Well, I finally broke down and bought a new Stellarvue 9 x 50 Finder with a Rigel Pulsguider reticle illuminator for my 15-year old Celestron Ultima 8. I can't wait for it to get here. Whoohoo! That scope has been in jail now for almost 3 years and I want to get it out and get some observing time with it. Got me a new dew shield as well. The old one I had got destroyed in the move. The OEM finder got trashed when I was at my last star party (yeah - Devil's Den 3, no 4 years ago?) Anyway - it's been a while. What with the house construction, web site, etc., etc., observing got put on the back burner. I sure would like to add one of those Stellarvue SV4's to my tripod. Maybe later...

Excellent, Dave! As one who KNOWS how badly you've wished you were observing more regularly for quite some time now, I know this'll be a great start at getting back in the game seriously once again.

Does the illuminated reticle only go with the finder scope, or is it a separate eyepiece that can be used in any optical system?

Now all you need besides the SV4 is a CCD camera in the $5,000 to $7,500 range and you'll be set for at least a couple of months or so, right? Then, of course, would come an $18,000 Meade 16" f/8 RCX400 in a new fully-automated $17,000 10' diameter Ash Dome in the backyard. Come to think of it, all of that's exactly what we need here, too...HA!

Boy, don't we both wish we could have all we wanted right NOW!?! I can't wait to come up and see the house sometime soon. I'll try to find some excuse to do that soon, maybe with Joe or another member. Congratulations on all this new stuff. You've wanted something like this for a long time and you both certainly deserve it.

See 'ya soon
Bob

Bob -
Actually, the "illuminated reticle" is a "reticle illuminator" - it is used in conjunction with the cross-hair reticle eyepiece that comes with the finder scope. The thing is, the eyepiece is a standard 23mm wide-field 1.25" eyepiece, so I suppose you could use the combo in any telescope if you wanted to. Alternatively, you can use any 1.25" eyepiece in the finder scope. It's basically a 50mm achromat refractor.

As primarily a visual observer, I'm far more interested in large-aperture refractors than the big RC-style scopes. Of course, I wouldn't turn down the Meade 16" RCX400, but I might be tempted to sell it to get an Astro-Physics or Takahashi!

At any rate, I sure am looking forward to getting it out and under some clear, dark skies.

Well, I finally got that finder in, and it is a beauty!

The Stellarvue 9 x 50mm finder has a nicely machined RACI (right-angle, correct-image) diagonal which is attached to the scope via a rotating back, so you can move the eyepiece and diagonal anywhere without moving the finder tube in the finder mount. All you do is adjust a thumbscrew, move the diagonal/eyepiece where you want it, and then tighten the screw. The 23mm eyepiece has a very nice cross-hair reticle, that has an opening on the side for the Rigel pulse guide illuminator (which you must purchase separately.) That piece hasn't come in yet so I can't comment. There are separate helical focusing rings for the reticle and the whole eyepiece. You don't have to twist the tube body or anything to focus. You can of course, replace the eyepiece and reticle with any 1/25" eyepiece you wish. If this is any indication of the quality you'll find in their short-tube refractors, any of their scopes would be fantastic!

One thing I'd highly recommend is their dove-tail two-ring quick-release mount. I didn't purchase the Stellarvue mount since I have one already. The mount has nylon screws so you won't mar the finder tube when adjusting the finder. It also makes it a breeze to remove and replace on the main scope tube when setting up and breaking things down. I don't know how I got along with the flimsy one-ring mount that came with the original 8 x 50 finder on my Celestron Ultima 8.

Now, I can't wait to get some time with it in actual use. I'll post a follow up when I have accumulated some observing time wiht the finder.