On of my favorite activities when observing is star hopping. Having a star chart and a telescope is a simple and intimate way to observe the heavens. No computers, no setting circles, but starting from a known star, and working your way to your goal. Some can do it with dead reckoning, i.e., pointing their scope to an area of the sky and getting close. I can do that somewhat, but it can be frustrating and a pain in the neck (literally) to be constantly looking through a Telrad or red dot finder towards the sky. It would be nice to have a right angle finder to save your sore neck.
With the ballscope, I pretty much gave up on having that ability and thought I was doomed to a bad neck. Today, however, I was able to put a finder bracket on the scope. When the scope was a ballscope, the weight was just too much to put on the bottom to counter the effect of the extra weight on top. With the new configuration, I have the flexibility of adding a nice finderscope.
I cannot wait to get this thing under dark skies!!!
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