"Red Dot" Finders

[John]

I seem to have accumulated a selection of the red dot type finders so I thought I'd take a couple of pics to compare them. The arrow indicates the direction you look through them although in practice you a really looking past them at the starry backdrop. From top to bottom in the 1st pic we have:

- The Baader Sky Surfer III - single red dot

- The Vixen RDF - single red dot, all metal construction

- The Rigel Quikfinder - 2 concentric circles, .5 and 2 degrees

- The Telrad - 3 concentric circles, .5, 2 and 4 degrees

They all do their job efficiently but the Quikfinder and Telrad's defined diameter circles make star hopping easier . These latter devices have their own custom bases while the other two fit into conventional finder dovetail mounts.

For scale, the Telrad is 21cm in length.

[Nexus 6]

Four finders John must mean four scopes? I have one identical to the vixen, revelation clone, it works well for me much better than the standered RDF you get with a lot of scopes I did try a telrad but I could'nt get on with it, I had the 6se at the time and found it too cumbersome for that scope and did'nt fancy attaching it to the ota.

[John]

Sorry Alan, I missed your post - I didn't expect any comments on what I have to admit are not the most interesting equipment photos ever posted

Yes, I have 4 scopes at the moment and an RDF plus an optical finder for each. The RDF's are the most used though - I'll often go a whole session without feeling the need for an optical finder. But when you do need them, it's good to have them around !.

[Jonobiwan]

I've got the Baader Skysurfer III, I love it! Very cheap and does the job perfectly!!