Finderscope or red dot finder?

[leo82]

Hi all,

When my scope fell off the shelf in the shed, the red dot finder took the brunt of the damage and now I can’t adjust it accurately enough to keep using it. I have a skywatcher heritage 130, this scope only has 1 mounting so I can have either a red dot finder or finderscope. I was thinking of getting anew red dot finder and a lower power eyepiece to use as the finder? What power should I be looking to get? What red dot finder are the best? Will they all fit my scope? The cheap red dot finders ain’t that much cheaper than a telrad or star pointer, sorry for all the questions I’m just a bit confused as to what to do next.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

[Demonperformer]

How did you get on with the rdf before it fell off? If that worked well for you, stick with it.

That said, I could never get on with my rdf, due to the excessive LP I have to deal with - I could never find the red dot - and replaced it with a Telrad ... one of the best decisions I have ever made in this hobby.

[Sky-J]

Hi there, sorry to hear about the scope drop. I love RDF's and the one that came with my William optics scope is superb. 

They are not all interchangeable. I tried to put mine on a different scope which came with an inferior rdf but not luck, they had different seats.

However if you need to replace the entire setup this might work OK. I'd drop FLO an email, they'll be able to tell you which will work with your scope.

There are a number of people who use that scope here so I'll let them help you with the ep.

Hook luck and clear skies 

Jeremy

[Ricochet]

The cheapest replacement would be to just buy a standard Synta RDF from astroboot or ebay. Looking at the pictures I would imagine that the Celestron Starpointer Pro, Baader Skysurfer III and possibly Skysurfer V would fit the RDF rail on the Heritage 130p, but I've not tried any to guarantee it. I would follow the advice to ask FLO if you want one of those. I also suspect that the standard Synta RDF, Starpointer Pro and Skysurfer III are all the same in terms of build quality. The Starpointer Pro gives you circles instead of a dot and the Skysurfer III has an extended dew shield to keep it clear for longer.

A Telrad of Rigel Quickfinder will not fit to the RDF rail on your telescope. If you want to use either of these you will have to stick it to the solid lower section of the telescope. This might make getting your head behind it to look through the viewing window more difficult. Of the two I would be more inclined to go for the smaller Rigel on your telescope.

With regards to a "finder eyepiece" I would look at the 24mm Explore Scientific 68° (Also Maxvision/Meade SWA secondhand) which will max out the field visible through a 1.25" eyepiece. If the price of that is too steep then a 32mm Plossl will also max out the true field of view. I think that due to the exit pupil size the 24mm ES68° would also be useful for observing while the 32mm Plossl is likely to be only a finder eyepiece unless you are taking your telescope out to dark sites.

[Delasaurus]

2 hours ago, leo82 said:

Hi all,

When my scope fell off the shelf in the shed,

So, I'm not the only one with a busted finder!

Forgot to tighten the dovetail slide... it was ok until it went vertical and the whole lot (twin scopes with cameras attatched) slid out crashing to the deck!

 

[JOC]

5 minutes ago, Delasaurus said:

Forgot to tighten the dovetail slide... it was ok until it went vertical and the whole lot (twin scopes with cameras attatched) slid out crashing to the deck!

Ouch!!

Mind you I lost my RACI one day through a similar error - I got away with mine.  Even now I have kittens every time the Goto drives the system in a vertical direction for fear that I've forgotten to tighten a heavy expensive EP properly in the holder - I have a tendency to slip them in and out until I make a choice and decide to tighten one properly.. 

[mikey2000]

My scope (skywatcher 150pds) came with a little finderscope.  I hated it and bought a cheapo RDF from amazon.   The finderscope was horrible as I just couldn't see the un-illuminated cross hairs and never got used to it having an upsidedown view.  Also, on my EQ mount, it was supremely hard to get my eye to it properly.

 

I'd buy a red-dot finder any day but maybe spend a little more money as my cheapo one has issues with the battery clip not being quite tight enough - it randomly powers down.

 

If someone forced me to use a finderscope, I'd make sure the cross-hairs light up and get some kind of swivellying right angle eyepiece.

[JG777]

I put one of these http://www.365astronomy.com/365Astronomy-Deluxe-Multi-Reticle-Red-Dot-Finderscope-with-Metal-Body-RED-GREEN-LED.html on all my scopes. Very good quality, adjustable green or red circles or + markers , can go very bright as well. Yep a few more dollars ,but small ,neat and as mentioned very good quality.

 

 

[Sky-J]

Hi @JG777 that looks like a cracking RDF. I'm gonna order one of those for the new scope, thanks! 

[Ricochet]

31 minutes ago, JG777 said:

I put one of these http://www.365astronomy.com/365Astronomy-Deluxe-Multi-Reticle-Red-Dot-Finderscope-with-Metal-Body-RED-GREEN-LED.html on all my scopes. Very good quality, adjustable green or red circles or + markers , can go very bright as well. Yep a few more dollars ,but small ,neat and as mentioned very good quality.

 

 

Nice. How bright are the two LED colours? Would it be any use during the day as well as at night? (I know there is a disclaimer against that on the linked page.)

[JG777]

They go very bright, too much for night time use I do have them set about mid range to low. Can easily be seen in daylight as I align them during the day on a satellite dish on the roof of a building about a mile away. 

[Charic]

In the short time I used the Celestron 127, I was forever checking and re-checking  the adjusters and locks, especially since if/when  I have the DSLR attached to my present scope, but in the end I reverted to using tie wraps?

My Telrad (sold) and the standard 9x50 finder scope  were both mounted in the traditional sense, each to their own dedicated mount, but I also used black (colour not important) tie-wraps for that belt and brace security of nothing falling  off/down!!!!

As for a replacement finder, I would suggest stick with what you had, so that when you sell the scope on, its as original as can be, but there are many options available.

[billyharris72]

Certainly looks like a nice RDF. Guessing from the fitting (20mm rail) that this is a repurposed rifle scope?

[TSRobot]

Seems to me sometimes that the finders that come with telescopes are purposely inferior so that we have to upgrade. I just wish that this was an option at the time of purchase like going large at a fast food outlet. Sounds like an obvious sales option to me. I would hope to be able to upgrade from a simple red dot finder to a finder with circles for £20. Or from a 6x30 finder to a 6x30 RACI finder or bigger for £30.

Having said this I happily use a Rigel on my newt and a basic red dot finder on my 80mm frac with the dot turned very low. My next purchase might be a 6x30 RACI as this gives a usefully wider FOV than the 9x50s I've owned so makes more sense for finding and hopping. The Starguider from 365 looks very tempting too ?

[JG777]

1 hour ago, billyharris72 said:

Certainly looks like a nice RDF. Guessing from the fitting (20mm rail) that this is a repurposed rifle scope?

Not sure on that but can see a similarity. It's standard Synta fitting on the shoe. 

[happy-kat]

I use a 32mm eyepiece with the rdf, I also have azimuth markers on my base plus a wixey for altitude but will be also fitting altitude markers when I get around to it. These telescopes are very pimp possible.

[JG777]

16 minutes ago, TSRobot said:

Seems to me sometimes that the finders that come with telescopes are purposely inferior so that we have to upgrade. I just wish that this was an option at the time of purchase like going large at a fast food outlet. Sounds like an obvious sales option to me. I would hope to be able to upgrade from a simple red dot finder to a finder with circles for £20. Or from a 6x30 finder to a 6x30 RACI finder or bigger for £30.

Having said this I happily use a Rigel on my newt and a basic red dot finder on my 80mm frac with the dot turned very low. My next purchase might be a 6x30 RACI as this gives a usefully wider FOV than the 9x50s I've owned so makes more sense for finding and hopping. The Starguider from 365 looks very tempting too ?

I think the scope makers are really after keeping the price point down as far as possible so things like RDF and EPs in the package tend to be pretty basic. Makes sense really so people can choose their upgrades at a later date if they want to considering there is such a wide choice. I would rather pay a bit more for the actual scope with certain manafacturers if it meant the quality control was more consistent or higher and or better specced mechanicals. Too many stories here of out of the box mods needed that have been overlooked at the factory. 

[Louis D]

36 minutes ago, TSRobot said:

Seems to me sometimes that the finders that come with telescopes are purposely inferior so that we have to upgrade. I just wish that this was an option at the time of purchase like going large at a fast food outlet. Sounds like an obvious sales option to me. I would hope to be able to upgrade from a simple red dot finder to a finder with circles for £20. Or from a 6x30 finder to a 6x30 RACI finder or bigger for £30.

Having said this I happily use a Rigel on my newt and a basic red dot finder on my 80mm frac with the dot turned very low. My next purchase might be a 6x30 RACI as this gives a usefully wider FOV than the 9x50s I've owned so makes more sense for finding and hopping. The Starguider from 365 looks very tempting too ?

Go with a custom scope maker like Teeter.  They will customize anything and everything to your liking, for a price.  If you have more money than time and patience, this is the way to go.  These scopes don't require endless tinkering to make them work well.

[John]

The more expensive scopes, eg: Takahashi, don't come with any accessories at all.

[TSRobot]

My C8 came with standard 6 X 30 which was supplied with the OTA when bought used, but little used by the previous owner. When I got it home I stored the finder and added my Rigel. When I sold the C8 for the price I paid for it the 6 x 30 finder went with it. Then I bought a 130pds and I'm stuck with another attic filling 6 X 30 finder. My basic red dot finder is loads better because things are the right way up , right way round which helps and not hinders me. Decent but basic easy to use finders should be easy to package with retail OTAs. I can feel when I'm being steered by big manufacturers to spend more on pretty boxes later when that product should have been in the big original brown cardboard box. ?

[leo82]

Thanks for all your replies.

I never had a problem using the red dot finder, it's all I've used.  I really want to start star hopping using charts, so was thinking of a finderscope for this purpose. However, the more I think about it I'd rather be looking down into a widefield eyepiece than bent over with a crooked neck looking through a finderscope. 

I think I will buy a run of the mill red dot finder and put my money into a better quality eyepiece.

Thanks again.

[Dave In Vermont]

Perhaps one of these mountings could be used?

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_dfma.htm

Worth a thought,

Dave

[JOC]

Both and with them I can now find in the EP in under 30 seconds anything that I can see with my eye.

[Paul73]

JOC's solution looks like a winner! I use a similarish setup, but with a Telrad rather than an RDF.

That said 90% of the time, you should be fine with an RDF and a 24mm 82° eyepiece. If you go much longer at 82° it gets really expensive!

Paul

[Geoff Lister]

Standard RDF converted to right-angle with 2-off 10mm dia 1mm thick rare-earth magnets, a wood offcut, 30mm/40mm acrylic mirror tile, and some glue.