[Popeye (Bert)]

Thanks, Malcolm. A couple (or four?) years ago I had a LX90 (and a LX50 before that,) PST and an ETXEC with a Thousand Oaks solar filter along with all the bits and pieces EPs etc that one would accumulate over 10 years of astronomy but sold it all when moving back to WA from Tassie.
Now I am regrouping and have decided to make it simple this time thus the dob and from this site I found one of the original ETXs (RA) that were made in the US and I love it. Just tracks beautifully and great optics.
Due to the weather that we have had the last few weeks getting to use the dob has been a bit of a challenge and I now have to find my way around the sky again since the LX50. My wife downloaded a great app for me on her iPad and I find it better than the pro version that I have on my Mac. And as she allows me to take the iPad out it is going to be a great help in that endeavour. Something that I am looking forward to doing.
The advice has been great and when I muster the courage I will work on replacing the locking bolts.
I did have a bit of a problem over a week ago, I'm very pleased with the stellar views 47 Tuc, Jewel Box etc, but when I focused on Saturn the image was only sharp when I looked into the viewfinder in a special way. I checked with the an SCT near me and there was no distortion on that.
Cheers!
Bert