The Powerguide II is portable, silent, easy to use and wonderfully accurate.  The hand control is about the size of a cell phone and weights only 4 oz. including a nine volt battery.  I have found battery life to be about 60 hours.  The default mode is Northern Hemisphere Sidereal time.  Setting it for Lunar time as well as Southern Hemisphere tracking, Sidereal or Lunar is very simple.   You’re ready to travel the world.   If you’re going to use your Questar for astronomy you’ll want the Power guide II.

My only possible complaint is that the cord from the hand control attaches to the underside of the Questar’s base.  This position  is a bit inconvenient.  When placing the Questar on it’s Astro-Pier or Tri-Stand care must be taken so that the cord can fit through the support and into the Questar’s base.  It would seem that this would be a simple problem to solve but not when you consider Questar’s history.  The same scope has been in continuous production for 50 years.  If they moved the Powerguide II port on the Questar they would be altering it’s appearance.  After 50 years they can’t do that.  Also the Powerguide II is offered as an upgrade for previously manufactured scopes.  Changing the appearance of a classic scope would be undesirable.

From: | Created on: 10/16/2009 1:48:41 PM