Synscan upgrade

[almcl]

Hello

Been lurking here for a while, but now need to ask a question. Equipment is a Skywatcher 200p on an EQ5 stand with added motor drives and some additional EPs.  Used mostly in the back garden but occasionally taken to a dark sky site.  Last Friday was one such occasion, hoping to see some DSOs in Sagittarius.

After a quick look at the Wild Duck cluster, M11,  star hopped to what turned out to beNGC6604, the found the Eagle Nebula, M16, and was almost overwhelmed by its appearance, size and detail.

Moving down to the horizon, several other DSOs came into view including one which reminded me a lot of M13.

This was unexpected so the star filed around it was sketched, as seen in my 32mm TSSV32 PL EP.  My sketching isn't the best (certainly when compared to some of the wonderful ones posted here) and the orientation of my filed never matches Stellarium but, eventually after two days of searching, I managed tom match my sketch with the field around M22.

So, the question: have been considering getting the Synscan upgrade to give goto capability which would save time and occasional frustration on the star hopping, but it would it be of use for working out what or where the object is that scope has just been slewed to?  (I don't mean when an object has been entered - just when moving about in a star field.) 

Would it, to take another example allow the identification of objects in the Virgo cluster.  Last time I saw lots but had no idea what they were after the first couple of hops,

[Earl]

goto is very helpfull, but also takes the accomplishment from finding it by hand.

its what works for the individual.

[Lorne]

I know my Dob Synscan has an "identify" function but it also has dual encoders so if I swing the Dob around manually to a target the Synscan is still aligned, Im not sure whether the EQ5 Synscan upgrade has this, better to check before you buy as you may well lose alignment and still unable to identify your target.

[Lorne]

goto is very helpfull, but also takes the accomplishment from finding it by hand.

its what works for the individual.

I know I have the Goto but I agree totally, there's a fair bit of satisfaction in using a finder/ telrad and a star chart and swing the Scope round to find things by yourself

[Herbig]

The Synscan has an Identify function but if you move your mount manually you will loose your alignment so you would need to slew to your object with the hand controller and then press Identify, if your alignment is good the controller will then tell you what the object is.

[almcl]

Ah, thanks, that's the answer I needed!

Must admit though, I do get a sense of satisfaction from 'finding it myself'.  In fact the celebrations when I found M81 and M82 while looking for the Supernova in January could apparently be heard several streets away... 

But  with limited dark sky time available, it seems like goto will help maximise observing rather than finding time. 

Thanks for the responses.