AM3 level bubbles?

hfhenrichs

The AM3 is great like the AM5, but why does it have no circular level bubbles?
I miss them desperately, as the terrain I am visiting has many different slopes.
Its transportability makes it especially useful for such terrain, which was my main reason to purchase one.
Thanks.

MrAstro

As I have read in CN forums, Many people say no need to be precisely leveled.
You need to be roughly leveled.
Personally, I preferred to have a bubble level in the mount to level it quickly.

Corsair

Just get a small spirit level from a hardware store. It's more accurate anyway.

ASIMount@ZWO

Corsair It's the result from streamlining structure and reducing weight of AM3. Maybe a bigger and higher precision bubble level is more helpful.

w7ay

@MrAstro As I have read in CN forums, Many people say no need to be precisely leveled.

Leveling the mount simply makes the Polar Alignment process simpler. It decouples the azimuth corrections from the altitude corrections. When the mount is not leveled, an azimuth correction will also cause a small altitude error, and vice versa.

However, if you have enough patience, you do not need to level the mount to get the polar axis to finally point at the pole. Just that with a perfectly leveled mount that has well machined base, you just need to zero the altitude error, then zero out the azimuth error, and you are done, without any rinse and repeat.

The other reason for leveling the mount is to make a "blind GOTO" go to where you want. If you don't care, and use plate solves instead, then leveling is not important either.

Some mounts (especially mounts that do not establish a coordinate system model by using star alignments) will also not Meridian flip at the precise time an object transits the Meridian, if it is not leveled. Each degree of mislevel in the east-west direction can cause the Meridian flip time to be off by 4 minutes of clock time.

Chen

hfhenrichs

I can't imagine that weight would have been a factor.
Carrying a level does not make much sense, as the mount has to be detached form the tripod to use the level, which is cumbersome (where to put it, other than the ground?) and gives even more time loss.
As others noted above, for the PA leveling is not necessary, but in practice it goes faster. In addition, the balance is more secure when the tripod is level.
I use the AM5 next to the AM3. Setting up the AM5 until exposing takes less time in my experience.
I believe that the bubble levels are useful. A thought for a future version.

ASIMount@ZWO

[unknown] Thank you for your feedback. I'll deliver your advice and requirement to our develop department.

Genesis-SDF

I plan to put a bubble level in the case (doesn't take much space. easy enoughto throw it into the bittom of the open pier extension, then on top of the mount if using Alt-Az mode.