Skywatcher collimator

[popeye85]

Has anyone got any experience or opinions about the skywatcher laser collimator? Thinking of getting one but would be interested to hear your guys opinion.

Here's the link.

http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astronomical_accessories-other_accessories/laser_collimator.html

 

[scotttumsh]

i had one of these about 5 years ago, i had to collimate it! which made my experiance of it a bit of a pain. you can check it by sitting it in a v shaped jig and pointing at a wall about 3m away mark a small dot where laser is then rotate the collimator in the jig and if it strays off the dot it needs collimating itself. you can do it as there is little grub screws to collimate it.

[Helite]

I have one of these, you really need to collimate it itself first. Can be a little fiddly but once it is done it works fine. And the same ones are available for about half the price elsewhere if you look about.

 

[popeye85]

I did think that £45 was a bit steep. paying for name me thinks.

[scotttumsh]

Yes £19 on E-bay just now same one as i had.

[Charic]

I have a similar if not identical laser. I use mine only with a Barlow to quickly check for any movement of the primary after short car trips?

Had to collimate the tool, not a problem, and repaired the switch twice?

A Cheshire collimating sight tube is the better option, in my opinion.

[triton1]

Same here but only fixed the switch once found it was best to use the switch turning it one way only.

[popeye85]

On ‎01‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 12:12, scotttumsh said:

Yes £19 on E-bay just now same one as i had.

good deal but TBH I would rather pay more and get it from my local telescope shop down the road-it's only a small place but the service is great and he will quite happily let me borrow filters, EP's etc for a few nights at a time if I need to, definitely a wise investment to pay a wee bit extra to him than cheep from a stranger on the internet.

[Guest]

I bought what was described on their website as a Skywatcher Collimator from Rother Valley (£38) but when it arrived there was no indication on the box or in the instructions that it was actually made by or for Skywatcher.  It does work ok but it did have to be collimated itself before use which was fiddly. The instructions did not described how to collimate it.

Steve