Telrad vs Skywatcher Red dot?

[midge91]

Hello,

Just surfing the net and noticed the telrad that I have been told to buy multiple times. Also noticed Sky Watcher Red Dot Sky-Watcher Red Dot Finder at Astronomia

What is the difference apart from £15, I already own a Sw so was wondering would I have to buy anything extra for a Telrad?

Thanks,

Midge

[g0ibi]

There's always the Rigel Quickfinder, I use mine all the time!

[Ags]

I just got a Baader SkySurfer III and am very pleased with it. I have tried several cheap RDFs and they were all horrible: wires hanging out of the assembly, resistors and wires exposed to the elements, squeezed between the inner and outer housing, grinding brightness knobs, yuk!

Beat ya John! Another good point about the Baader is that it has generous dew shielding so it remains usable for longer sessions.

[John]

The Baader Skysurfer III is a better single dot RDF than the Skywatcher one and costs even less at just under £22:

First Light Optics - Baader 30mm Sky Surfer III

Telrads / Quikfinders are great if you intend to use the star hopping method as their projected reticule rings are a defined diameter against the sky.

For just knowing exactly where you are pointing the scope the Baader Skysurfer III does the job excellently, has a larger and better dew shielded lens and has a variety of bases supplied with it. The best single RDF in my opinion.

Edit: what a co-incidence AGS !

[Madhatter]

Astroboot has that very same skywatcher model for £9 atm!. for the 15 pounds extra i think the telrad would probably be better, however at a total of £11 on astroboot its a deffinate option.

AstroBoot

Here is a very quick look/review i did of it yesterday acctualy, i use it all the time.

Skywatcher Red dot finder, a quick look and review. - YouTube

[West End Wendy]

The Telrad has a reticle with 4°, 2° and 1° circles on it, which makes it possible to find DSOs with finder charts (including most iPhone apps these days) with the Telrad circles superimposed on them.

Personally I tend to use my Telrad as a glorified red dot finder, but I still prefer having the circles and it's just a beautifully designed item.

You don't need anything to fix it to your scope - it comes with self-adhesive foam. Fixing an additional rdf to a scope is actually more difficult. Scopes and Skies do an excellent fixing for standard finder dovetails which also uses self-adhesive foam.

One final point about the Telrad - it's an awful dew-magnet, but you can cure that with a cheap bit of foam - again S&S do a good manufactured one, or it's easy to make your own.

Tim

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

I bought one of those £9 ones from astroboot a while back. It's been great.

Build quality seems ok, despite it being made entirely of plastic, but then, it doesn't really need to be titanium does it? There are no loose wires, knobs turn smoothly and it holds alignment. Basically does what you want it to.

[midge91]

Thank you for telling me about Astroboot I can feel a bargain hunt coming.....

Always up for a good deal.

Thanks,

Midge

[swamp thing]

On a larger scope, I would go with a Telrad.

If your scope has room for one, they're very good indeed.

Regards Steve

[Madhatter]

your welcome, its usualy the same old stuff there but sometimes bargins can be had:)

Heres another little tip-you have to pay postage for 1 item, around £2 if i remeber right..however if you buy 3 or more items postage is free..There is usualy some very cheap bits like a case for an eyepeice filter or dust caps for 50p-£1 . Sometimes it works out cheaper to buy those to and get free postage!.

Happy bargin hunting:D

[Damo636]

I have a Telrad on the dob and one of these on my refractor Revelation Advanced Red Dot Finder

I have to say the more i use it the more i like it.

[midge91]

I think i'm going to buy the one of Astroboot TBH I haven't got that much money left and these RDFs seem like an optional extra rather than an essential. Thanks for all the posts,

Midge

[Chris H]

I have a Telrad on my 10" Dob it sits on a 4" riser, this makes it easier to get your head in the right place to line the scope up. If you go for the Telrad the base that comes with it has sticky pads for attaching it to your scope they stick very securely indeed.

[todd8137]

another vote for the telrad

[arbacia]

Telrad is terrific. The graduated circles are a nice navigation tool, much more useful than it looks at first glance. Red dot finder is only a pointer in which you miss the proportions. Moreover Telrad has a wide screen in which we have not the tube vision given by red dots.

Telrad is huge, well made, robust, light, sturdy. Easy to place and take away of the telescope with no loss of alignment. Extrematelly easy of align.

Rigel finder is similar to Telrad. Much smaller. Include a pulse regulator. The screen is also smaller and has not the outermost circle. In europe usually is easy to find it in shops.

Telrad has the pulse as a extra.

At present I have two telrad and one rigel and I detached all the red dotfinder I had, including one of the best: Baader Skysurfer V (90€).

Telrad and rigel are, both of them, definetively a step forward.

[twotter]

I have a simple red dot finder. Never had a problem finding a target, it doesn't suffer from dewing, and is very easy to use. No need to change something that works so well.

[zero_circle]

My Telrad arrived about a week ago and it's brilliant. I'm fairly new to astronomy and it's slashed the time it takes me to hunt objects down. Brilliant piece of kit and easy to use