Astromania Laser Collimator 1.25" for Newtonian Marca Telescope Alignment

So watching the video I thought I understood well what to expect. But I was surprised with what I experienced. Even so once I realized what was going on I was able to use this tool to align both my mirrors in my reflector telescope. What surprised me most is how accurate it was for something I started out stumbling around with. Let me just say that when I saw the video here in Amazon there was a nice little red dot that I assumed needed to reflect right back into the bullseye on the collimator tool. Instead what I got was a red light projection of a target and it's rings. I aligned the projected target on top of the printed target you can see on the product images here and that's it. It got my mirror aligned so good I was able to watch Jupiter with extreme clarity and no blurriness. Let me get detailed. I bought this tool because I was having a hard time eyeballing my mirrors in an old reflector telescope I have. Both the primary and secondary needed alignment and I was using some old tricks to try and get it done. But after a whole night of trying to get a clear image I failed and packed everything. I searched for tools to help and stumbled across a few but this one had some good reviews and a nice red laser dot to help, which would mean I could avoid relying on my eyes. When it arrived I setup the collimator tool and began taking apart my telescope mirrors. They were so off I wasn't losing anything by disassembling them. I cleaned them of any dust and began marking the center of the primary mirror. Didn't use any special tools and it was partially eyeballed. Once I had a rough middle point marked I placed both mirrors back into the telescope tube/body and used this collimator to emit the red dot. I looked down the telescope to align the secondary mirror to reflect the dot to the middle of the primary mirror. I then had to remove the primary mirror to clean the marker I made in the middle. I placed it back into position and began adjusting the primary mirror to get the nice little red dot on the bullseye of the printed target in the collimator tool. But to my surprise I wasn't seeing a red dot. Instead I had a projected red light of the target overlaying the printed target image in the collimator. As I messed around with it thinking I was getting an error, I noticed the rings of the targets can line up and match each other. That's when I realized my Collimator is not producing a nice small red dot, but instead it is emitting a light projection of a target with rings matching the one printed inside it. I made sure that I aligned the primary mirror to reflect the projected target over the printed one, matching the rings. Once I was done with that I took the telescope outside to check the accuracy. Honestly I was expecting to have to make a few touch-ups when viewing Jupiter. What I got was a perfectly sharp and focused image of Jupiter. I am super happy with the results from simply using this tool to help align my old telescope. If you use it right, it will work perfectly. I highly recommend this tool for anyone needing to align one or more mirrors in your telescope.

I wasn’t expecting much given the low price, but this Astromania Laser Collimator really impressed me. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do and gets the job done without costing a fortune. What I Liked: Super Easy to Use: Setting it up was a breeze. Some reviewers mentioned issues with the battery, but I had no problems. It takes a CR2032 battery, and I had it installed in seconds—super simple. Does the Job Well: After using this collimator, my reflector telescope was perfectly aligned. The views were noticeably sharper, and it saved me a lot of time getting everything lined up. Laser Dot with Adjustable Brightness: The laser dot was clear and easy to see, and I really appreciated the adjustable brightness settings. They made it easy to use in different lighting conditions without any issues. Sturdy Build: I was surprised by how solid it feels. It’s not flimsy like I expected at this price, and it’s held up well after several uses. Final Thoughts: For the price, this collimator is a fantastic deal. It works great, was easy to set up, and helped me get my telescope perfectly aligned. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly tool for your Newtonian, I highly recommend this one.

This was my first collimator, and to be completely honest it was alright. Yes, it doesn't come with a battery but they're really easy to get anyways. Plus, if you have the ability of basic reading you'll realize that it says it doesn't come with a battery. The laser itself came collimated, thankfully, even though the shipping took a while, so I'd say it's sturdy. Additionally, The laser was very bright and and not blurry at all. The reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because of how horribly sticky and jammed the sockets were, and also because of the packaging itself (cardboard that disintegrated immediately). Other than that, I'd say this thing is pretty good at its job. It collimated my Dob very easily and it's pretty neat. :D 9/10

Well after reading all the horror stories about Lazer collimators about they don't work right until it's been collimated prior to collimate your telescope and how difficult is was i viewed several videos on the process and decided that it wasn't that difficult and went ahead and purchased this Lazer collimator. I was pleasantly surprised when I installed the (supplied) battery, turned it on and tested it in my homemade collomation device. I must got one that someone knew what they were doing because it was dead on. I put it in my reflector telescope, aligned my secondary then the primary mirrors and went outside. I located the brightest star I could see (Arcturas) and performed a star test and my scope was just about dead on and only minor primary mirror was required to get it spot on.

I was a bit skeptical of this laser given it's fairly low price. However, once I received it, I tested the collimation of the beam and I was pleasantly surprised by how well centered it was. The collimation screws are sealed but that is OK as I didn't need to adjust them at all. This laser works much better than the Hotech that I used to own, despite the fact that the hotech costs almost 7 times more. The key is to insert it in the 1 1/4" eyepiece holder without tightening the set screw, this way the collimator will not be tilted. The beam spot is a bit blurry but still perfectly usable. The Astrograph that I use it with has a built in corrector and that actually helps making the spot a lot tighter. I use the laser to dial in the precise alignment of the secondary and for that it's a lot easier to use than my cheshire. I still use the cheshire eyepiece to dial in the primary. Of course one has to first perform the visual centering of the secondary under the focuser by the use of a cheshire. The best way to do this is to put a white piece of paper behind the secondary so that the reflections of the primary mirror are taken out of the equation as they could be confusing. So my conclusion is that if one knows how to collimate a Newtonian this is a great inexpensive tool that helps a lot.

The collimator makes mirror alignment easy, but there are a few things to consider: 1. Battery It is true that the design of the battery bay isn’t great. The battery doesn’t just pop in. There is a rubber gasket that has to be removed before putting the battery in and it can take a while to figure it out. Once done, it’s pretty simple and even silly, but looking at the battery bay without knowing, it does look like the battery won’t ever fit. The key is removing the black rubber gasket, putting the battery in and replacing the gasket. Having an engineering degree helps, but so does being an experienced astronomer. 2. Some people here in the reviews mentioned that the collimator comes misaligned itself. I first made a note with pencil of where the laser spot was pointed before moving the screws on the telescope, in case I needed to go back. It went well, but I will always stress that measures have to be taken to be able to go back to where you started, always, no matter what it is that you are disassembling or adjusting. It’s a law of life and doing so will bring peace, and failing to do it will bring countless hours of frustration and work. My collimator didn’t seem out of alignment, or the results were better after aligning the main mirror. We saw Jupiter and it’s moons in much better focus. Overall I recommend this collimator, it’s pretty good for an amateur like me and the price isn’t bad. Lastly, I wish a headache to those that post reviews saying “good”, “bad”, “delivered on time”, “box was mishandled” and all the useless nonsense that makes me want to kick them. Thank you for reading me.

Easy to use and performs as expected on my Dianfan telescope. Some reviewers online and other places may make you believe you need to have one of these for your telescope. No you don't. Only buy if you have an issue. It's a tool not an accessory. I travel with my scope once and a while in the car and I have never needed to collimate it.

I took a look down the OTA of an old Orion XT6 that's been standing in a corner unused for about 15 years. Even though it was totally covered with two large plastic garbage bags, the primary mirror was just buried in dust. I pulled the primary and secondary mirrors and cleaned them with a mild soap and alcohol mixture, then rinsed them with distilled water and let them dry. The change in appearance was amazing, but now I had to put them back in the OTA and get everything properly aligned. This is where my thoughts turned to buying a laser collimator, as all I had was an Orion "collimation cap". At this point the Astromania 1.25" laser looked like a good $24 gamble. The only issue I had was that it didn't fit snugly into my focuser. The play was enough that it made getting an accurate collimation basically impossible. Now this could have been an issue with my focuser or possibly the laser, but whatever the cause, I tried a simple wrap of Scotch tape around the laser collimator and the play was eliminated. I now had a good friction fit in the focuser. The collimation process was relatively easy. I spent probably 90% of the 30 minutes it took, getting the secondary mirror aligned. From there, the primary was a piece of cake that took only a few minutes. I had to wait a day for clear skies and just finished doing a star test in 20 degree weather here in the NE US. I was more than happy to see near perfect concentricity when I racked the star (Sirius) out of focus. So none of the things I had read in some of the reviews were an issue. Although I would recommend that anyone who finds the Astromania collimator having a bit too much play in their focuser to try my trick with some Scotch tape.

ممتازه

Tiene 7 niveles de potencia para el láser, más aparte ya viene incluido una pequeña pila redonda y plana, los acabados son muy buenos, todo el producto es de metal, excelente el producto.

Imprescindible para telescopio reflector f5, la colimación del espejo primario se realiza en plena noche con facilidad

Dieser Laser hat meine Anforderung übertroffen. Ich habe ihn gleich in meiner sehr genauen Spann-Vorrichtung getestet. Abstand 2 Meter, weniger als 1 mm bleibt er Stabil im Zentrum. Er pointet auch genau an die gleiche Stelle, die von einem zweiten Laser, den ich im Gegensatz zu diesem, erst einstellen musste. Am Newton getestet weicht keiner ab. Mein Newton Quattro 150 P kann damit sehr genau justiert werden, so dass die Sterne in den Ecken scharf und rund abgebildet werden.

Reçu en bonne condition. Excellent produit de bonne qualité.