Thank you for the responses.  It would still generally be interesting to see one of the iOptron Smart Cubes with the internal plastic gears or the new mid price range alternative - the CubePro - which is the same as the Cube A and E but has metal internal gears. (The third model is the Mini-Tower which is rated at 25lbs but costs $800.) Perhaps if a club member has one, they can bring it to the January SLAS meeting for a quick group demo. - Kurt