Astromania Finder Deluxe Telescope Reflex Sight

Accurate alignment right out the box.

The red dot finder on my Nexstar 8se has a dot that is big enough to occlude the star I'm pointing at. This unit has several different patterns in either Red or Green that makes this faster and more accurate. Plus it turns off if I inadvertently leave it on, which happens all the time. You do need a different mount on the telescope for it, but that's easy to attach. Great purchase all metal, and extends the viewing position further to the rear to make it easier to access.

It a very solid product, but it looks like it's a daytime red dot that is repurposed for astronomy use. That doesn't work. The red dot is way too brighter than any star making it impossible to point a star. The only thing that I can see near that red dot is the moon.

This thing is built to a surprisingly high quality. It feels sturdy as heck, the patterns that it projects are absolutely clean, not glaring, and the parallax is minimal. I put mine on an 8 inch LX200 telescope, it seems about perfect. The battery holder is even impressive, not a weak spring thing that's hard to pry the battery out of, like pretty much every other finder that takes coin cells.

I bought this red dot finder to replace a finderscope on a Dobsonian that I bought on the secondary market, and I couldn't be more pleased. Rather than a traditional dot, this product combines the best of red dot finders and telrads. You can select between green or red finders, and those finders come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit your personal preference. You can also easily adjust the brightness level to make sure you can still find your target through what ever finder you choose to use. It fits well on my Dob, and was easy to adjust to make sure it's sighted in correctly. The tool that you need to do that adjustment is included. I love that it's so adjustable and customizable, but doesn't take up a ton of space and doesn't affect the balance of the Dob at all. If you're looking for a red-dot finderscope to add to your telescope, or replace one that doesn't work, do yourself a favor and pick this one up!