Well, 6 months has passed and I still haven't done anything about the camera. I will probably eventually mod the K-5IIs but in the meantime I'm still using the K-1. I have upgraded the mount to a CGEM and I find that I really like it. The light pollution is getting worse and I find it increasingly difficult to image in my own backyard. I picked up the Optolong LP2 Pro filter but if anything, my results are worse.. Right now the moon is full or nearly full and that combined with the high ambient light makes imaging anything other than the moon nearly impossible. I did get a decent image of the Orion Nebula but that's old hat. I will try next week when the moon is later rising, without the filter and see if I can pull something out of the lead-colored sky. I also think I will try doing a comparison of the K-1 vs. the K-5IIs. Wish me luck.
On another note, I have packed up the Starsense and I just do an accurate polar alignment and a 2-star + 2 calibration stars alignment with the Nexstar+ handset. It is marginally more difficult than the starsense auto align but I find the gotos to be more accurate. I have also discovered the "Precise Goto" function and have found it to be very accurate and easy to use. Without fail it puts the target center frame with no additional fiddling.