Hi Jeff,
Are you using the Gemini-2 Hand Controller by itself???
You mentioned autoguiding, so can we presume you have a camera(s) and software ?
The best choice options kinda depend on your available camera and software resources...
Like many of the others, I have found that Sharpcap's polar alignment routine is really easy and fast, requiring no hand controller interaction except for a single RA slew (or from the Gemini.Net interface).
If you haven't tried it, you might want to...
It gives you near real-time errors to adjust out in arc seconds for mount adjustments and getter yet, gives you what direction to make the adjustments, can't get much easier than that...
At first, I was using the Polemaster camera with Sharpcap, but found I got better results with my main imaging camera (1.4 arc seconds per pixel).
I'm sure others will either confirm or offer alternatives...
When I start, I do the Sharpcap polar alignment first, then start modeling until I get the PAC option, then switch and build the model for the other side until I get the PAC option.
By then my pointing is more than accurate enough...
I know that I don't have to model at all if plate solving, but I enjoy doing it and it only takes about 5 minutes, and I then have the peace of mind to know everything is right...
I struggled with cone error for awhile, as it really seems to affect polar alignment from my imaging camera's perspective (some slews it was excellent, others not so good),
and my results became much more consistent when I minimized it (with shimming).
Astronut Tim
