What finder arrangement do you use with dobs

[Stub Mandrel]

Straight through finder and turn the map upside down. I can't get my head around the view through an ordinary diagonal.

[Paz]

+1 for a telrad or rigel plus a 9x50 raci finder. I use this set up the vast majority of the time. I'll skip the 9x50 only if I don't need to do long star hops.

[Mike_S]

On 13/07/2019 at 20:35, JOC said:

 

With the arrangement above I can land on anything I can see by eye in about 20 seconds flat.  The RDF doesn't even need to be completely aligned because if the optical finder is aligned with the scope a thereabouts find in the RDF puts the star within the optical finder and then landing on the optical finders crossed hairs puts the star into the telescope.

Which finders are they? And that double attachment please?

[JOC]

Its a Skywarchet right angle correct image (RACI) finder, a Celestron cheap and cheerful red dot finder and a dual finder mount for a Skywdtcher attachment off ebay for £8 sent all the wsy from Poland by a guy that 3D prints them.  Though you can buy more expensive  versions from the various big telescope houses.  I went from wasting whole sessions to being able to land on snything I can see with the the naked eye in about 30 seconds flat.

[Mike_S]

2 hours ago, JOC said:

Its a Skywarchet right angle correct image (RACI) finder, a Celestron cheap and cheerful red dot finder and a dual finder mount for a Skywdtcher attachment off ebay for £8 sent all the wsy from Poland by a guy that 3D prints them.  Though you can buy more expensive  versions from the various big telescope houses.  I went from wasting whole sessions to being able to land on snything I can see with the the naked eye in about 30 seconds flat.

That’s great. Have you ever tried a illuminated Raci like the Celestron?

[Stub Mandrel]

On 13/07/2019 at 20:35, JOC said:

Is the orange a protest against the dominance of green  accessories 🙂

[JOC]

On 18/07/2019 at 01:09, MSammon said:

That’s great. Have you ever tried a illuminated Raci like the Celestron?

Nope, when I finally found something that worked I stopped looking.  A good tip is to dial in the raci during the day (point away from the sun at a distant object) then it shouldn't need illuminating to use it at night.  Your eye is pretty good at telling when the required object is in the middle of the finder.  As I noted it doesn't even matter if the rdf. Is not quite centred as long as the raci optical is as I find that once I know how much the raci might be off by the desired object is usually in the fov of the optical finder anyway.

Edited July 20, 2019 by JOC

[MKHACHFE]

I'm probably going to induce some disapproving grunts from some fellow members...but I use gaffer tape to attach my red dot finder to my RA 9x50.. It does the job perfectly for me. 

I use the ref to get in the right zone then narrow down my target using the RA finder. Works great for me.

 

Cheers

[Stu]

On 13/07/2019 at 10:12, Stu said:

That's exactly what I was finding the other night with the 8". It's quite hard eyeballing the scope close enough to the target to get it it in the RACI fov as you say. I dug out a 3 in 1 finder adaptor and now have an RDF alongside my 10x60 RACI, works very well.

Well all you sensitive souls, and those with a fear of heights can rest easy now. New arrangement in place now I've found some suitable tape for my Rigel finder!!

[Captain Scarlet]

I have a few cheapo RDFs, which I like. I've also had a new Telrad for a few months but only recently got around to taking it out of its box and using it. Like @JOC I like to set up and align everything during the day if possible, and I find it annoying that the Telrad illuminated rings are invisible in daylight. Whereas with the cheap RDFs I have, the red dot is easily visible in daylight.

[John]

2 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

... the Telrad illuminated rings are invisible in daylight. Whereas with the cheap RDFs I have, the red dot is easily visible in daylight.

The cheap RDF's tend to be too bright at night though, even on their lowest setting. Personally I think Telrad and Rigel (Quikfinder) have got it right - they were design for astronomers by astronomers.

 

[Alan White]

I fully agree with what John says ^^^^

Prefer a Telrad to a Rigel, but use both.

[MKHACHFE]

On 13/07/2019 at 20:35, JOC said:

 

With the arrangement above I can land on anything I can see by eye in about 20 seconds flat.  The RDF doesn't even need to be completely aligned because if the optical finder is aligned with the scope a thereabouts find in the RDF puts the star within the optical finder and then landing on the optical finders crossed hairs puts the star into the telescope.

Yep. I use pretty much the same setup and it works great.