50mm Correct Image, Right Angle Finderscope, Matte Black

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Price: $159.00   

Product Description

Stellarvue 50mm Correct Image Finderscope

50mm Correct Image, Right Angle Finderscope, Matte Black Review

Almost excellent, but you will pay much more (yes really) for a better one.

I purchased this finder (factory second--failed QC in Auburn*), along with the required rings and mounting rail for use with an 8" SCT. Now I use it primarily with a CPC1100. I bought an extra dovetail shoe so that I can easily switch it to my Celestron C5. You will need to buy the appropriate ring set and shoe for your mount.

This small scope is a top quality achromat and works well as either a finder scope or a compact spotting scope. It has a smooth helical focuser. The included cross hair eyepiece is independently adjustable to focus the very thing cross hairs. I found the crosshairs difficult to see against darker areas of the sky. The optional illuminator works well.

The scope uses standard 1.25" eyepieces (EPs) and while not all EPs will come to focus, I was able to use a Vixen 8-24mm zoom, a Meade 5000 20mm 68 degree, and a 10 mm Plossl. The prism/EP assembly is rotatable for a comfortable viewing angle.

Stellarvue is a small company in California that designs and assembles very good telescopes. Some of their components are imported and some items like the finders are manufactured in China.

Flaws and dislikes--

The factory used the wrong grease on the focuser. When I added an illuminator gravity could rotate the EP out of focus. I phoned Stellarvue and Vic Maris, the owner, sent me the correct viscosity grease. The screws in the tube rings were the wrong length and SV expressed out a replacement set.

Rotating the prism to change the viewing angle also may move the cross hairs off target. This is a design limitation; changing it would greatly raise the price.

The finder uses an Amici prism correct image prism (up is up, left is left) a type often used in spotting scopes. Astronomical telescopes normally invert the image or have an upright image with left and right reversed. New users have an adjustment period while learning to move the scope correctly. There are drawbacks to using an Amici prism for astronomy because it is an assembly of prisms. The boundary between the prisms might be visible as a faint vertical line or on a bright star or planet as rays. You may never notice it or consider it a good trade off for using the finder as a spotting/compact telescope.

The optional illuminator (a standard Chinese item sold under several names) really could use a time delay shutoff. It is very easy to leave it on and deplete the button cell batteries, batteries that our local store always seems to sell in three packs. The DIY answer might be the idea on youtube to use a key chain LED light.

With all these flaws, and problems do I recommend this finder scope / lightweight spotter? I do. Any product may have defects. This one had two but Vic and Shelly at Stellarvue fixed things right away. I can't complain when they overnight the parts. Celestron/Meade don't do that. It would take them a month or two--I know.

*The OC failure is some bits of flecked off paint on the EP. I blow off the flecks from time to time.

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