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Hi David
I went through the same problems as you and was tearing my hair out trying to get good polar alignment but now find i can align OK, enough to look in about 10 minutes and enough to take a photo in about 1 hour.
I have a Meade ED 80 and a HEQ6 mount.
Basically I drift align but if its only for visual its not too difficult as it doesnt have to be that accurate. I dont bother with the polar scope and sigma octans because in Glebe it is far to bright to see such dim stars.
The only equipment you need for visual use polar alignmnt is a reticle eyepiece and a compass. Then as long as you are using the hand controller properly, set to correct lat/long, date, time, timezone, eq south, a two star alignment should be no problem.
There are plenty of drift alignment articles on this site and on the web but if you get stuck pm me and i can give you a phone number. Eventually like me you will sort it out and on looking back wonder what the problem was.
I must say though I also have a Nexstar C11 and for visual use setting up a alt-az goto mount is a piece of cake compared to an EQ mount.
Paul
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