Quote:

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place it against a wall, read, spin it a bit and place it back against the wall, read again

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... the answer is no.

Again, I screwed the plastic compass holder into the base (the compass itself can be removed from the holder but I don't move it). On the contrary, I keep it nice and tight on the holder at a horizontal position with the base for most accuracy.

Before viewing I simply calibratrate, make sure magnetic declination is set, and then generally keep the bottom base in place as I slew the scope. I do occassionally move the entire telescope unit around the house from one window to another) and it doesn't seem to affect results. How it works outside I don't know yet. Maybe I'll test it this weekend if the weather permits. For now it seems to be working in my home. I'm finding things very quickly.

Generally the target objects (using starry night & skycharts software) are found within the FOV of my 32mm eyepiece. Once in a while they are slightly off and it takes a nudge on the AZ setting to get it in the FOV. Usually this happens because the AZ coordinate lies almost directly between two 1 degree increments (e.g. 87.467 degrees) - add that to the rounded off declination and you may be off about 1.5 degree total at times. All in all I can live with that. I'm happy with it thus far. I'll keep you posted and report any problems.

FYI - the backlight can stay on up to 3 minutes and when the backlight goes off, the unit stays on a bit longer before the auto shut off kicks in. The compass is plastic. I think this little unit is ideal for my situation because I don't have to fuss w/ Polaris or anything -which is good for me since I can't see it from my window.

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Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been

24Pan, 17T4, 13T6, 11T6, 9BTMB, 8TVpl, 7T6, 5T6, 3.5T6, 5/6BTMBs
Z10"Dob, Paracorr, 2xBrlw, Telrad, RACI,°Circles, )Spider

FBF, Brooklyn:

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