A couple of more notes I forgot to include in my previous message:
I found it useful to level the tripod very well (I use the iPad, sitting flat on the plate before putting on the mount; the Polar Scope Pro app has a bubble level among other things - there are many other apps offering such a level). If the mount is not level, aligning works equally fine but without a counterweight and with the clutches unlocked and no other friction applied, the scope will rotate to come on the lower side. I don't know how come the mount has such a low friction, it almost feels like it uses magnetic levitation inside 🙂. To clarify: during normal observing, the clutches and friction knobs will be engaged. Given that the mount and tripod hold everything without the counterweights, I like the absence of the bar & weights from an aesthetic perspective.
centering stars during alignment was painless as there's no backlash at all (not even from the slo-mo controls - I'm saying this because a couple of years ago I had a Vixen Porta II whose slo-mo screws never kept the handles tight and had quite a bit of play). So for the final movements, you don't have to always come from the same direction like with less precise mounts.
speaking of balance, I still have to figure out what's the best way to balance the OTA with eyepieces of different weights (my heaviest is a Delos 14mm, the others are lighter Plössls - also have a PowerMate 2.5). One option is to balance for something in between the extremes. Another is to balance for the eyepiece used most of the time. A third option is to leave the eyepiece end heavier since it's always going to be stay lower. Suggestions are welcome if you have experience with this.
an observation: before the last sessions I had forgotten to enable DST (we already switched here in Canada) and only realized after I made the 3-star alignment (my Nexus DSC came from Rowan with the newer firmware offering this option). I found that the model was accurate and thought Nexus must be using the UTC time from GPS. The manual says that the 2-star alignment doesn't use the location, date or time for alignment and pointing. I guess the 3-star model doesn't use that either. I found this interesting, all the other mounts I used in the past were sensitive to the time zone, I thought the math would be the same.
also noticed that once I used "Find from Planetarium" once with SkySafari, I didn't have to select this option from Nexus but simply tap on the new target in SkySafari and Nexus immediately showed the slewing directions. This made it more convenient as I didn't have to press buttons on Nexus at all from my sitting position, just select the target on the iPad which was close on a small table. For slewing I did need to look at the displayed arrows Nexus, of course, but I guess I could look at the iPad screen. Nonetheless, I enjoyed slewing until Nexus showed the target was supposed to be in the centre and only then looked to find it there indeed. I found this precision reassuring when identifying a couple of asteroids. The experience with less precise alt-az mounts in the past was different: I knew slewing got me with the target somewhere in the field, but then had to compare the view with the planetarium to figure out which dot was the one of interest.
using SkySafari reduced the need to have the observing list written on the Nexus' SD card. I'll probably still do it as a backup. BTW, I think Nexus doesn't normally write to the SD card so reliability is higher. From using a couple of Raspberry Pi of different generations, I got used to needing to reformat the card after losing power during card writes - this corrupts the file system. For important trips, I'll probably have a backup card with the same contents. Cards are more reliable now, but it's cheap insurance.
Hope this helps,
Razvan