Review..Baader Skysurfer V Giant Fiber pointer

[Greg]

Product.... Baader Planetarium Sky Surfer V. Giant Fiber Pointer.

Supplier... www.firstlightoptics.com

Price.........£59.00

Delivery....On Time and as described.

After several painfull experiences of "Red Dot Finders" I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a "Decent" red dot finder. Due to being short sighted I struggle to swap between finder scope and eyepiece, constantly flicking glasses up and looking through 8X finderscopes and then eyepieces becoming more ttediousand frankly a pain in the ....!

To be honest ..I can find most objects with the naked eye...Put a finderscope in front of my eye and I struggle.

First Impressions..

Item well packaged with lots of "Little bits" All individually wrapped.

Main body of the item was bubble wrapped with lots of smaller items individually wrapped which were all the different mounts for all the different type scopes.

The finder has a "Quality feel" As it is of all metal construction. A lot different to the other red dot finders iI'mused to.

The finder comes with two metal dew shields, front and rear and two clear caps which can be left on for viewing.

The dial on the top of the unit is for LED intensity and is marked from 1 - 11 (1 being the dimmest and 11 the brightest).

Two metal screw caps cover the adjustment screws. OOriginallyI thought these were the actual collimation knobs, however they unscrew to reveal the two small adjusters.

Fully assembled with the Skywatcher adapter.

2" aapertureand LED finder.

Last night using a quick set up and the ED80 I found the Skysufer a joy to use, it's large apeture and variable intensity LED making objects a lot easier to find than the smaller red dot finder I have and easier than using the 8X finder. (For me anyway!!)

On the ED80....

Conclusion..

If you have been used to using red dot finders before then the Baader Skysufer would be a good "Upgrade" To a larger, well made, quality 0 mag finder. The finder has several adapters and mount to fit different scopes.

In my opinion a good addition to the astro box.

[geppetto]

Interesting report Greg 8)

That finder looks very nice, good to see a better made one

enter the arena.

Good price as well considering the build quality.

Did you get any dewing whilst you were testing it?

[Greg]

I didn't get any dewing last night Phil, It has to be pretty damp here as i'm quite high up.

The dew shields it comes with are 1 1/2" long or 40mm in Euro's!! So quite long for a 2" Diameter piece of glass.

That's the other thing I forgot to mention the optics are all glass and not plastic.

And the bonus is...With one of the adapters it fits on my rifle! For a 0 mag red dot sight!

[FLO]

Nice report Greg

Its good to know that you find it useful.

One small thing: The camera's flash has illuminated the inside of the tube.

In actual use, the inside is inky-black.

[OXO]

Nice Review Greg looks the buisness too

James

PS:Sounds like it's flocked?

[Greg]

One small thing: The camera's flash has illuminated the inside of the tube.

In actual use, the inside is inky-black.

Yes tht's correct it is black..I just wanted to show the LED pointer...

I was waiting for the "Flocking" My Dyson....You little tinker you!!!

[Caz]

Nice review Greg, it looks like a natty piece of equipment, one I may be tempted to purchase in the future.... 8)

Caz

[Greg]

A much more elaborate device that shares only the basic principle with other red dot finders.

The Sky Surfer V is based on a military riflescope that is offered at twice the price with (at least for astronomical purposes) inferior properties. The Sky Surfer V was optimised for the needs of amateur astronomers.

Features of the Sky Surfer V:

- better coating for better light transmission

- long dewcaps on both sides

- metal design

Pinched this off another web page.

[OXO]

Greg, ive not used a RED dot finder before well not properly would you say this one is a good start?

Cheers

James

[Greg]

Yes James i would say it's a good one ...

I have a little Astro Engineering one which I have been using for the past year, the red dot is a little fuzzy and it's a 30mm aperture. The adjustment is a little hit and miss as it's an all plastic construction and the two screws which move the plastic adjusters up/down, left and right are starting to wear out.

It's been fine and I'll use it on one of the other scopes...It's just that the Skysurfer is in a different league.

[OXO]

With those two images the Skysurfer makes the other one look like a toy 8)

I'll add it to my Father Christmas list

Thanks Greg

James

[daz]

Good review Greg - sounds a most useful addition

[Brass n glass]

Many thanks for a very thorough review of an intereting piece of kit. I like the small tribute to Spinal Tap.

Is your eyepiece turret a Borg. If so, was it easy to fit onto the focuser?

[Greg]

Brass 'n' Glass,

Apologies for the delay in the reply...

Yes it is a Borg turret, I purchased it from Arthur "Ambermile" A few months ago. Since then I havn't looked back, it's a very natty bit of kit.

The one I got form Arthur came with the standard 2" adapter as for the standard retail ones I think you have to go through SCS Astro? I may be wrong.

I saw one on demo at the London Astrofest and had to have one....I'm a lazy sod! swapping eyepieces is not my thing!!

[Brass n glass]

Many thanks for your reply. It looks a very handsome set-up. The prices of these things today are amazing; I think the Zeiss turret used to cost well over £200.

[GordonCopestake]

It goes all the way up to 11?!

Wow! Is that brighter than 10?

[Jaffa007]

Interesting read. 8)

It's definatly on my 'wish list' now!

Wasn't that the finder in the Sky @ Night review??

[FLO]

It did get a mention but I don't think it was reviewed.