Sunshine

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

Glad your scope is easy going about accessories 😉

What I meant was, do you think it looks tak like in quality?

 

It is by far the best built red dot finder I have seen, almost military. Regarding it being Tak like, I think we could all agree that unlike other scopes which accessories look as though they belong on one or the other, the look of Tak’s make any accessories not made by Tak stand out. One can easily swap accessories from skywatcher to Orion to APM for example and they all look like they belong. Tak on the other hand make accessories for their scopes which really only look like they belong on their own scopes. 

26 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I fully agree, its very much function rather than form in the Telrads case.
 

But a question for you @Sunshine, is the Baader unit fit for a Takahashi or other fine scope, 
or does it have issues of being too bright etc. that the Telrad does not?

 

We will see once I put it to use, looking at the lowest setting seems to be fine, as for whether it is suitable for a Tak? my scope doesn’t care, I don’t think it will fling the skysurfer off its back lol.

Welcome to SGL!

Nice capture! transits are fascinating.

When I think about telrads and how well they work and are easy to align and use, my mind boggles at how the makers have never cared a smidgeon to improve its appearance over decades time. This is almost insulting, I am willing to bet that the Telrad can be just as good and be half the size, it is as though the maker just doesn’t care a bit as long as the money keeps coming in. As much as I love the Telrad I feel frustrated with the makers and their utter disregard for improvement, it is a love/hate relationship with this plastic “lump”.

Several weeks ago I ordered a 50mm Tak finder, somehow I knew I was in for a hard learning experience as I have only used a red dot finder for decades and love them. Sure enough after weeks of trials and tribulations I am tossing in the towel on optical finders. It was dreadful, I could sooner become a contortionist than deal with a straight through optical finder which mounts so close to the eyepiece. Down on my knees straining my neck in painful positions as I struggled to make sense of what I was seeing, stars were upside down, back to back, back to front, side to side, upside down and there were hundreds more than I could see naked eye. 
 

My pretty Tak 50mm finder will be kept for one reason alone, to look pretty on my 102 at star parties, I like to keep the scope as complete and original as possible so I will be purchasing the clamshell which I’m sure I will use but the finder will be esthetic only lol. It so happened that upon calling my local astronomy shop the owner asked about how I am getting on with the finder and I almost sobbed haha, he realized and understood my love of red dot finders and I mentioned I had modified a Telrad to make it shorter. He mentioned I should really try a sky surfer V as I have owned every single RDF except the sky surfer.

My shop owner mentioned it is THE red dot finder to end them all, he loves his so I said sure, why not!. It was delivered yesterday and I was struck by its build quality and ruggedness, it seems like it belongs on a Javelin rocket launcher, only the caps are plastic and it has an inch of extra tube on each end which serve as dew shields which can be unscrewed to make it smaller. There are 10 brightness settings and it can be used during the day as a solar finder which is great. It cost exactly  as much as three Telrads but, I can appreciate why, even the mounting hardware are metal. Once mounted it it as sturdy as a Sherman tank, not a millimeter of slack anywhere, the dovetail base fit perfectly on the existing holes where a tak bracket fits but, as I hate having a finder close to my eyepiece I will soon devise an adapter to mount it on the rings closer to the objective as I want.

in the coming days I will have a chance to use it and I will update this post, from first impressions I must say it is worth every penny.

It's vibrant and nicely contrasted with great detail in the nebulosity, I love it!

A big warm welcome! Rob, let me say that I love your sketches, there's a dreamlike quality to them which is really great. Being a huge fan

of double stars I really enjoyed that Alberio sketch, you nailed the color and beauty of that most finest of doubles.

great to have you on SGL!

That is a busy star!

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Still worth following this nova in her while the field is well placed. Fading the mag 15 now, though, but perhaps leveling off:

This would have been interesting had I known about it when news broke, I'm willing to bet mag 15 is beyond my 4" ability, haven't really kept track of faintest stars I could see.

1 minute ago, Stu said:

I would say my Vixen FL102S

Enough said. 

This wee 4” lad lol.

Not being an imager I cannot offer any constructive criticism but I do know a beautiful image when I see one, wonderful work!.

A big welcome to SGL! an enjoyable introduction that was to read and YES! Albireo is a stunning double! have a great time here on SGL.

1 hour ago, Highburymark said:

I prefer RDFs too. Just weighed the SS V at 380g with the base, though you can remove the two ends of the finder and save a little weight - it’s certainly a lot lighter than a 9x50 RACI. I’ve never used a Telrad or Rigel, so can’t compare. 

Great! thanks for including the image as it gives me a good idea of it’s size when mounted on my 102, I looked online for images of it mounted on 4” refractors to see how big it is. This would be a great red dot finder, I love Telrads but unfortunately they are ugly as all heck and look like a monstrous appendage on my 102 lol. Would it be possible to mount the SSV on my tube rings? I like having finders centered and directly on top of my scope, not off on a 45 degree angle as they usually mount on scopes, I would like to mount it on my ring as there are several  1/4 20 threaded holes and a flat spot on my rings.

UPDATE: just called my local astro shop, by some miracle they had one in stock so I jumped on it, will be delivered in a few days, thanks for the info!

A wonderful sketch, the stars and field stops really give the impression one is looking through the eyepiece.

Awesome footage, that would certainly be a once in a lifetime experience, most likely.

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Nice review. As you note, the Skysurfer III is only slightly better build quality than other cheap red dot finders. But it works ok. The SS V is a huge improvement - by far the best RDF on the market - but it’s the best part of £100 and heavier. 

Do you have the SSV? how heavy is it compared to a Telrad? I have a 50mm optical finder on my TSA102 but I’m having issues getting used to optical finders having used a Telrad my whole 25 plus years in the hobby.

Nice review! I’m looking for a smaller than Telrad red dot finder to use with optical finder.

The book mentioned above is gold for someone learning their way around the sky. As for the scope itself and if you should downsize? A RESOUNDING YES! If there is one and only one rule in this hobby that will serve you best it’s the most repeated “your best scope is the one you use most” not your biggest, most expensive, most exotic etc. 

It just so happens that the one we all use most is the one which is easiest to move amd set up, period. There were occasions where I forgot this rule and purchased scopes which were grand to look at but a pain to look through, they lasted months.  There is no question in the matter, no “opinion” if one puts off taking their scope out because of its size then it defeats the whole point.

Welcome to SGL!

Brilliant! I love this animation as I am used to seeing prom animations, this is great!

That is so cool! the details visible is amazing, I have to try this. 

Sometimes I feel like i'm the minority with my eyepieces at star parties, nobody wants to play with me. 😢

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Well not quite night yet, but Tessa is ready for some gas giant action, the C11 in obsy for some variable star photometry and the two meteor cams on the rhs for some shooting stars 

Wow, Tessa you say? does she have any sisters? I'm green with envy.