Laser collimator

[Lerxst]

I feel like such an idiot newbie for asking, but I just have to be sure

Regarding collimators for my Skywatcher 150PL newtonian, I guess that a laser collimator will be the best bet?

Will any one do? In order to save an arm and a leg, I'm ordering from a US store (I'm having it all delivered to some friends in the US so no 'not shipping outside of the US and Canada' woes) and was actually thinking about the Meade Laser Collimator for Lightbridges.

It's 1.25", says it will work on any Newtonian reflector scopes so now I feel even more silly, but will it do?

[Doc]

A very delicate area here but I have a baader laser collimator and touch wood has been OK so far. Problem with laser collimators they sometimes need collimating themselves.

Alot of people swear by cheshire collimators which is laser free but really the choice is yours.

[arad85]

It will, but in my (very limited) experience, it's a pain to get the laser collimator centred well. The barlowed laser method works better as it isn't dependent on getting the laser spot on the mirror centered precisely. A lot of people swear by the cheshire collimation method and that's probably easiest - and cheapest to do (google each before spending your cash). The barlowed laser method does have the distinct advantage that it can be done at midnight when outside (did it last night!!)

[irishbloke]

Hi,

I have a baader lazer collimator and like it. However I just last week did a really thorough job on colliation of my scope and saw a huge difference on jupiter. My secondary was off line, probably my fault but can't remember vfiddling with it. So I measured and centred the secondary in the spider vanes, then centred it in the focusing tube with a colli cap (£6.50). Then used a cheshire to get secondary circular and then used the barlow lazer method that is meantioned on another thread. This was dead easy. I had to make a contraption that fit over my focuser tube with a hole drilled in the centre for the lazer to go through. The donut ring was easily visable and I acheived the best collimation I have had ever. When I took the barlow out and just sighted the lazer in the focuser, I could see it was pointing on the edge of the ring about 2 o'clock. I think it shows either the lazer is off abit or focuser. I don't know, nor care as now I know were to point the lazer at if I'm lazy or how to do the barlow thing to get it right.

After all that I'd get colli cap for the first bits and a lazer and barlow it.

Brian