Equatorial questions

I have only used dobsonians and an ETX scope in the past, how difficult would adjusting to an equatorial be? They seem to be a little overwhelming at first glance.

Also, from my observing location (my yard), Polaris is not visible because of trees, houses. If it were, it would be washed out by a power plant 2 miles away. Will equatorial drives or go-to (like that in the LXD55) be useless if Polaris is not visible? With the ETX, I align using magnetic north without a problem. Any advice or pointers to something like "a beginner's guide to equatorials" on the net would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Jason

Actually Equatorials are almost identical to fork mounted scopes in operation.

The biggest problem, I think, is almost all photos of EQ setup show the scope pointing up in a polar view.

In reality once the mount is polar aligned you will very seldom see the scope pointing in the manner shown in photos.

The scope swings about the RA axis left to right (and visa versa) just like a fork mounted scope.

The scope swings about the DEC axis, up and down, similar to a fork mounted scope.

Just think of the scope being mounted to a fork mount, only it is just attached to one side of the fork (near the base) as opposed to in between the forks. Otherwise it is really almost the same.

Don't be intimidated, I had never used one before 2 weeks ago, now I'm a pro ;-) It's really easy. I had never used anything but an alt-az, which to me, now seems harder to point.

Lee