Hi there
I thought I might post this web link which I found very interesting about collimating newtonians and what a well collimated scope should look like down the focuser.
http://www.fpi-protostar.com/collim.htm
After trying to line things up over the last few days as described in most books etc, the light cone still was not centered till I came across this site which showed me what it should look like. After a few hours I finally got my mirrors lined up!!! You definately need that offset!!! and it throws of the symetrical view down the focuser..
Cheers Gary