I do have a 2" Bintel ED barlow doing nothing. I don't think it's ever been used and I've had it for about 6-7 years, lol.
Would love a photo of how you've set it up.
Thanks, guys.
Also, that's a wonderful picture you got of Rho Ophiuchus. It makes me sad because I'm not going to finish my mosaic that I started 3 years ago, this season. :~(
Get that Polar compass that sits on top for a quick setup.Actually ring Steve up at Astrshop he is very personable an knows his products.These are extremely well made and very accurate in terms of internal gearing.I mount mine on a 055 Manfrotto tripod not necessary but it's good to have a sturdy tripod when it's windy.Also remember to set the switch off Southern Hemisphere(green light). Good luck they are a great piece of kit
Thank you so much for the offer How would we go about getting it to and from each other though? I seem to be a fair while away from you!
I think I'm pretty much set on the Polarie now. I have been for awhile but it was great to get some helpful info as there were a few things that truly boggled my mind on how it worked (okay, more than a few! ). But if there's a way to use one beforehand, to be positively sure, I'm all for it!
I've heard a rumour that Australia Post can handle these kinds of dilemmas
Just PM me an address and I can send it up next week.
Cheers
Hi Shelley, I see you're about set on the Polarie, but I thought I'd share my Skytracker experience with you. Bottom line before you read any more is that from what I've read, the Polarie is a better-made mount than the Skytracker, but Skytracker is what I have! I've been using the Skytracker for a few months now, and having a lot of fun with it. If you want, you can look at my photo albums via my sig to see what I've managed with it - imaging Pluto at 250mm, or some decent 100mm and 250mm shots are possible (with stars detected to 17th/18th mag at a dark site). The polar scope is a massive plus with the Skytracker - my set-up time is minimal (5-10mins max) with the polar scope and "Polar Finder" app, and then the alignment errors are much less than the periodic error in the drive. Azimuth alignment is poor on the Skytracker but my tripod compensates for that.
I recall reading that the periodic error of the Polarie is quite a lot less than the Skytracker, though I'm not sure where I read this (another forum somewhere). That might be quite a big thing in Polarie's favour. At the moment I'm limited to 2-minute exposures @250mm (EOS 60D), and I'll reject >50% of those shots due to PE trailing. at 100mm with 3-minute exposures, I'll reject <33% of frames due to PE. I don't reject many frames at all for polar alignment errors.
I imagine that either mount might suit your purpose, and they're a lot of fun to play with!
Thank you so much for that info Andy That really does help a lot!
Peter has generously offered for me to borrow his for a little while to see how I fair with it and make my final decision. Yes, I have heard many good things about the Polarie and it seems to be the leader by far. I am very excited to give it a try, I have been looking at the Polarie's dreamily for almost a couple of years now, about time I take the plunge!
I'd definitely recommend the 100mm macro, and a few others have complimented the sharpness of the astro images out of it. Part of the inspiration of picking that lens was Jerry Lodriguss' positive opinion of it for astro imaging - his canon list is worth a look for a small idea about lenses for astro work. It also fitted my plan for some macro work... the macro quality isn't bad either I suppose
The other way you can align the Polarie is drift align it. I bought a cheap Ebay digital inclinometer and would use it to set the angle of the Polarie to my latitude.
Then I pointed the Polarie at what I thought was close to the south celestial pole. I would take an image with a longer focal length lens like 180mm.
I would see if stars were round in 30 seconds. If they were elongated (usually were) I would move the Polarie a bit more towards where I thought SCP was. I take another image, and check - are the stars rounder or more elongated? If rounder I knew I moved the Polarie closer to the SCP and would move it a bit more. If worse its the other way so I would move it in the opposite direction. Do this 3 or 4 times and I would be able to get 5 minutes at 180mm with round stars.
Polar alignment scope is much better and quicker though if you can see Octans stars.
You need a dim torch to be able to illuminate the reticle in the polar scope that has to align with the Octans stars.
Greg.
Thanks again to everyone who responded with advice. I am swimming through all the information and trying to soak it all in I really do appreciate everyone's input!
Peter has generously offered to post his to me so I can try it out. I will have a much better idea once I've used the Polarie a bit. I will let you all know how I go!
How would we go about getting it to and from each other though? I seem to be a fair while away from you!
). But if there's a way to use one beforehand, to be positively sure, I'm all for it! 
