Did you confirm your collimation by star testing? You cannot rely solely on a laser to colliamate a scope by. With an SCT or Mak you don't need a laser either. Star Testing will do it all, and without the hassle of needing to figure out what is needed with a laser.
Relying only on a laser is saying "near enough is good enough", regardless of what scope you are using.
If your collimation processes, laser and star testing, still doesn't give you the required test image then there may be other issues at play with the corrector. As I mentioned in my last post, unless the corrector is totally PASSIVE in its cell, it will result in a distorted image when trying to collimate that just won't be eliminated.
I saw this very thing in an SCT over the weekend. The scope's owner is new to SCT's. He had removed the corrector to clean it inside and out. He had an engineer mate help him with this. When I looked through his scope at high magnification the image of the doughnut was VERY distorted - wee thin line on one side and flared out like a comet on the opposite site of the doughnut. Just before I took to the collimation screws it occurred to me to ask about the corrector and check the retention ring screws. It is amazing how the corrector plate did not crack with the screws wound in so tight! John had to use both hands to torque the screws loose!!!
When all the screws were reset, this time to finger tight, we checked the image again. Two things to note here:
1) the new doughnut shape was nearly perfect, nothing like the highly skewed image we first saw
2) that it had nothing to do with the collimation in the first instance could be seen because the image of Rigel had not shifted in the FOV as would be the case with such a large change in the image.
All the scope needed to tweak its collimation was torqueing just one colli screw just a small amount, and BINGO! All good to go.
Your elongated stars suggest to me that you haven't done a star test. You will need to determine if the corrector plate is sitting passive first. Only then will you have the right conditions necessary for tweaking the collimation.
If your scope is still under warranty, you may want to have the store you bought it from to do this for you as you may otherwise void your warranty, or you may not be confident with doing this then the store you bought it from should be happy to check this.
Another two things to note about Hotech lasers:
1) They need to be tightly torqued into place. This is the only way to be certain that the laser is sitting square. The tight torque of the Hotech is important!!!!
2) Hotech lasers must be checked for collimation too. I have one and after 5 years of using it I found out mine was NOT properly collimated.
Regardless of what brand of laser you are using, it is wise to double check that it is collimated. Very easy to do. Some lasers are also easy to adjust, others more complicated (like the Hotech), and others only factory accessible. Dropping a laser is NEVER a good idea, and if has been dropped you MUST check it to see that it is still true. If you buy one second-hand, check it. Don't assume it is tuned.
Alex.