Telrad

[jabberwocky]

finally got round to suplimenting my red dot finder, i was thinking about a viewfinder but decided on a telrad instead.

very easy to attach to the scope and even easier to align the circles, first thoughts were how big it looks on my little 130m but its very light so doesnt mess up the balancing.

i downloaded some telrad charts and set about finding my first target, M57. ok this is something i find easily with the red dot finder but i followed the chart and positioned the middle circle on the 2 bottom stars of the parallelogram of lyra and had a hopeful clance through the eyepiece, and there it was bang in the centre:headbang: top result!

hmmm what next, M51 never found it from my garden and still havent, one flaw with a telrad....dew, it dews up very quickly, ill have to get a dew shield for it, and now some high level clouds have rolled in so my first light is a short one but so far i think the telrad will be a good little aid to my nocturnal fumblings.

[Daniel-K]

welcome to the telrad club its far easier to find objects. yes it does dew up quickly but nothing a cereal box cant sort out cut into a tube to fit over nicely.

[swamp thing]

I just dab mine with a tissue. It has no optical surfaces so it does no damage. Been doing this since day one with mine, still as good as new.

[jabberwocky]

I wiped mine with a tissue as well, like you say you can't do any major damage, you can get a shield for it and even a heater but I'll try the DIY route first

[pel]

M51 will be difficult to find with any light polution. I have tried.

How about trying M81 and M82 they are in the same neighbourhood and right overhead at the moment.

Love my Telrad too, it still annoys me that the finderscope shows an upside-down view.

[CGolder]

I picked up a dew shield from astroboot for like three pound... Well worth it

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Viv]

If only they make a 'you left it switched on' warning beep !

I love my Telrad, was a chaleenge to fit to the 80 - but did it eventually.

[Lorne]

If only they make a 'you left it switched on' warning beep !

I love my Telrad, was a chaleenge to fit to the 80 - but did it eventually.

I left mine on and only noticed when I went to put the scope in the car for another session 3 weeks later, the 3 circles were still glowing bright!

[swamp thing]

I left mine on and only noticed when I went to put the scope in the car for another session 3 weeks later, the 3 circles were still glowing bright!

Done this countless times I forget to turn it off all the time. I've only had it about four years now so still on the original batteries.

[Tinker1947]

All my Messier list are by way of the Telrad, really was a good buy....

[cotterless45]

You can easily make a Telrad dewshield fom a sheet of foam from £ shop.The Astroboot one is good for £3, with a foam extension to the front.

After a while you'll notice there's a different sound when clicking on to clicking off.However AA batteries are cheap and easy to install. If you get another scope the spare bases are handy,nice.

Nick.

[Qualia]

Got my Telrad last night and it's very helpful. Used a few plastic cables to tie the base down because I didn't fancy sticking anything directly onto the OTA. Pretty handy living here 'cos until deep winter kicks in, there's really not any dew about.

[Tinker1947]

I understand a hairdryer will release the base from a OTA once the pads warm up, i have yet to try this so unless somebody types it really does work stick with your plastic cables...

[pel]

I understand a hairdryer will release the base from a OTA once the pads warm up, i have yet to try this so unless somebody types it really does work stick with your plastic cables...

The double sided tape that comes with the Telrad does come off easily enough with a hair-drier, I had to do this when I sent my old scope back for a refund.

When I stuck mine on with the tape I hardly had to re-calibrate it to the scope.

[swamp thing]

Out of interest. Has anyone on here actually had to change their Telrad batteries? And if so how many years was it before they needed renewing?

[Mike73]

Out of interest. Has anyone on here actually had to change their Telrad batteries? And if so how many years was it before they needed renewing?

I put rechargeable batteries in mine thinking I would always be changing them, how wrong I was!

I also bought the Telrad dew shield. Was about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike and I have gone back to my homemade foam dew shield.

[m.tweedy]

here is a downloadable template for making you own dew shield

http://www.homebuiltastronomy.com/downbino/HomeBuiltAstronomy-TelradDewShield.html

[RikM]

I get about 2 years out of the little button cells in the Rigels so I would expect a good long run time from the Telrad.

[JamesM]

I am a Telrad fan boy because they are intuitive to use, gets you right on the required spot, has a dimmable light and can work up close or at a distance, but why is the box so big?

James

[Earl]

I like the Telrad but it is a beast, I have seen them on small setups and the look very out of place, great for Dobs though.