Advice on first Telescope

[raymo]

You were very unlucky then, as most red dot finders have adjustment
knobs on both axes; even cheap ones. I have a cheap RDF and a Telrad, and have no particular preference, except that the RDF was half the price of the Telrad. If choosing an RDF, just make sure to get one with
variable brightness.
raymo

[julianh72 (Julian)]

+1 for a Red Dot Finders!

The Telrad is arguably the "best of breed" , but even the basic RDF that you can get from Bintel and other sources for under $40 has easy thumb wheel alignment adjustment on both axes, and variable brightness.

[Steffen]

Actually, some of the four-reticle ones (like the WO of which I have two) require an Allen key for alignment, but those a very well made, all-metal and hold their pointing accuracy across many observing sessions. The battery in them also lasts forever. I can't count the times I've forgotten to turn them off when packing up, I've never been caught with a flat RDF battery. My only niggle would be that even at the lowest setting they can be a tad bright under very dark skies.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Monstar (Johnny)]

I have only ever used one type of finder, the cheap RDF that came with my scope and am very happy with it. Only a couple of minor niggles, the azimuth adjuster is in line with brightness adjuster and at first I sometimes used to turn the wrong one, this doesn't happen anymore as my fingers can now recognise the slight difference in size. The other niggle is more me than the scope in that I keep forgetting to turn it of!! This does point to a good point though as I still haven't needed to change its battery

Edit: have just re-read Steffen's post and seems he has exactly the same thing with the on/off and battery so it must be true.