Red Dot Finder vs Telrad

[bojan]

Originally Posted by astro744

Tele Vue Starbeam. A very nice red dot finder indeed with flip mirror for right angle viewing should you desire.

Our Price: $199.00
List Price: $285.00
You Save: $86.00 (30%)

[Suzy]

Chris, as I said earlier, I don't know anything about the Telrad to comment on them, but after reading this thread, I'm gathering they have some weight to them. A bit of a warning here...
The 6" dobs get very top heavy easily. Even a 2 inch barlow lens is enough to affect the balance (even worse is putting a big wide angle premium ep with barlow). Be careful, sometimes those tubes can hit the base pretty hard because of it, which is why from the start I put a square piece of adhesive foam on the inside of the base. There is a fairly easy solution to this problem of balancing the tube. I used a Velcro strap passed thru a camera case (you know the ones that have got the strap so your whole hand can hold it?) and filled it with weights. Placed I guess about 10-15cm up from the bottom of the tube in line with the eyepieces. I have also heard people use magnets (bought from Jaycar I think). I had the balance set pretty well with my weights so never had to add or remove weights. A good all rounder weight I found to be a good option, instead of struggling in the dark even more.

[astro744]

Originally Posted by Suzy

Chris, as I said earlier, I don't know anything about the Telrad to comment on them, but after reading this thread, I'm gathering they have some weight to them.

Only 262 grams including batteries but not the base which is also quite light as it is also made of plastic.

[WestAusChris (Chris)]

Thankyou again everyone for links and write up's i certainly have some good ideas from you all and once i have decided what to buy i will take some pics and put them on the forum.

Really appreciate everyone taking the time to write.

[turbo_pascale (Rob)]

Originally Posted by WestAusChris

I have only used my 6" for 3 days and already have a stiff neck from bending down and twisting to look through the OEM finder on the dob.

Telrad and Red Dot finders aren't going to fix your stiff neck issue.

Get a right angle finder instead.
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=6877

Won't help your budget any, as it is more expensive than the Telrad!

I have one, and love it, although I literally used mine again for the first time for 2 years, and there is a little rubber o-ring that disintegrated in it, which is making it wobble around. Outside of that (which should be easy enough to fix) it was the easiest finder I used, especially with an SCT, where finding the pole means the finder is upside down "under" the scope in the polar home position.

I also have the bintel multi-red-dot finder, but anything more than the first light setting is too bright (even that is annoying).

When I had everything setup on my SCT, I had a green laser, the RDF and the right angle finders, all aligned with my main scope and the guide scope. It is quite good to get rough position with the laser, then step up to the RDF, then the right angle finder, then the guide scope, then the main scope. It was like having 5 levels of zoom!

Turbo

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I must admit stiff neck issue was a big problem for me too, I also bought a right angle finder and would consider laser as a way of quick targeting. I wouldn't use laser though for serious deep sky observing but for general DSO it should be fine. Important to consider other people in the location. I think the laser is good enough to get enough bearing to then use the right angle view finder. I dont have a laser so I only use the finder ATM. My original scope DOB had a straight finder and was one of the first things to change.

[WestAusChris (Chris)]

Im very tempted to get a friend from the US to just post a laser and say its electronic parts and hope it gets through.

Only be used on the back verandah with only one niebour who is 4 house blocks away, live on a new estate in a small country town so there is no street lights and can get very dark night skies.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by WestAusChris

Im very tempted to get a friend from the US to just post a laser and say its electronic parts and hope it gets through.

Only be used on the back verandah with only one niebour who is 4 house blocks away, live on a new estate in a small country town so there is no street lights and can get very dark night skies.

You can buy them in Aus, I am also applying for a licence to manufacture as well.

[Jeeps (Sam)]

Originally Posted by Jeeps

I have called andrews and asked them if this is a known problem and/or if they have any solutions to the vertical adjustment issue. I spoke with Luke who said that they've sold hundreds without any issue and none coming back and he wanted me to send it to him straight away (i'm in QLD) and he'll express post another out immediately.

cheers

Just an update - i received the new red dot finder during the week. I fitted it up and waited for the sky to clear...

I did notice immediately though that this one's displayed patterns were crispy sharp. The previous one's patterns weren't so clear and sharp.

Anyway went out on Thursday afternoon as the clouds had cleared a little bit. Setup the scope early and pointed the dob at Jupitor and started to align the red dot finder. I decided to use my intuition this time rather than rely on the sparsely explained manual that came with it. I first loosened the right rear 'locking bolt' of the right side of the finder with the large supplied allen key and also the left rear side 'locking bolt' with the small supplied allen key. These 'locking bolts' are shown in the diagram if you study it hard enough, but no mention of them or their appropriate use is otherwise explained in the manual.

Once these locking bolts were loosened i started to turn both the allen bolt on the left side for horizontal adjustment and also the allen bolt on the top for the vertical adjustment. It worked this time! At first i didn't think it was working because it takes many more turns to get the vertical adjustment to move than does the horizontal adjustment.

When the dot was lined up i tightened the 'locking bolts' and checked the alignment. It was now out a bit so i then had to loosen them and readjust the alignment a little bit. Tightening the 'locking bolts' misaligns the dot a little bit - similar to tightening the locking bolts on the primary mirror of the dob after collimating

The clouds then rolled in so i didn't get to do any viewing so i packed up the scope and also put the supplied dust cover on the red dot finder. I was interested to see if putting on the dust cover misaligned the finder as little bit of wriggling is required to get it on.

Come last night (saturday) after getting home around midnight there were finally stars! So out came the scope and i turned on the red dot finder to see if it was still aligned. Pointed it at the Orion Nebula, put a 30mm GSO Superview eyepiece in and there it was in the centre! I put a 20mm GSO Superview and then a 12mm in and it was still in view. It was towards the edge with my 9mm TMB and right at the edge with my 6mm TMB. Not bad! It seems it does hold alignment quite well!

I pointed it at a few items, Pleiades, around orion a bit etc then started to do a star collimation and guess what? The clouds rolled in...

Andrews service was great as usual and the replaced finder does as advertised. After playing briefly with it i would say that the red dot finder is much easier than the straight through finder to use. The red dot finder is best on the 'smallest dot' pattern and the lowest brightness setting. Any brighter and the stars in the background get washed out and it's harder to point at things.

All i need now is some clear weather

cheers

(i'll post up a pic this afternoon)