The ZWO AM3N is here!

April 17, 2026

I think this is the final component needed to complete my super portable astro rig. I now have a new EQ mount, the ZWO AM3N. I bought this last week and it showed up last night. I've been using ZWO mounts for almost five years. I pre-ordered the original AM5 when it was announced in 2021. The AM5 has always been an amazing mount, and this one, the AM3 is its little brother, smaller but still very capable with the same strainwave (harmonic drive) gearing. It only weighs 3.9kg/8.6 pounds but can handle up to 13kg/28 pounds of astro gear. (Not planning to get anywhere near that). My plan is to be able to have a full ultra-portable setup, with EQ mount, William Optics RedCat51 refractor, cooled camera, and power in one medium-sized backpack. The AM3 mount will be the heaviest component, with a 20-30Ah LiFePO4 battery second, coming in around 3kg. I powered it up last night, changed the access password, updated the mount firmware to the latest, and then played around with slewing to different targets, letting it track for a bit before returning to its home position. Everything behaved flawlessly. Can't wait to get this under clear night skies!