Gotta say, that cold lap under the toes makes my stomach drop just reading it. You did everything right by the book, kept the profile clean as a whistle, and still got burned by something you couldn't see. That's the part that gets me, how a little hidden flaw can trash a whole afternoon and force a re-test. I've been in that spot where the gauge says one thing but your gut is whispering to hit it with the file or scratch awl first. Grinding 16 inches of cap sounds way less painful than paying for that mistake twice, honestly. Super frustrating when the pretty weld hides the real problem underneath.

Wait, did you actually give the app a fair shot, or did you just give up after one bad night? I used to think my phone was the problem too, until I figured out you have to turn off the auto brightness and use the red night mode, then the stars just pop right out at you. The paper wheel never tells you when the ISS is flying over, or when a comet is worth dragging your scope out for, and that alone has saved me so many wasted hours. Plus, the app updates with new satellite data and meteor showers, so mine has actually gotten better since March instead of staying frozen like a printed map. Your Flagstaff lag might've been a signal thing too, I've had that happen once and I just downloaded the offline sky data for my area and now it works smooth even in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, the interface takes a weekend to learn, but once you pick your favorite layer setups, it's way less cluttered than a creased piece of cardboard.