Astromania Finder Scope, 6x30 Metal Optical Finderscope for Astronomy Telescope - Provides Straight-Through Not-Corrected Image Optical, Fully Multi-Coated Telescope Finder with Crosshair and Bracket

I have purchased several telescope related items from Astromania and they have all been fantastic purchases. This Angled Finder Scope is awesome and came with the upright and non-reversed image feature built in (e.g. left/right and up/down correction feature), so I didn't have to buy a separate prism eye piece for the scope. Separately, I had to buy a dove tail connector to attach the finder scope to my optical tube, which I also purchased from Astromania. The finder scope has focus and cross hair control knobs that can be easily and minutely adjusted left/right, up/down, 360 degrees so the optical tube is not jarred and the target object remains in your point of view. Also, the cross hair can be adjusted to a different color and a different design. This finder scope is heavy and metal, well made, and an awesome piece of telescopic equipment. Even the screw knobs are metal and not plastic!The finder scope was securely padded in several layers of bubble wrap and was placed inside a very sturdy box that had additional padding all around so the finder scope was not bumped and did not shift during shipping; and it arrived within the estimated shipping dates.I highly recommend this finder scope and all Astromania products; at least the Astromania products I have ordered from them have been excellent.

I own several finder scopes used on several different telescopes. This one is adequate for my needs on a grab and go setup that uses a 102mm Mak. I was looking for a wide field 50mm finder that was not heavy, at a cost that was not too large a fraction of the cost of the telescope it is used on. I did not need an illuminated reticule in the somewhat light polluted skies that this setup is used.It arrived with the optics tube cocked at an angle, requiring disassembly and reassembly to straighten it out in order to get a clearer image (not a hard job). Still, at best the focus is not sharp, but is good enough to get the job done. The reticule centering screws do an adequate job, but remain loose after centering, and generally require recentering before and during an observing session - not a major problem, but an annoyance.I have a higher quality, somewhat heavier, and much more expensive 9x50 finder on another telescope which has none of these issues, and I like that one a lot - but it goes on a much larger and heavier telescope system, so it would not work for this grab and go setup.I guess you get what you pay for. I am glad I could get this one to make a workable lightweight system, so I would buy it again anyway. There are others on the market that look similar and which are in a similar price range, and I suspect they are made in much the same way.Oh well, it works well enough, and I am happy for that.

This finder makes a nice bright image. The crosshairs are not lighted but I had no problem seeing them even on a dark moonless night. The field of view is wide enough to easily include all 3 of Orion's belt stars and then some. Views of the Pleiades or Orion's sword with this finder scope are awesome. For some views I prefer to look through this finder scope rather than the main telescope!Focusing is a bit unusual. There is a ring behind the objective lens you have to back off away from the objective, then screw the objective in or out until you reach focus. The threads on it are very fine so you may have to turn it quite a bit to reach focus. Then re-tighten the ring up against the objective to lock it in place.The eyepiece can be rotated to orient the crosshairs any way you want.

I bought this to replace a non working red-dot finder on a used Orion XT8 that I found really cheap online.This finder scope works very well. The cross hairs could be a little thinner, but they're not distracting. This scope is very easy to align with the view through the telescope.The alignment doesn't stay perfect when I move my scope outside, but in just a few seconds it is back, and will hold all night.

I purchased this for my dobsonian and it works great for finding objects most people will be looking for in the night sky. This however is definitely not a 9x zoom. I took it with me to the gun range to see if it would be at all useful to help locate hits on target due to the zoom and large lens (obviously not the intended use case but should theoretically be useful as a low zoom spotting scope). At 50 yards I could not see holes from anything smaller than 30cal on cardboard. My 4x Vortex binoculars I could see 22lr holes clear as day at this range, I thought this was due to using both eyes and maybe even the higher end glass. However, through a cheap chinesium 9x40 rifle scope I could just make out .308 holes at 150 yards and see everything under 100 yards. 3 stars because it is definitely not 9x zoom. All that said, I would recommend it as an affordable option for the average person using it on a telescope because it does function as a magnified finder scope for that.

I was able to center it well.We often move telescope in carThis is easy to re calibrate to center