Home > Consumer Reviews > Telrad Finder Sight

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.

I have read and heard about Telerad Red Dot finders for years but never thought them worth the bother or the expense.

Shows how little I know.

I have two Meade GOTO scopes and one Celestron and have been using the supplied finderscopes with no real complaint but in my old age I guess have found it more difficult to get and keep the finder scope and the telescope in harmony and as a result have had some frustration.

Do I decided to try this unit out and ordered one for my Meade 7" Mak.

It works PERFECTLY"

It is easy to adjust as you go along and as a result, my initial alignment was done and over in three minutes and everything was spot on and dead center in the scope, making for a most enjoyable viewing session despite a moon that was so bright you could have played a night baseball game beneath it.

My other scopes will soon be equipped with an identical finder


Gary Hutchinson

I was looking for a right angle finder, and looking at it you would think it was a right angle finder, but it isn't. It's also very long, which was surprising. Since it wasn't what I was looking for I haven't used it.
If you can get by with a straight through finder that's very long, then it looks like it would work pretty well.

This is the best investment I've made for my dobsonian scope. Prior to this, it was a royal pain to find objects in the sky. Now all I have to is find the object in the telrad and it's in the middle of my eyepiece. Installation was a breeze and sighting in the telrad via the three adjustable screws was quick and painless. I can't give this device enough praise.

The Telrad reflex sight is by far the easiest finder I have ever used. I recently installed the sight on my casagrain scope, even though it is a little large for a 6 inch scope it is far better than the red dot finder it replaced. With the variable intensity, you can adjust the brightness of the sight to more easily find fainter objects, such as messier objects, that would be more difficult with a singal intensity red dot finder, also when trying to locate craters on the moon turn the intensity up to see the reticle against the brighter moon. With a reticle that looks like a bulls eye with 3 rings of 1/2, 2, and 4 degrees resectivly it's easier to fine tune the aiming of your scope. Again,I would like to say this is the easiest finder I have ever used.