Review on 🔭 Telrad Finder Scope by John Miranda

This is a great accessory for studying astronomy. Try it - essential gear. Factory finders often look like small 8x50 telescopes, often fitted with a reticle to center the object, but when used at night it's like looking through a mail tube for a cat in a coal box. Or a needle in a haystack. Powerful binoculars may be better for finding things, but they won't help you position the telescope. Telrad is square and bulky, it does NOT offer any magnification, it has a dumb dimmer to light the reticle. Glued to the telescope, it doesn't look sexy. But it works fantastic. Reason 1) Wide field of view with no magnification means what you see is what you get (wysiwyg). And what you're seeing now makes sense - it matches your star chart/planisphere. Reason 2) The illuminated reticle (with adjustable brightness) allows you to easily and quickly center the spotting scope on the object. This viewfinder must be aligned in the same way that any viewfinder must be aligned BEFORE viewing. Unfortunately, the illuminated grid for daytime alignment isn't visible, so wait until dusk and pick a known bright star (Northern Star, Altair, Vega, etc.) or an easily identifiable object like the Moon, an evening planet, even a distant Chimney with sparkle. Lighting. This Telrad is about the same size as the 8x50 viewfinder on my Celestron C8.