[Amunous (Michael)]

Thanks for all the advice.

She has decided to splash out on the NEQ6-W pro, and a skywatcher ED 80.

I had it outside the other night. (looks like ill be the one toting this beast about as she is unable to lift it.) Very easy to align (once i stopped kicking the battery and unplugging it.) and tracks beautifully. Now all i have to do is work out how to polar align it so i can show her. (ill probably have to do this every time we go out as well while she sits in the car with the heater on lol) Then let the photography begin.

One thing that kept happening that frustrated the crap out of me is the focuser on it is CRAPOLA. It is the standard dual speed focuser that came with the scope, but when the telescope is pointed at a high angle the focuser slides out the the full focus length and is near impossible to roll back up. I have to level the scope out and then focus back in and tighten the crap out of the screw that holds it in, but then you cant fine tune it as the second you loosen the screw to fine tune it just drops it again. I've tried all sorts of eyepieces including really light ones and it does the same thing.

And YES that is a block of wood the scope is attached too lol. When we opened the box the adapter for the smaller dovetail mount was missing and we are waiting for it to arrive. I had to rig that up and she didn't want to wait another 2 weeks for it to arrive from the store before she could use the scope. It works surprisingly well.