In another post, I discovered how terribly the AM5 works in AltAz, and ZWO chimed in and said they know the pointing model is...well...bad.
So I've been trying it in EQ mode for visual. Although it's OK, within the 0.7 FOV of a 17mm Ethos and sometimes within a 13mm 0.54 degrees, it's not reliable. I can get it to point to a few stars (centered even) on opposite sides of a meridian flip like Dubhe, Betelgeuse, Sirius, Capella. But as soon as I sync on Rigel or another star outside this list, the previous accuracy is lost. Goto in general is just OK.
I've used other mounts without encoders that have reliable & accurate goto (albeit way more expensive), so I'm wondering is this lack of consistency due to the pointing model in EQ mode, or is it the nature of the strain wave beast? The only other mount I'm considering for visual use is the AZ-EQ5, but at least one review mentioned a ton of backlash, which I'm very impressed to be missing on the AM5 for my purposes. And yes, backlash can be very frustrating for visual users as well as the rest of you!
I'd really like to keep the AM5, but as it is today I can't rely on it to have a faint DSO near the center of the EP. If you'll improve its pointing with firmware in the very very near future, I'd be very content to keep it.