AstromaniaPolar Alignment Scope for EQ-5 - The New Reticle Precision Engraving which Allows You Put Polaris on The Correct Circle Corresponding to The Present Year for Better Alignment Precision

This is a new engraving polar scope that is dual use for Northern or Southern hemispheres. It's actually more accurate then the older style because it has offsets for the years. I've attached a photo of the what the engraving looks like through my polar aligment app. And also a photo of the engraving itself. You can use a polar alignment app and put polaris on the exact spot on the clock that the app has it. Or set your date circle like the old style engraving then set polaris to the 6 o'clock spot once your ra is moved to the correct time. Essentially 6 o'clock becomes the spot of the old polaris engraving spot. With the 3 circles on the engraving, inner, middle, and outer plus the 3 lines in between them at the 12, 3, 6, 9 o'clock spots this gives you exact spots for the next 12 years or so. Also the clock has lines on the outside for hours and minutes. It's extremely accurate for polar alignment. Southern hemisphere user will have to use the octans constellation that's on it.

This really helped get my mount aligned and tracking better.

From what I see the astronomy brand sells high quality products for astronomy !!the product fits perfectly into the "skyview pro orion mount"the polar seeker is decolimated because it is used in different mounts and it will be very easy to collimate it with a small allen key. I recommend watching a tutorial before, if you have collimated a telescope before this will be a piece of cake.the product feels solid and durable and the reason I remove a star is because the small inner sheet that has the labeling was a little spotty minusculame and moved 0 a few degrees to the left.I tried to correct it and ended up staining and scratching the internal optics, now with more imperfections than I had thanks to my OCD. The scratches do not affect anything other than aesthetics, it only bothers me, so I will contact astronomy to find out if that piece is sold separately, after all, it is my fault! the internal optics is very delicate and I was not delicate enough cleaning.The important thing is that I have my polar search engine and now I can be totally accurate thanks to the astronomy polar search engine !! remember to be delicate when you cool your polar finder with the saddle this is only done once and remains practically for life.

I bought this to use with a barn door tracker I am building. The polar scope seems to be of excellent quality. I like that it has markings for future years that show which line to use to put Polaris on so you can get accurate alignment. Arrived well packaged.

Cheap but good quality. I used it with my Vixen APZ EQ mount. With some padding, it fits. I use the APZ with no drive so I don't need the far advanced (very expensive) Vixen polar scope. This one fits my need perfectly.

This scope seems very nice and the reticle is very good. However, the there are two issues. First, the main tube is not square to the body of the scope. this makes collimation impossible. Second, there is a lot of play with the reticle focuser. For general visual work this scope is great. For astrophotography...it is not built well enough.

This was a waste of money. The accuracy of this polar scope is just terrible my mount better without this scope.

The description does not specify the engraving it comes with. I ordered this because two other reviews showed the engraving with a full clock, not the "put polaris in the circle" engraving. But thats what mine came with. Compared to the original, its an OK replacement. The optics are a little more reflective than the original, but that's probably not a big deal for just the alignment scope. I contacted the seller and was told the engraving with the full clock has been discontinued.