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How did you go Matt, got your SSV yet?
I brought mine home yesterday, and it was a simple 5 minute job to swap the Orion RACI with the SSV. It looks very sharp sitting on the dob with typical Baader quality.
First decision was whether to go with the clear end caps, or fit the tube extensions for dew prevention. Problem is, you can't do both unless you cut the elastic holding the clear end caps together.
I decided to go with the clear end caps, because even with the tube extensions I can see that the finder will dew up eventually on those typical nights. Plus with those fitted, and no caps for protection, there is nothing protecting the glass surfaces of the actual finder.
With the clear end caps in place, I just gave them a gentle wipe to remove the dew that was forming without any concern for scratching the clear plastic.
Last night was sensational here and I gave the finder a good run into the early morning. It was very easy to align, with nice positive click stops felt as you moved the red dot into alignment. Star hopping around was great, and in some ways I already prefer it over my Starbeam finders, but the Starbeams do look very elegant on refractors. For the dobs though I think the SSV is a winner.
The only negative I will include is about the 1 to 11 illumination switch. Anything beyond about 2 is a waste of time as it gets too bright. Plus, with the clear end caps in place the brighter settings create reflections and you end up with 2 or 3 red dots in the sky. I just used setting 1 all night and that projected a small precise dot in the sky with no ghost images coming back from the clear end cap.
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