The last time I had the scope out was November 15, and Melbourne's had the works since then. Heat, rain, haze, storms, etc.
I'd picked up a 2.5x PowerMate to beef up my double star artillery and had a quick test session tonight. Only out for an hour...
Altinak - hadn't been able to split this before, going up to 154x. Now, with 192x, 270x and stupid high 385x available, I tried it again. Hint of a split at 192x (seeing was awful), definitely there at 270x and surprisingly good at 385x. I was amazed - this is a 4" scope and thought the top power would be too much.
Rigel - wide, wide split at 385x.
Trapezium - only four stars visible with the PowerMate in, with a hint of a fifth at 192x. I went back to 108x and easily spotted five stars.
Mars - well it was up, but it was low. Messed with the whole gamut of magifications from 49x to 385x - just a pink, boiling blob. Not a hint of surface detail.
47 Tucanae - after listening to $AB punch holes through this at extraordinary magnifications, I upped the power and spent a bit of time on this glob. Getting in nice and tight deadened the bright core and allowed me to explore knots and branches I hadn't noticed before. Interesting sight.
PowerMate seems promising, even with the re-balancing of the tube in the mount.
Looks like the Powermate's working out for you. Tonight I did my first telescope observing since Snake Valley last month, and will post a report later.
I've tried to observe Mars several times myself but frankly given up. Might aswell try and observe it through a bushfire 
