Recommendations for quickfinders (or laser pointers)

[addy]

Hi

I am currently using a 6x30 finderscope on my small refractor. Recently I went to a freinds place and saw him using a red-dot finder (Telrad if I remember). I was quite impressed wehn I saw concentric rings in the centre of FOV which apear projected over the night sky..

I would like to hear some reviews of these cool red-dot finders (telrad or rigel).. Do you prefer them over the laser pointers? Do you recommend them for use in singapore skies.. I was thinking if I could use it along with the finderscope, is it possible :-)

Are these availabe in singapore.. Any estimate of the price/availability..

thanks in advance

clear skies soon
Addy

[weixing]

Hi,
I got a Red-Dot finder which come with my SkyWatcher 127 MCT. It is easy to use and can point your scope quickly. But it got one disadvantage - you cannot point to anything that you can't see. As a result, it is very diffcult to use it for finding deep sky object in Singapore, unless you are very familiar with the sky.

I once also have the idea of mounting the Red-Dot finder with my 9x50 Finderscope, but I can't find anyway enable me to mount these two together on my scope and I'm still looking...

Anyway, I think McGill got sell the Telrad Finder at around S$100. Check out their website if you are interested.

Hope the information is useful.

[Grievous]

Good Day,

I personally prefer those illuminated 7x50 finderscope from Tak. Good for hunting those fuzzies in those i-cant-even-see-my-nose! dark sites. But, its way off my budget though.

Charlie

[kayheem]

Hi

I am currently using a 6x30 finderscope on my small refractor. Recently I went to a freinds place and saw him using a red-dot finder (Telrad if I remember). I was quite impressed wehn I saw concentric rings in the centre of FOV which apear projected over the night sky..

I would like to hear some reviews of these cool red-dot finders (telrad or rigel).. Do you prefer them over the laser pointers? Do you recommend them for use in singapore skies.. I was thinking if I could use it along with the finderscope, is it possible :-)

Are these availabe in singapore.. Any estimate of the price/availability..

thanks in advance

clear skies soon
Addy

Hi,

Here are my own comments on using different finders:

Standard straight thru finders:
More suitable for light-polluted places like Singapore. You need the extra magnification and light gathering power to star-hop. However, you will need to do mental gymnastics or turn your star atlas upside down (to match the atlas) to star-hop. I got confused by the sheer number of stars when I used it in Mersing. Under dark skies, try to get one with illuminated cross-hairs.

Reflex Finders:
More suited under dark skies as you can see more stars to star-hop. Telrad is bigger and heavier than Rigel, but some atlases come with overlays to match Telrad's circles. Rigel is lighter and comes with a pulsing feature.

Green Laser Pointer:
Best for Star Parties as other guests can see where you are pointing at. Most expensive of the lot.

You are right. Some like to use both (reflex finder and normal finderscope) depending on viewing conditions.


Kay Heem

[Airconvent]

Hi,

Here are my own comments on using different finders:

Standard straight thru finders:
More suitable for light-polluted places like Singapore. You need the extra magnification and light gathering power to star-hop. However, you will need to do mental gymnastics or turn your star atlas upside down (to match the atlas) to star-hop. I got confused by the sheer number of stars when I used it in Mersing. Under dark skies, try to get one with illuminated cross-hairs.
Reflex Finders:
More suited under dark skies as you can see more stars to star-hop. Telrad is bigger and heavier than Rigel, but some atlases come with overlays to match Telrad's circles. Rigel is lighter and comes with a pulsing feature.
Green Laser Pointer:
Best for Star Parties as other guests can see where you are pointing at. Most expensive of the lot.
Kay Heem

you right, kay heem.
Its all a matter of preference though. I hate using the red dot finder in Singapore as I see practically nothing but Samuel swears by it and is quite adapt in using it on our polluted skies.
I prefer a finder as some dim objects simply cannot be seen with the naked eye and at other times you really need some magnification to see the star speckle background.

One with illuminated cross hairs would be good, especially if you burn money at home to keep warm. Otherwise, settle for a normal finderscope.
I am using a right angle one which is extremely good at preserving your knee but causes a narrower view and dimmer image. I also find that 6 times magnification is a tad too high for looking for alignment stars. I like to be able to see all 3 stars or at least 2 stars of Orion's belt, so
would have preferred a 4 x 30mm finder. enough aperture and wide enough view but no such finders exist. they usually range from x6 to x 8 instead.

rich

[cinq]

Hi

I was thinking of getting either the telrad or quikfinder (rigel systems) last time and heard that the quikfinder might have parallex error but it depends on how careful you are viewing as well. It seems a better package coz the pulsing is included while the telrad, you have to pay extra. For a light scope, the telrad will be too heavy, upset the balance.

As for pointing red finder, I was told it is not only to point directly at objects you can see, you can also use it as you would to starhop, ie, estimate in between 2 stars, form a triangle etc, also the circles are helpful in estimating distances. That is more useful than a dot which can obscure the object itself sometimes.

cheers
Cindy