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Hi Rod.
I felt the same as you about the meade microfocuser so when I bought my new 8" I got the JMI NGF CM Motorized Crayford type focuser. Its focus travel is only about 25mm so you still need to coarse focus, but its a sweet little focuser. And from what I remember of the meade, the JMI doesn't stick out quite as far.
It is a two speed focuser, simply hold the button and after a few seconds the second speed kicks in. It comes with manual focus knobs, so you can use it manually, but if there is one thing I would pick as a negative for this focuser this is it. To use it manually you loosen a thumbscrew on the bottom of the housing which lowers the motor and disengages the gears. Unfortunately you have to pretty well unscrew it the whole way after doing it the first time. After loosening it the first time and then tightening it up again I don't feel that the motor housing seats back into the same place. The motor focuser still works fine and the gears mesh nicely, but at a slightly different position than originally. Its not hard to hold the drive gear out with you thumb while you screw in the screw to get it back to its original position, but I though I'd better mention it to you.
It also has less backlash than the Meade Microfocuser which I found a pain when trying to get accurate focus using a focusing program.
it's about $500 bought in Aus and about $350 US I think if bought OS. Warning though, when I received mine and opened the box it had a bend focusing shaft on the manual knobs. Luckily I bought mine in Aus and was able to send it back to get repaired. It still worked fine bent, but that was beside the point. Oh there was no obvious damage to the box and the box had not been opened by my supplier here in Aus, so it was originally shipped that way.
Last point. The JMI NGF CM can be used to autofocus when you use a program like DSLR Focus. The meade can as well but the backlash is much more of a problem
Hope thats helped
ps. If you're don't want the motorization, then the manual focus is pretty sweet on its own
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