Telrad Alternative?

[ismangil]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Telescope-Electronic-Reflex-Bulls-Eye-Red-Sight-Finder-all-telescopes-/380505910762

Seems like a good Telrad alternative? It's got the outer 4 deg circle that Rigel lacks.

Anyone know UK dealers has it? The £10 shipping cost for a £20 item is a killer

[ismangil]

OK so this is a KSON finder http://www.ksonoptics.com:8081/Product/PrdDtls/135/

SmartAstronomy is the Kson dealer for US.

So let's try to find Kson for UK...

[wookie1965]

The first Telrad i cant find it in UK but i have seen someone just cut one down to make it smaller like the one you posted. The second one ive never seen before ive seen red dot finders but not shaped like that a quick search just throws up the normal ones.

[John]

The best Telrad alternative in my opinion is the Rigel Quikfinder despite it lacking the 4 degree reticule.

This review covers a number of different types. The one you have linked to above does not get good feedback though, despite it's 4 degree circle:

http://www.cloudynights.com/documents/9finders.pdf

[ismangil]

Thanks for the article John, it does seem always a toss up between Telrad and Rigel then

[Moonshane]

I have used both and a Baader Skysurfer 3 (more of a traditional RDF) and all work really well. I prefer the Telrad as long as it's on a larger scope like a dob. Personally I don't really star hop with the telrad very often (my skies don't allow it) so a RDF of any kind as long as the alignment is accurate is perfectly good in my opinion. I combine it with a RACI finder and it works for me.

[Luke]

I really like the small footprint and light weight of the Rigel, which gives a lot of options where to put it on the scope. It can fit on a narrow part of the tube rather than on the dew shield, handy if the dew shield tends to slip like on my 80mm scope!

[ismangil]

I have used both and a Baader Skysurfer 3 (more of a traditional RDF) and all work really well. I prefer the Telrad as long as it's on a larger scope like a dob. Personally I don't really star hop with the telrad very often (my skies don't allow it) so a RDF of any kind as long as the alignment is accurate is perfectly good in my opinion. I combine it with a RACI finder and it works for me.

Yeah, I got a really nice RACI finder now (StellarVue), on which i was able to detect M36/37/38 easily

So I only need a red dot really just to point to a starter bright star then hop using optical finderscope.

[John]

I've had a couple of Baader Skysurfer III RDF's in the past. For a simple red dot type they do pretty well. The lens is larger and better shielded from dew than others and the red dot actually is more dot-like than blob-like !.

[ismangil]

I've had a couple of Baader Skysurfer III RDF's in the past. For a simple red dot type they do pretty well. The lens is larger and better shielded from dew than others and the red dot actually is more dot-like than blob-like !.

That seals it then. Other than the fact there's a 2nd Rigel on ukabs same as new Sky Surfer ;-)