That's kind of disingenuous. The question was "is it worth taking a risk on ASA's new direct drive technology mounts". You can say "Oh, I heard they had terrible problems with their Newts a few years back, so I'm not going near their mounts", but that seems kind of silly to me. Research is your friend.
From everything I'm reading and hearing, the mounts are mechanically and electrically excellent, while the last couple of software revisions have ironed-out (m)any persistent bugs. The people who own and use the DDM mounts are full of praise.
As for the support issues, it seems they've been exaggerated mainly on the basis that ASA reps are not hanging out in the Yahoo! Group and answering questions there. But if you email or call ASA directly they provide good support. That's according to folk who own and use these mounts.
One thing that needs to be remembered is that even now the "mature and dependable" PME is not without its own issues. That's to be expected in a complex piece of high tech equipment which is required to perform in demanding situations. Nothing is perfect, right?
It seems to me that some people are basing their negative opinions of the new ASA mounts on little more than gossip. And it is a fact that most of the people knocking the new ASA mounts are PME or AP-1200 owners.
