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I recently purchased an ASIAir unit and I can confirm that it fulfils its specification. It manages an EQ8 and NEQ6 mount, autoguides, plate-solves in seconds, manages a filter wheel, controls imaging runs of any length, bridges to SkySafari for object acquisition and definitely cleans up cable tangles.
The USB2 capacity of the Raspberry Pi unit is not a limitation so long as the imaging camera has a DRAM buffer - I use an ASI1600, which generates ~30MB files and they download to the ASIAir storage in about three seconds, so virtually no delay in resuming the next capture.
Considering the complete lack of standardisation among astro manufacturers, it is not surprising that ZWO only guarantees to support its own equipment. Trying for an open platform would be a support nightmare.
The unit certainly does a good job for my style of imaging and for the equipment that I use. Thoroughly recommend it.
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