Customer Reviews

Telrad Finder Sight

5 star:		(39)
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3 star:		(3)
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The Telrad is an easy to use 1x (that is right one power) reflex finder. I use one with my Meade 8" LX200 telescope. The advantage of a reflex finder is that you can aim the telescope at the area you see with your naked eyes. If I had one of these finders when I started out with my first telescope, I would have spent more time looking at objects than looking for them. It can be used as a complement to the "minature telescope" finders, or with a "Go-To" scope as the only finder. How does the Telrad work? it projects three concentric rings of 4, 2 and half a degree on a transparent window that you look through. The key to using it is to point the telescope at a bright object, then align the reticle (rings) to be centered on the object, and then use the rings to point the scope where you want to observe. The biggest advantage is if you aren't on a target, you can see which direction you need to move the scope without having to make the mental calculation... is my image reversed/upside-down, etc.? The one drawback is that you can only use objects (stars) that you can see with the naked eye. That makes it less useful in light polluted areas. The one thing about the Telrad that is a pet peeve, is that it is large. Also, in damp locations, it is suseptable to dew. There are a number of simple solutions to this. Since installing the Telrad on my LX200, I haven't used the 8x50 finder that Meade sells as standard equipment.

I purchased the Telrad to add to an Orion Skyquest XT-8 Dobsonian scope. Given that the Dob mount is made for manual star hopping and tracking, ease of hopping around the sky is critical. The Telrad is fantastic!

I mounted my Telrad between the focuser and the finder scope and back just a bit. The Telrad allows you to easily find a bright star and locate other objects relative to it. The brightness of the red finder target can be adjusted easily.

All in all, this should be the first thing you add to a scope like this. It greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the scope and overcomes some of the inherent issues of using a Dob mount.

As many new astronomers have discovered, finding an object to look at can be the most difficult part in the hobby. Due to the small field of view most telescopes provide, a wider field of view "finder scope" (essentially a small telescope) is used in conjunction with the main viewing telescope in order to find the desired object(s) more quickly and easily. However, this may not provide enough assistance for the beginner and they become frustrated and lose interest.

This is where the Telrad, and other so called "Red Dot Finders", come in. It is not a telescope. It only projects a red dot, or in the case of the Telrad, a series of concentric red circles, into the sky, letting you know where your telescope is pointed without restricting your field of view at all. This provides you with a much better idea of where you ARE looking and helps your get your telescope pointed where you WANT to look. Just move your telescope with Telrad mounted to it until the red circles are projected over the part of the sky, or object, you wish to view and then look through the telescope eyepiece. More times than not, you will find the desired object within your telescope's field of view on your first try. It gets you "into the ballpark".

The Telrad can be adjusted left/right and up/down so it is aligned with the telescope it is mounted upon. This is critical and a good feature.

It runs on a 9v battery which seems to last quite a long time (battery not included). There is a switch which allows the user to dim or brighten the red circles, making them easier to see.

My favorite design feature of the Telrad is that it can be removed from the base (which attaches to your scope with double stick tape) so you can use the same finder on multiple scopes without having to buy a whole new finder. You just buy an extra Telrad Spare Mounting Base for each scope (trust me, once you get into this hobby, you'll end up with more than one!) and move the finder from scope to scope. Some folks don't like messing up their scope with the double stick tape. It depends on what is more important to you; easy to use telescope or pristine telescope finish.

Another good design feature is, unlike many of the other red dot finders, such as the Orion EZ Finder Deluxe Reflex Sight (my second favorite), the Telrad can be mounted to nearly any telescope.

The only drawback I can think of is that the Telrad is on the large side compared to other red dot finders. However, when compared to most finder scopes, it is on the small side.

Spot light operators in the entertainment industry will wonder how they ever worked without this great invention. Though not its intended purpose, the Telrad makes for a great spot light sight. Works very well on shows that don't allow lasers and shows that require you to hit those immediate bumps without ghosting. Great for concerts, ice shows, and other productions that require spots. Before the show just spot a wall irised as small as possible, set the sight, and you're ready for the show. The small ring is usually the smallest iris possible and the large ring is usually the largest iris possible. Try it. You won't regret it.

I got my Telrad finder for Christmas. In March, I took my 6x30 finder off of the telescope. This is a "must have" device! I can hop around faster with this and some Telrad charts, and see more objects than most people can with a computerized mount. Buy one, it's worth every penny.

The telrad finder is a very simple, well designed instrument used to locate astronomical objects quickly. Before I purchased one, I spent a lot of time trying to locate objects. Now its reduced to minutes or a few seconds. Just make sure it 's centered before using, which is a simple task. Buy one! You won't regret it.

With my 12" Dobsonion this is the finder I always use first. It is best used with both eyes open - one looking through the reticle window and one above or outside the window. Just centre it on the object or expected area of sky and then move to your magnifying finder scope. Find the fuzzy whatsit you're looking for, centre on the cross-hairs, and then look in your telescope. A three-part process which is fast and usually easy. The Telrad is just brilliant. I can't imagine trying to find objects using the finder scope first. That would be much more challenging and time-consuming. Since I intend to replace my finder scope soon with a right-angle finder scope (to save my neck) the Telrad will be essential then as you can't really use a right-angle finder scope for searching the sky. Some accessories like premium eyepieces, detailed star maps, etc, can enhance your observing but this does more than enhance, it simplifies everything.

A couple years ago, I bought a new Orion XT8 dobsonian telescope. It came with a straight magnifying finder -- WOW was that impossible to effectively use. The very next day, I ordered the Telrad and easily attached it when it arrived. Looking for my targets in the sky instantly became 100X easier and more enjoyable than before.

This product is a must have for any amateur astronomer (and pretty much 100% of all amateur scopes that I've seen among the astronomy club members have one of these affixed). Its not only a must have, but its the very first add-on you will want to do for your scope if you've just bought your first scope. Its far more important than buying lenses, or buying filters, or "go to" controls or anything else.

I used this for my last theatrical show as a spot light operator. Only needed to focus the target once and it stayed focused for the entire run of the show. Even when I changed the batteries every week for 4 weeks and even had to take it off of it's base twice to do some maintenance to the spot light, it never lost it's focused spot. Also, the dimming option was very useful when I needed to find my character in a black out so I can bump up with the lights. This Telrad has never let me down and would highly recommend it to other spot light operators. So far I have not had a single problem with it. and is alot better than the spot dot and other laser spots for spot ops.

It works and many people love these... but beware that it won't even fit on a smaller scope tube. I ended up returning it and buying a green laser pointer which I'm 100% impressed with. You need to find the special bracket to mount a GLP (from Orion).