Advice on laser collimator, please.

[M00NMonkey]

Hi all,

Im a Noob here at SGL and have been gazing at the stars with the naked eye ever since I was a kid.

After reading through many, many post on here, there and everywhere, much umming and ahhing and decision making, I have just decided and ordered my first scope. and there was much cheering and rejoicing

A Skywatcher Explorer 200p Eq5

I am hoping it will turn up tomorrow, but will probably be Mon/Tues. Exciting stuff !!!

The reason for the post is that i need a bit of advice on what collimator to get?

I have read through posts on here and looked at youtube videos and decided i want a laser not cheshire, but i am hearing a lot of talk about the cheap lasers being rubbish.

I have pretty much blown my budget on the scope so i didn't want to spend much on a collimator.

there are ones advertised for between £40-£45 on FLO and other sites, but are these the cheap ones? as there are some much more expensive ones at £100-£200.

Any advice on a good lower end laser collimator that suits the SWE 200p?

Also, I have read a few post mentioning collimating the collimator?!?! Although i found nothing that went into depth explaining how and why. Any experts out there with some tips?

Thanks for reading and any help given. I look forward to becoming part of the community.

Clear skies and kind regards

M00NMonkey

[wookie1965]

Laser collimator`s are very good but get the best a cheap one could be misaligned even a good one may need to be aligned before use. Its better to get one you can align so that you know the collimator is right therefore when you do collimate your scope that will be right you can always do a star check after.

[nephilim]

Congrats on the cope, I got the same as you last week & although its been to cloudy to use I'm well impressed by it, my last scope was the 130 but this one's a real beast. As for the colimator, ive got a cheshire eyepiece & find it very easy to use & well worth the £30 it cost, be aware that a laser colimator needs to be colimated 'itself'.

Steve

[nephilim]

Laser collimator`s are very good but get the best a cheap one could be misaligned even a good one may need to be aligned before use. Its better to get one you can align so that you know the collimator is right therefore when you do collimate your scope that will be right you can always do a star check after.

Beat me to it

[Bart]

Hi and welcome,

you havea nice scope on the way there. get to know it fora while first. Collimation is important but don't fret over it. I currently use te barlowed laser technique and find it a dawdle. google it. You will get by with a cheshire or similar unit, though. I just find using the laser easy and fast. I got a laser from the US company agena astro for 40 dollars and its great. It itself can be collimated and have done so, after i did something stupid i'd rather not admit to here. Alan at 'skies the limit' has a collimateable one for £30ish, thats probably ok. i don't believe you need to spend a lot

good luck

Barry

[Bluey]

I use a Hotech for the primary, and a sight tube for the secondary. So far everything has been great with no problems, I think the Hotech was about £40 from FLO.

[Oily]

I bought a HoTech SCA laser collimator after reading reviews online,I too bought mine from Agena Astro:

http://agenaastro.com/hotech-1-25-sca-laser-collimator.html

[Bart]

I'm not as rich as Oily, i got the GSO for 49 dollars! works grand on the 16" i have. i find the laser technique reduces greatly the to-ing and fro-ing betweenthe primary and the sighttube

[ollypenrice]

I use a laser because our scope is too big to do a Cheshire job single handed in reasonable time. They are very good if used well. To consider;

The laser must be collimatable. My Astro Engineering one has three screws 120 degrees apart to adjust the angle of the beam. It is ludicrously easy to do. You get a chunk of flat wood and bang 4 big nails into it iin two pairs. The are banged in so as to cross each other in an X shape and so make a pair of vee blocks in which you lie the laser so you can rotate it. The crudeness of the construction has absolutely no effect whatever on its accuracy. It is plenty accurate enough and then some.

Now you go into a long room and put the laser in your vee blocks with it pointing at a far wall. You rotate it and watch the spot of light on the wall. If, as you rotate, it describes a circle then it's out and you tweak the three screws till the dot on the wall stays put as you rotate. This isn't worth promoting into 'a problem with laser collimators.'

The Hotech laser also addresses another concern which is being unaligned slightly when clamped into the fouser. It uses a variant of the collet system to ensure that it's centered. Wrapping self adhesive alloy tape around the laser to improve the fit in the EP holder is also possible.

Lasers tend to be scorned on here but I use one routinely and confirm the result with a star test. Since the star test is usually good I rate the laser. This is in a half metre F4.1, so fairly fast.

Olly

[Guest]

I went for the Baader Mark 3 - it is collimated in the factory and (allegedly) never needs recollimated.

[M00NMonkey]

Wow, Thanks All for the warm welcome and light-speed replies and advice. It appears i have chosen a great forum!!

I am still undecided really, and as i dont want to spend too much more money would it be better to go for a cheshire for now, see how i get on and maybe upgrade to a decent laser later? when budget is more flexible.

There does seem to be a little conflicting info regarding how much to spend vs quality, again this is pushing me towards the cheshire.

A few more questions if i may be so bold.

Are cheshires hard to use? .

I know how lasers are used, but how are the cheshires used?

I have watch tutorials on laser but couldnt find anything on cheshire ones.

will i need to collimate every viewing? ( if scope is treated softly softly )

Thanks again, and the feedback on the scope i am waiting to be delivered, is making me more excited!

[Bart]

On collimating every time , you probably won't need to with your 8" , my 10" didn't really need it very often . Thing is, once you get the hang of it, it only takes minutes and off you go, safe in the knowledge that you're getting the best views possible with your kit

[M00NMonkey]

Thats good that it wont need doing every time, although a quick adjustment is no big deal.

Going over the advice again it would seem that with laser colls, as long as they can be adjusted themselves, there shouldn't be any problems (or at least, i can not see why there would be a problem)

with this in mind i did another search on the net and found an adjustable one on ebay for £23.90 with the seller having 8000 feedback at 100%, and with a little more research about the laser, found it got a 91% rating by skyatnight.

Ebay laser collimator

This seems to be a bargain so i have ordered it.

Once all the gear has turned up and is set-up, i will do a review on the products. If this collimator is as good as its rated then this would save a lot of people a lot of money.

Thanks again for the interest and help

MM

[Astro_Baby]

I'll differ, lasers cause more problems than anything in the hands of a beginner. Cheshire are simple, cheap, never need adjusting and can handle all aspects of collimation. A laser can never set the secondary.

[wookie1965]

I bought a Cheshire when i bought my scope as mine is a fast scope it does need collimating more often i used astro-babys website and did it first time in about 45 mins now it takes 5 at the most, i thought it was going to be really difficult but once you have done it you think whats all the fuss about.

[M00NMonkey]

I'll differ, lasers cause more problems than anything in the hands of a beginner. Cheshire are simple, cheap, never need adjusting and can handle all aspects of collimation. A laser can never set the secondary.

Can you explain why in the hands of a beginner laser cause more problems? so i can avoid these problems

I'll differ, lasers cause more problems than anything in the hands of a beginner. Cheshire are simple, cheap, never need adjusting and can handle all aspects of collimation. A laser can never set the secondary.

Hi AB,

Please can you explain why, in the hands of a beginner, a laser will cause more problems? so i can avoid these problems.

Also, regarding the secondary mirror. I watched a tutorial on youtube where one guy messes up both mirrors, even twisting one around. Then the other guy who wasn't watching, used a laser to adjust it back to perfect alignment.

Have i missed something here? surely he has aligned the primary and the secondary?

As you know, I'm a noob, so be gentle if i have got this all completely wrong. the probability is quite high