Thanks for posting your obs Malcolm. Interesting to hear of the effectiveness of filters on the running man, being a reflection nebula the filters should 'ruin' the view. Or does it contain some emission
NGC 1999 is an interesting object, I know for sure that in a 12" the dark globule is visible, but it is low contrast and the glare from the associated star makes it a challenge. Use 300-500x. I have seen it on one occasion with a 10" hopefully this crappy weather will bugger off so I can give it another go.
cheers