Richard, I Welcom you to the group. I am also a new owner of a G11, the Losmandy polar scope is more sophisticated than some others and will take a bit of getting used to.their are more precise gizmos Like Shapcap and Polemaster. I will look to one of these in the near future. I like to have old school abilities along with modern devices mainly? for back ups, like being able to do celestial navigation with a sextant even though you have GPS. Okay that said. The Losmandy polar scope will work well if you can see Polaris of course along with another star. I cant allways see the other stars so I will just center Polaris in the convergence point and Gemini will do the rest quite nicely I might add. Just Google up "Losmandy Polar Scope instructions? you will find Losmandy's Kenko Polar finder instructions PDF. or www.company7.com and look up "Losmandy pole finder instructions" it works well for viewing, it will not be accurate enough for long exposures for AP. I also will do a drift alignment and with that I may be able to do short exposures.I think you will Love your G11, it was one of my two best purchases for Astronomy the other is a nightvision device. I think that the first night out with your New G11 just do a fast start routine make sure you pay attention to your information you put in to the Gemini HC, like the minus signs in location and time zone "I made that mistake my first outing and Gemini thought I was in Russia somewhere". Once done press next on HC? then back, then back again, press GoTo, press The Bright Star button, select star from list once your mount finishes slewing the HC Will go to home screen use it to center the bright star then press Align then Alignment. And you are done. Easy peasy. I think this routine is a nice place to start with your Losmandy G11. This Losmandy Group is awesome Lots of great advice and help. I've put together alot of information as a appendium to the Losmandy G11 and Gemini manual from this group of very knowledgeable folks. Oh yeah this was about the Polar scope. Even in the future when I am using Sharpcap or a polemaster I am glad to have the polar scope also. HAPPY SKIES.