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Thank you both. Valid points. Though:
- Using only the polar scope has been a no go for me and others I know. We are observing from a 21arcsec/mag but still have problems with seeing Octans with the naked eye. Finding it in the EQ6 polarscope is an exercise in futility.
- part of the southern sky is obscured. Because it's 3d printed, the device can be very easily customised for any other star pairs. For obvious reasons it's a good idea to keep to circumpolar stars.
-Johnie-comes-lately: there is no substitute for etiquette.
- lasers near the city: I went for 10mW lasers for a reason. I know that I personally love my 50mW which is visible in full moon nights, but it's overkill. A 10mW laser beam in the sky is not going to be visible at more than 1km away. It is quite faint 100m away, yet alone 1km. As for airplanes...we are almost under the flight path. A 10mW laser will go for almost 2km in the sky and would not be considered a critical distraction. Again, etiquette, judgement and caution are required.
- Sharpcap sounds good. I will actually give it a try. However, realistically speaking I think I will have a ball getting 15 stars in the field of view of 1deg.
Don't worry, I don't mind. Keep them coming, thank you. There is a tool for everybody. If you found you PA method and are happy with it, I'm glad for you. This is mainly for people still trying methods out and not finding one.
However, let me be skeptical and doubt that if you give my device a try, you wouldn't love it. Not going to replace your method necessarily, but love it none the less. Mainly think of all the "newbies" picking up the hobby and meeting endless nights of frustration.
Remember how long it took us (I will assume you were like myself) trying to get the first drift alignment. Remember the hours lost and so on. I know that there are other methods now (Sharpcap, Pempro, EQalign, etc) but it's still a fiddly task.
Anyway, thanks again for the comments and please let me know of any other comments.
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