Here's my procedure for quick setup and polar alignment with the HEQ5 Pro:
- Upgrade the hand controller to firmware version 3.35.
- Set down the tripod, use a compass to make the South leg (labelled "N") point south, compensate for the magnetic declination at the location.
- If the ground is reasonably level don't bother with levelling the tripod.
- Add the mount, counter-weights and scope. Adjust the mount elevation using the azimuth scale.
- Turn on the mount, enter location, date, time and DST flag, be as careful and accurate as possible.
- Perform a two-star alignment. After successful alignment the hand controller will display the polar alignment error in azimuth (Maz) and altitude (Mel).
- If the azimuth error is larger than a couple of degrees yank the tripod around a bit. If the displayed Maz error is positive the South leg needs to be pulled to the West (right), if negative, to the East (left).
- Likewise for altitude error, but the error is shown with the wrong sign (Southern hemisphere bug I presume). If the Mel error is positive the mount needs to point higher, if negative it needs to be adjusted lower.
- Perform another two-star alignment to a) confirm that the adjustments have been in the right direction and b) that the mount is within a couple of degrees in alt and az. If not, repeat the previous three steps.
- Use the Polar Alignment function in the Alignment menu. Refer to the SynScan 3.35 manual for details. Repeat until the polar alignment error is acceptable.
- Do a final two-star alignment and start observing!
This works for me every time, and I get to sub-minute alignment errors within minutes after setting up the mount and scope. That's as far as I take it for my visual use. For imaging you can go nuts and repeat step 10 for as long as you like
Cheers
Steffen.