Orion EZ Finder II

Good points there.
What I don't understand is why don't manufacturers put the finder directly opposite the counterweight side of the optical tube on equatorial mounts, surely this would be advantagous.. (not off at some strange angle)

As for star orientation through a "normal" finder, it does take practice.
Let us know how you get on.

Hello Shane,
I also have an 8*50 Meade viewfinder.
I find its optical quality to be average, but then again I mainly use it for the 2 star allignment
of the scope and use the goto facility from there on.
To be honest, the optical quality of my finder is a minor concern to me. Even if it had alot of coma, as long as I could star hop with it, I'd be happy.

One thing you must do is refocus the finder to suit your eye, focusing is done in an untraditional way in that
you must rotate the objective lens dew shied until the image is focused (see your manual)

I got to test this properly last night.

The first problem is that it isnt a simple replacement finder as the bolts are in different places, so I had to use the double sided tape. The most convenient place to put it was on top of the current finderscope, though I will move it onto the main tube as this renders the 6x30 finder useless, its too easy to knock it off line turning the finder on and off.

Lining up the pointer was easy, just focus the scope on a star then adjust the finder to put the red dot on the star. Here again is a problem with the double sided tape as its easy to knock it slightly out of alignment every time you touch it.

With that done I put the dot over mars and it was inside the FOV of a 26mm eyepiece. Next I tried for the ring nebula, by pointing the red dot half way between the two stars in Lyra that surround the ring, and the nebula was within the range of a 40mm eyepiece.

It was a fairly damp night, with tubes and plates getting very damp from the dew, however I didnt notice any problems with dew on this device.

In conclusion, I'm very happy with it, much easier than using the 6x30 finder though, I will keep it on for tracking doen some objects. The zero magnification is great since you can just point it at the target and it just works.

On the downside, I'll need something better than double sided tape to attach it to the mount, its just too easy to disturb when you turn it on and off. The only other problem is forgetting to turn it off, some electronic `auto power off` circut in these things would be a good idea!

I'de definatly recommend a device like this to anyone who gets frustrated with fiderscopes on newtonians!

Cheers,
~Al