Meade AC vss DC drives

Happy to hear input on this one.

I had purchased a 6" Meade Starfinder with the old pier mount and AC drive. Just stumbled across (and purchased) an 8" Meade Starfinder with the DC drive, and optional ports for the Magellan I system as well as an outlet to tie to as 12v battery. While I'm not excited about the thought of changing batteries OR lugging around a 12v battery, I am leaning toward keeping this mount because of the opportunities that it provides for tracking in remote locations. Also, since my home site is not in an observatory, I don't have to worry with electrical cords, and I assume I will get a fair number of hours out of the battery. Has anyone found that one of these drives is really superior to the other. Guess I need to test the tracking side-by-side as well as I can. Input and recommendations are welcome.

Thanks,

Dave

Didn't the DC Starfinder Equatorials run off of 4 AA batteries? Or was it 8?

What makes you think the outlet you have there is for 12 v?

In other words--I don't know if you will need to "haul batteries" around because the original battery pack (4 or 8? AA's ) was supposed to run the thing for something like 50 hours.

Of course, my memory could be shot or there may have been Starfinder EQ's I don't know about..... or well, you know.

Alex

Clarification...

The drive will run off of 6 AA batteries and supposedly will run for 50 hours. It also has a 12vDC port. The manual indicates that "...it accepts a #607 Power Cord ...from as 12vDC automobile cigarette lighter plug. While the recommended supply voltage is 12vDC, the telescope will operate in a range of 6-18vDC."

I had read somewhere (can't remember where) that someone thought that this drive did not track as well as the AC drive. Just curious if there is any substance to this criticism or if the drives should track equally well.