5N it is capable of many of the same things in fact the CGX can take payloads up to 25 kg which is slightly more than 5:43 the AM5N but here's the obvious elephant in the room the legs of the CGX alone way more than the entirety of the AM5N yeah the bloody tripod legs and of 5:56 course don't forget the addition of multiple essential 5 kg counter weights you've got to deal with all of this before you then have to sort out the 6:03 head of the mount you know the actually important part so by the end of it the CGX weighs a total of 38.6 kg which means if you wanted to 6:12 travel with it you'd need two suitcases to safely package it within the airlines guidelines but of course the biggest differen is between harmonic Drive

6:14 Strain wave against a German equatorial

6:19 mounts with strain wave gears like the AM5N over the more conventional German equatorial mounts is that strain-wave motors have zero backlash whilst the 6:29 newer AM5N has less than 10 Arc seconds periodic error that is incredible now I know which one I would rather have to set up in my garden every night let 6:38 alone travel to another country with speaking of which flying to places like Spain from the UK can be unbelievably cheap but as I'm sure you'll be aware 6:46 this is just how the airline gets you on the plane the way they really squeeze you for cash is through the cost of your 6:52 seat and Luggage when I fly abroad I get a small bag included the addition of a backpack is usually £3 extra and a 20 7:00 kg suitcase was $59.99 on my most recent trip that's each way so for the return trip those numbers really start to add up and the original Fair of $27.99

7:10 Two heads in one bag

7:10 starts to dwindle in comparison but that small bag really starts to go a long way once you notice there's actually no weight restrictions and you can fit two 7:19 that's right two AM5 mounts inside of it talk about travel friendly there's also plenty of spare room for padding and well since you're going abroad you may 7:29 as well use your swimming shorts for maximum packing efficiency it is recommended to purchase the TC40 carbon fiber tripod legs alongside the mount and to be fair I would highly recommend

7:29 The TC40 tripod

7:38 these because they are infinitely better than the icy cold metal tripod legs of the past they weigh only 2.3 kg and can carry total payloads of up to 50 kg 7:49 which is more than enough but on this trip I once again tried something that wasn't recommended I used the carbon fiber tripod legs that were included 7:56 with my Seestar S50 now is this a terrible idea possibly but it did the trick and I just thought that'd be worth sharing I 8:03 was doing so with small refractor telescopes mounted on the AM5 by the way so for balance issues and weight distribution don't even consider trying 8:12 this with anct I'm sure some of you watching this aren't going to necessarily agree with the way that I've been using this mount in fact watching 8:18 me pack two of them into my hand luggage may have made some of you start sweating behind the knees but this Mount is versatile it's unbelievably lightweight

8:20 Verdict

8:26 and above all else it's very good at what it does and that is finding and tracking the wonders of our night sky don't get me wrong it's not cheap no sir 8:35 but then in this hobby very few things are at more than $2,000 you're not going to be buying one on the whim but certainly in comparison to other 8:43 Advanced Mount Alternatives the AM5N is bang on the money I could spend another 30 minutes going through all of the images I've captured with it and just 8:51 going on and on about why this is still my favourite mount of all time and how it's going to take something truly special to knock it off its perch but I 8:59 think I've made my point if you would like to purchase the AM5N mount for yourself then I've attached a link in the description below thanks for 9:06 watching I'm Damon Scotting and this was astronomical

Check out more videos on the ZWO AM5N

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22 Jul 2025

Every row of my showdown, and the readings behind each one

The 8 rows of my showdown: each mount with its Stars for Your Buck score, the published total RMS per target and the average in arcsec; hover or focus a row for the ASIAIR readings
Mount	Stars for Your Buck	Andromeda	Heart	North America	Veil	Average
1 ClearSky ST25	94/100	0.66″	0.69″	0.48″	0.80″	0.66″
2 EM31 Pro	52/100	0.91″	0.61″	0.68″	0.73″	0.73″
3 TeSeek 17	88/100	1.19″	0.45″	0.83″	0.93″	0.85″
4 TeSeek 11	93/100	0.56″	1.47″	0.90″	0.76″	0.92″
5 JUWEI-14	89/100	1.37″	0.91″	0.88″	0.77″	0.98″
6 ZWO AM5N (second group)	71/100	1.68″	0.85″	0.66″	0.78″	0.99″
7 ClearSky ST17 Mini	56/100	1.17″	0.86″	0.77″	1.56″	1.09″
8 ZWO AM5N (first group)	71/100	1.53″	1.28″	0.74″	0.86″	1.10″

ZWO AM5N (second group)

0.99″ average, 6th of 8

71/100 Stars for Your Buck

Target	Readings	Mean	Range	RA	DEC
Andromeda	6	1.75″	1.54″ to 1.87″	1.22″	1.18″
Heart	not recorded	0.85″	not recorded	0.55″	0.64″
North America	not recorded	0.66″	not recorded	0.46″	0.46″
Veil	not recorded	0.78″	not recorded	not recorded	not recorded

Watch the showdown video

Should you buy it?

71/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“Without a counterweight bar or any counterweights, it can support payloads of 15 kg, which is a tremendously large weight, especially considering the actual mount itself weighs less than 6 kg.”
“Having the power output and mount control port both located on the same axis as the telescope makes a lot more sense and reduces this issue almost entirely.”
“I pinged between different deep sky objects and was very surprised by the swiftness and accuracy of the AM5N's go-to abilities. It's also a very quiet mount.”
M 13 at 2,700 mm through the Skymax 180: 15 unguided exposures of 60 seconds each.
Two of these heads fit in one cabin bag with room left for padding.

Cons

“The con that I would go for with the AM5N is simply that it is very expensive.”
“Shockingly, the AM5N finishes both last and second last with its two attempts.”
It took an absurdly long time to calibrate its guiding in my showdown, on more than one target.
No tripod and no counterweight bar in the box: both are extra.

If you do decide to go ahead and buy the AM5N mount, you're not doing anything wrong. It is still an incredible mount.

Who the AM5N is for

Complete beginner

Skip

At £2,099 for the head alone it is far more mount than a first rig needs; a TeSeek 11 or JUWEI-14 is where I would start.

ASIAIR and ZWO camera user

Buy

The mount, the ASIAIR and the ZWO app work as one system, and the power and USB-C ports on the saddle move with the telescope.

Travelling imager

Buy

A 5.5 kg head with no counterweights to carry; two of them fit in one cabin bag.

Value-first buyer

Skip

The TeSeek 17 and JUWEI-17 carry 13 kg or more for under half the price, and the TeSeek 17 guided better than the AM5N in my showdown.

Heavy SCT owner

Skip

A C11-class rig of about 15 kg sits right on its limit; the ZWO AM7 or ClearSky ST25 carry 20 kg without a counterweight.

Owner of the original AM5

Skip

The changes are 2 kg more payload and the ports on the saddle: worth it only if cable snags or the 13 kg limit get in your way.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Seven questions, answered

Questions about the ZWO AM5N

Reviewed 7 November 2024 ·Updated 24 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

How much can the ZWO AM5N carry? 15 kg without a counterweight and 20 kg with one, from a 5.5 kg head. The spec card in my showdown video read 13 kg without a counterweight, the original AM5 figure; ZWO, First Light Optics and High Point Scientific all state 15 kg. What would you put on it? ↓
How well does the AM5N guide? In my seven-mount showdown it averaged 0.99 and 1.10 arcsec total RMS over four targets in its two runs, sixth and eighth of the eight rows; its best target was the North America Nebula at 0.66 arcsec. Its guide log split the first Heart Nebula run into 0.92 arcsec in RA and 0.89 in Dec, and the second North America Nebula run into 0.46 and 0.46. Its polar alignment was almost spot-on, so its weaker rounds were not down to that. How well does it guide? ↓
What changed from the AM5 to the AM5N? The payload capabilities without counterweight have gone up from 13 kg to 15, and the power port has been relocated to the saddle, as well as the inclusion of a USB-C port to control the mount with. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Can the AM5N take long exposures at long focal lengths without guiding? My M 13 through the Skymax 180 at 2,700 mm is 15 unguided exposures of 60 seconds, and it came out surprisingly solid. What I captured ↓
Do I need an ASIAIR to use the AM5N? No. Going by the mount's app alone, I pinged between different deep sky objects and was very surprised by the swiftness and accuracy of the AM5N's go-to abilities. The ASIAIR adds plate solving and guiding, but only with ZWO cameras. What is it for? In my words ↓
Does the AM5N come with a tripod or a counterweight? Neither. The head comes with a hand controller, a travel case and cables; the tripod and the counterweight bar are extra. First Light Optics sells it with ZWO's TC40 carbon fibre tripod as a set at £2,419 against £2,099 for the head. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Is the AM5N worth it over a cheaper strain-wave mount? On guiding alone, no: the ClearSky ST25, EM31 Pro, TeSeek 17, TeSeek 11 and JUWEI-14 all averaged lower in my showdown, most of them for far less. You pay for ZWO's app and ASIAIR integration and the ports on the saddle. Every row of my showdown, and the readings behind each one ↓