Yeah, Dave they are finally here
... and they are robust. I'm really impressed with the quality as supplied.
I was originally concerned about not being able to see zenith, but after discussions with other POD users at the time I was all but convinced that it wasn't that big a deal... it only affects objects at the same declination as your latitude.
I thought about offsetting the pier, but to offset the pier is just a compromise. It's just a matter of making the decision about which declinations you are prepared to tolerate the "blind spot" at culmination. Of course, fork mounted SCTs on wedges have other reasons to offset the pier
.
The POD Zenith Table (PZT) was already being used in prototype form when I ordered, so the problem seemed to me to be trivial. If I find the "blind spot" at zenith to be a problem I'll build or buy a PZT.
Having said all that, I deliberately designed my pier to be as short as possible - well, as short as I am comfortable working with. The theory is the closer you are to the top of the dome, the bigger the blind spot will be, so I'm trying to keep my scope low. This is a change for me. For as long as I've been doing astronomy, I've stood up to observe. I now have an observing chair and will be operating mostly sitting down.
I'll keep you posted how it goes. Theory and practical are often different
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Al.