Red Dot finder VS 5*25 finderscope

[prassi007]

my finder on my telescope is almost broken,

I want to buy a new finderscope, which on to buy, A typical RED DOT or 5*25 Finder.

please help me.

[ronin]

There is no real answer.

There are 4 or 5 basic finders and people find they get on with one better then the others. The problem is which one is best for you.

I have a red dor and like it, a friend has a normal straight through finder scope and likes that.

Many like a right angle finder and others like the telrad, several now are going for the GLP option.

So that is 5, which one it is that you will find best/easy to use is not possible to say.

2 of my scopes do not have a finder, they are so wide that a finder is pointless. Equally they are refractors so sighting along the tube is easy.

If you cannot get your head into position to look along the tube easily then this limits the options, as a red dot requires this as does the straight through finder. You do not say what the scope is so unable to know if this is relevant or not.

[justlooking]

I've just got my first scope and it has a red dot finder. As I am still familiarising myself with it that may be the problem, but they seem a little awkward.

[Kirscovitch]

At first I hated my red dot finder but after I got it properly aligned I fell in love with it. I am going to buy another one so I can have one on each of my newts. 

[Alfian]

What scope do you have and whats your budget? A 5x25 is a bit on the small side for an optical finder - a 6x30 would be a useful minimum. The "standard" type RDF which came with my 102 Mak works surprisingly well but the Rigel Quickfinder which is of the 5 degree illuminated reticle type (works similaly to a Telrad) is better.

[Kirscovitch]

I like the Telrad I put on my dob for helping finding dso's, but when going through alignment and ASPA, the red dot is super easy to use.

[Myopicus]

I really like my Skysurfer V because of the wide aperture, zero magnification, intuitive 'point and shoot' qualities.  

Still finding it a bit hard to accurately align to main OTA tho, even having drilled wider holes into the tube to accommodate the Baader universal mount. Will in time combine it with the skywatcher 9x50 RACI finder.  (Wishlist £££'s!)

[Andy78]

Ive only just got into stargazing properly. My scope has a red dot finder and i love it. Once its set up right... spot on!!!! I like it so much im going to swap it on to my dob when it arrives.

[jonathan]

Just noticed this on the FLO website, I'll probably get one for my 8SE as the straight-through 9x50 is a pain in the neck to use (and the back, too).

Celestron Illuminated RACI Finder

9x50 is quite a high magnification for a finder scope so not suitable for all scopes, mainly useful for the 8SE and similar SCT scopes.  The RACI and illumination help though and should make it a pleasure to use. 

I have the Altair Astro 10x60 RACI Illuminated Finder Scope which I use with my 102 Altair Astro refractor, makes the whole setup very nice and comfortable to use..  still have some trouble finding things but being able to look down the relatively thin refractor scope body helps find the correct part of the sky to start off with so as someone else noted a red dot finder is not necessary on this scope.  I would still use one on my 8SE however, in conjunction with a finder scope.

If you've got the money then a good finder scope or red dot finder can make the difference between a frustrating night where you see nothing and a great night where you find your targets.