Telrad - Im loving it!!!

I never liked the "look" of the bulky finderscope that sat on top of my SW 10" COL-DOB.
And also the weight of it, personally I find the weight of it making my scope too top heavy and I noticed it caused a very minute downward pull when the tension screws where medium tightened.

With the addition of my newly obtained Argo Navis, The finderscope again was looking more and more useless and ugly

So I jumped online and looked at a few finderscopes, first I thought of a nice multi red dot finder, but costing $200 was a bit hevty.
I looked at some single red dot finders as they looked light weight and really I only needed something to do 2 star alignments.

I saw this thing called a "Telrad" - Wow it looked big and heavy! I remeber Norm showing me the Telrad at Feburary PC session and described how it works with the laser. It looked kind cool I thought at the time. But since i was in the market for something light weight I steered away from it.

I went down to York Optical on the weekend, and was about to purchase the red dot finder when the owner started taking about the Telrad. I thought "what the hell, il have a look at it"..

as soon as i grabbed it,is was light as a feather!!

The owner told me a bit more about it, how to use etc and said it was defintatly a must have item.

I thought "what the hell, I'l try it out."
Got it for a nice price, $90.00

tonight, I used it......
.......And I'm Lovin It!!

Telrad is excellent!
Light , simple , easy to use and it just works!
The laser is so easy to keep your eye on. So easy to collimate the rings and it looks soo cool on my scope!

Anyone looking for a good finderscope and prepared to sacrafise focal length.

The Telrad is two thumbs up!

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Yep, Telrad is a great accessory for a dob. I was getting tired of doing all sorts of weird contortions looking through the standard finder which came with my scope, having said that I haven't done away with the finder all together
But definitely the Telrad is great for quick finding.
Others may chip in but here's a handy link of charts which show the view through the Telrad rings, or basically Telrad finder charts, may be useful:
http://hotastronomy.com/2008/06/09/t...finder-charts/
(the charts are Northern Hemisphere biased so invert them for Southern skies)

[stephenb (Stephen)]

I can vouch for the Telrad also. I have had one on my 6" and 8" Newt's years ago, my LX200 and my 12" Dob until recently (the new owner of this one, Lowepro, loves it also!) Simple to use and, you know what? It just works. And the LED use so little battery consumption.

My only criticism is the large shape, there is a lot of wasted space in the battery compartment but, on second thoughts, it's 'clunky', traditional design which has never changed since Steve Kufeld designed it in (I think) 1977, so why change it?

[RB (Andrew)]

I love my Telrad, can't do without it !

Good pickup Ash.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Only other thing I should have added is it's probably good to invest in a dew shield (which I haven't done yet )

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by redesford

My only criticism is the large shape, there is a lot of wasted space in the battery compartment but, on second thoughts, it's 'clunky', traditional design which has never changed since Steve Kufeld designed it in (I think) 1977, so why change it?

An alternative to this is the Rigel Quickfinder. Like the telrad it projects aiming circles onto an angled transparent screen, but the rigel is much smaller and lighter and runs off a lithium button cell.

I own both and prefer the rigel unless on a big scope where the size and weight isnt an issue.

Originally Posted by lacad01

Others may chip in but here's a handy link of charts which show the view through the Telrad rings, or basically Telrad finder charts, may be useful:
http://hotastronomy.com/2008/06/09/t...finder-charts/
(the charts are Northern Hemisphere biased so invert them for Southern skies)

This is heaps handy! Thanks for sharing, i can see this being a great assistance in my observations!

That rigel looks quite "tall" Geoff?

Cheers Andrew , was definatley worth the dollars!

Thanks

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

The height of the Quickfinder can be an issue, as you tend to move your head around more to find the bullseye rings, but it is the best thing to put on an Astroscan! If you know the classic little red scope, they have a big round bottom, and the Quickfinder sticks up past that so you can look along the stubby tube from the back to find your objects.

I currently use a Quickfinder and don't mind it at all, but both them and the Telrads are worth it. It took a few years for me to come around to liking them and now I don't know how I got by without them, I must have had much better eyes or much more patience when I was younger!

[White Rabbit]

The only down side that I can think of with the telrad is that if you are trying to align on a faint star the plastic screen is that thick that it filters out the star light, meaning you cant see your star through the scree. You have to use both eyes and a bit of guess work.

You'll be wanting the dew shield for it for sure as it's the first thing to start gathering dew.

Sandy

[pgc hunter]

I've got both the Rigel and Telrad, a must IMO if one uses a right angle finder. Makes life mucho easier.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by White Rabbit

The only down side that I can think of with the telrad is that if you are trying to align on a faint star the plastic screen is that thick that it filters out the star light, meaning you cant see your star through the scree. You have to use both eyes and a bit of guess work.

You'll be wanting the dew shield for it for sure as it's the first thing to start gathering dew.

Sandy

I understand the Telrad is made to a price and it works for 99.9% of users, and without trying to "over-modify" the product, I wonder if the acrylic screen was replaced with a thinner version, would that improve it? but I'm just thinkingout aloud here, from one who tinkers in the shed a lot! This might be an experiment for a spare weekend?

[mozzie (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Lyinxz

I never liked the "look" of the bulky finderscope that sat on top of my SW 10" COL-DOB.
And also the weight of it, personally I find the weight of it making my scope too top heavy and I noticed it caused a very minute downward pull when the tension screws where medium tightened.

With the addition of my newly obtained Argo Navis, The finderscope again was looking more and more useless and ugly

So I jumped online and looked at a few finderscopes, first I thought of a nice multi red dot finder, but costing $200 was a bit hevty.
I looked at some single red dot finders as they looked light weight and really I only needed something to do 2 star alignments.

I saw this thing called a "Telrad" - Wow it looked big and heavy! I remeber Norm showing me the Telrad at Feburary PC session and described how it works with the laser. It looked kind cool I thought at the time. But since i was in the market for something light weight I steered away from it.

I went down to York Optical on the weekend, and was about to purchase the red dot finder when the owner started taking about the Telrad. I thought "what the hell, il have a look at it"..

as soon as i grabbed it,is was light as a feather!!

The owner told me a bit more about it, how to use etc and said it was defintatly a must have item.

I thought "what the hell, I'l try it out."
Got it for a nice price, $90.00

tonight, I used it......
.......And I'm Lovin It!!

Telrad is excellent!
Light , simple , easy to use and it just works!
The laser is so easy to keep your eye on. So easy to collimate the rings and it looks soo cool on my scope!

Anyone looking for a good finderscope and prepared to sacrafise focal length.

The Telrad is two thumbs up!

hi ash i love mine to the are the best i use it on my lx-90 and have a second base to use on my dob i also had a prob with it being top heavy even with 2"naglers so i bolted a counter weight to the bottom of scope just in front of primary mirror and it helps balance it
mozzie

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Yeah, its an over sized ugly contraption,but works a treat.........and batteries last FOREVER in it...

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

A Telrad, a good adjustable height chair and a set of charts (or planisphere) are the best accessories that I can think of for lots of enjoyable night viewing with my Dobsonian mounted reflectors.

Welcome to the club!

With respect to dew prevention you can be low tech or high tech...low tech can be as simply as a foam "can cosy" for the Telrad (which I did for a long time) and then I went high tech and got a heater...both work fine.

A heater for the telrad screen? really??
got any pictures?

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Originally Posted by Lyinxz

A heater for the telrad screen? really??
got any pictures?

Go to the Bintel Website...as listed...

Telrad Heater
$39.00

A new addition to the very popular Telrad finder, the Telrad heater plugs into any 12v dew controller system to keep your Telrad free of dew all night.
The neat design push-fits inside under the glass window with enough cable to get you connected

[NeilW]

Bassnut

Yeah, its an over sized ugly contraption,but works a treat.........and batteries last FOREVER in it...

Especially if you remember to turn it off at the end of the night....

[pgc hunter]

^^^ that's how the battery in my Rigel went flat