I prefer this to a laser collimator.. who else does?

[stafford_stargazer]

Always used a laser collimator for years on reflector telescopes.

But recently got this and for £6 it makes life alot easier .

To me the process is easier, no poorly collimated lasers to collimate your scope this time.

Takes away the obsession too with any slight misalignment with the laser.

That's all! Cheap n cheerful.

 

[skybadger]

Is that an auto collimator, ie a mirrored internal surface ?

I have a 1.25 and a 2" I use as part of my checks, alongside a Cheshire and a baader laser. 

When you mention that they don't need collimating, you are assuming they are sufficiently well setup at time of sale...

I'm not sure that's always true. 

But they are useful. 

[Mr Spock]

My laser is perfectly fine. I would always use that in preference when out in the field. It's more convenient to view from the bottom of a five foot tube!

[cloudsweeper]

Yes, can't beat a simple cap.  Never used a Cheshire or a laser, and collimation is excellent.  The high mag, detailed views of the Moon I had yesterday could not be improved upon!

Doug.

[bosun21]

11 hours ago, stafford_stargazer said:

Always used a laser collimator for years on reflector telescopes.

But recently got this and for £6 it makes life alot easier .

To me the process is easier, no poorly collimated lasers to collimate your scope this time.

Takes away the obsession too with any slight misalignment with the laser.

That's all! Cheap n cheerful.

 

There’s a better cap on eBay from Jack the printer which has a nice high shoulder to aid with the removal of the cap from the focuser. No more fingernail action.

[bosun21]

I use all three when collimating from the beginning, ie: the cap, the cheshire and the Hotech laser. Once collimated it’s just the laser for me. After moving my dobsonian into place it’s seconds to check collimation and tweak if necessary. Try using a cap in the dark.

[Carbon Brush]

In times before affordable lasers, I always used a cap/cheshire. These being upgrades on a 35mm film canister with a hole poked in the centre.

These days I really like a laser on almost any scope. The dot movement is very useful when racking a focusser in/out to porve it runs true, or when applying gentle pressure to things.
It shows you where things are not right, or wobbly, or loose.
Then there is the question of whether your arms can reach everything while looking down the eyepiece tube on a big scope.

All the tools have their place. Somewhere I even have a book (albeit a thin book) about collimating newts.
Not just the single page, or even couple of paragraphs description we normally think about!

As long as you get decent views, don't worry.

[markse68]

I find different scopes need different tools- on my 8”f8 dob, after initial collimation, a cap was all that was needed- works really well when only adjusting primary after transportation- super quick and with a retro reflective primary donut and retro reflective ring around base of the cap, easy to use in the dark illuminated by my phone screen. For my 8”f4.5 imaging scope a laser/barlowed laser works best as i’m concerned with precision of both secondary and primary tweaking. For my Cape Newise, neither of these worked at all because of the intermediate optics and an Ocal collimation camera proved ideal/essential. For my 6”f5 newt a cheshire is great

Mark

[wookie1965]

If I could collimate my laser Its not far off it would make life easier with the 10".

I have a cap and a Cheshire/sight-tube and just got a 1.25" Concentre Has anyone tried one of these.

[Mr Spock]

2 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

just got a 1.25" Concentre Has anyone tried one of these.

I have a 2". Very useful for adjusting the secondary position and focuser tilt.

[jetstream]

@stafford_stargazer

I use the laser primarily to line up the secondary. A cheshire is used for the rest . The first step of the process is to use a sight tube to the set the offset and make the secondary round under the focuser.

Most "cheshires" are actually sight tube/cheshire combinations and can be a bit confusing to use.IMHO

[Ratlet]

I use an old webcam and a ring to fit it to the 2" focuser to line up and align to mirror.  Then laser.

[Spile]

The combination of a cap to align my primary and a Cheshire eyepiece and sight tube combination tool to align my primary works for me.