Coming as standard with most telescopes is the ubiquitous finder shoe in a large range of telescope makes, as a vixen style format to allow the attachment of a finderscope. Finders come in a variety of sorts, from zero magnification red dot finders to the more traditional 6-10x magnification optical variety.
In most instances, we would never think about adding more than one finder, yet this is exactly the purpose of the Omegon Tri Finder mount.
The simple premise is that it is useful to have both an RDF and an optical finder: the first for quick basic guidance, the second for a more refined higher magnification view.
In theory you would think a dual finder mount would be quite sufficient, so why three mounting choices?
Along with an RDF and optical finder, these days amateur astronomers can now also have small guide scopes that readily fit on a finder shoe, allowing for autoguiding without a large guidescope attached to the telescope. So having a third mounting option turns out to be a real bonus.
The Omegon Tri Finder enabled us to mount our RDF, our small guide scope and a StarSense autoalign system all on one vixen style telescope shoe.
This conveniently kept them all on one mount that could be removed later as a single item, rather than having to dismantle all three after each observing session.
We were pleasantly surprised how useful having the three mounting options could be, and it also gave us the option of replacing the RDF with a traditional right angle 9x50 optical finderscope.
It is worth experimenting with the arrangement of your accessories to ensure you can conveniently reach the eyepiece of any optical ones you choose to install, but overall this is a simple and effective solution indeed.
In fact, we may find ourselves changing from our older dual finder mount to one that has three!
Vital stats
- Price €49.90
- Format 3 vixen style mounting shoes
- Size 13.2x9.2x4.5cm
- Weight 215g
- Supplier Omegon
- Tel +44 203 8688042
- Website www.omegon.eu
