Celestron Illuminated RACI Finder Scope, Black (93781)

The Celestron Illuminated RACI finder works great. When I first got it, the illuminator was missing. Before I was going to hassle with Amazon for a return, I double checked the box one more time and found the illuminator in the bottom.Assembly was easy except I got a metal burr in my thumb when adding the illuminated reticle. By removing the included base bracket, which took some manipulating to find the sweet spot in the lock screws, it slid right in place of my old finder with no extra work.As for using it, the illuminator is extremely touchy and comes on sometimes just looking at it. I’ve unnecessarily drained the battery figuring all that out.As for aligning it, it just took a few adjustments with the two variable screws to get it right in there. No need to try the more permanent screw which is admittedly, tucked down so it’s hard to get a screwdriver on it.The reticle is just right with double lines and a nice square in the middle to set the alignment star. I still need to zero it in using Polaris but it was good enough with a nearby light pole during daylight. Right now, I’m struggling to learn how to operate the main telescope mount.The field is nice and wide and in combination with the illuminated reticle, does the job. Once I’ve star aligned the scope, if I ever get that far, I won’t even need the finder until the next session.Overall, a great product even though there are no instructions, which I have to admit, I didn’t need anyway. Highly recommended.

A pending 4-star...UPGRADED Dec 2015 to 5-stars: I retired my factory finder in favor of this RACI+ Definitely easier for matching charts to the cosmos for navigating.+ Definitely appreciate the parallel reticle, you can place your intended target in the center box.+ Definitely appreciate the illumination, thought it would not be bright enough, but have been using lowest light and then turning off(saves the batteries)All seems OK with this finder, with the major exception there are NO INSTRUCTIONS. Not a big thing for those familiar with eyepieces, focusers and other telescopic equipment, but it would be nice to have SOMETHING, whereas the finder arrived with NOTHING. At the very minimum someone needs to ID the batteries for eventual replacement! Newcomers will find this exasperating.After 30 minutes of fiddling, the finder is now ready for some star-time; will update this review after ward, but it looks like a nice finder.I have been using a Telrad finder on my 8-inch SCT, and like it for the illuminated reticle and wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) view for star-hopping. It is however, not magnified, still very ok for general celestial navigation (planetary, constellations, major galaxies, nebulaes and clusters), but I wanted to try this magnified, illuminated and "upright" wysiwyg finder for a large telescope with deeper capabilities.Pros: 1) double crosshairs, meaning parallel vertical and horizontal lines (etches actually) so that you can place your target inside the crosshairs for a precise alignment. This means of course that your new snazzy RACI and your optical tube are 100% in agreement. Not always the case, and stars being what they are keep moving on us, or us moving relative to them.2) Having your intended object appear "correctly" (upright, wysiwyg) as shown on star atlases and charts makes star-hopping easier for us amateurs.3) I use an 11" Celestron SCT that has a big optical tube, so having the right-angle makes sighting (ie, "targeting") far easier than with the original factory in-line finder.ps on the absent instructions: this RACI uses the same mounting method as the factory finder -- 1 fixed set-screw (spring loaded), and 2 adjustable set-screws for exact adjustment. If your RACI body moves, notice a hex allen set-screw within the fixed spring loaded screw, one that can be tensioned for a more secure placement and alignment of the RACI. I had to increase that adjustment tension as the RACI body was "too soft" and easily moved. Not a big thing, just look for that buried allen screw.Cons: none technical. My RACI arrived with some scuffs and smudges and a noticeable scrape down to the bare metal near the mount, and it appeared to be somewhat put together but sloppy. Also a number of dirt/dust particles here and there inside the optics as if this unit had been partially disassembled. "In" as is requiring partial disassembly and blowing out the foreign debris. This leads me to believe this was once someone else's and they returned it.I hope to add positive feedback after it's been in service a while.

OUT OF THE BOX, THIS PRE-ASSEMBLED FINDER LOOKS GREAT AND IF PROPERLY ADJUSTED WORKS GREAT. GETTING THERE CAN BE AN ISSUE FOR SOME. FIRST, THE MOUNT TO SCOPE AND TO THE FINDER ADJUSTING MOUNT IS VERY SOLID AND AS A FRONT LOADER WON'T ALLOW THE SCOPE TO FALL BACK AND OF THE MAIN TELESCOPE IF IT SOULD BECOME LOSE IN THE BASE. ORION AND OTHERS BRANDED WITH THEIR DOVETAIL MOUNT HAVE BEEN NOTED TO LOOSEN AND FALL TO THE GROUND. HOWEVER, THE FIRST THING I NOTICED ON ALL THREE OF MY CELESTRON RACI FINDERS IS THAT THE DOUBLE CROSS HAIR FINDER HAS A COUPLE OR SEVERAL BLACK 'SPOTS' ON IT THAT STAND OUT IN THE DAYLIGHT, OBVIOUSLY A MFG. DEFECT. NOT DETECTABLE AT NIGHT AND NOT IN THE DOUBLE CROSS HAIRS, A COSMETIC BLUNDER THAT SHOULD BE CORRECTED ON FUTURE MODELS. THE ALIGNMENT SYSTEM FOR THE FINDER STARTS WITH A VERY LARGE RUBBER 'O' RING ON THE FRONT. TWO OF MINE CAME ASSEMBLED LOOSE AND IT WAS DIFFICULT TO GET THESE PRESSED IN SO THAT THEY GRASP THE FRONT OF THE FINDER SCOPE TUBE TO MOUNT AS THEY SHOULD. THE BASE WAS A PERFECT FIT FOR BOTH MY CELESTRON 6" AND 9.25" SCT OPTICAL TUBES AND THE FINDER AND ADJUSTING ASSEMBLY SLID RIGHT IN. I FIND THAT REMOVAL AND REINSTALLATION DOES NOT AFFECT THE FINDER'S ALIGNMENT. HOWEVER, AND HERE IS A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM. THE ALIGNMENT SYSTEM CONSISTS OF TWO FINGER TIGHTENING BOLTS WITH NYLON NON-MARRING TIPS....GOOD. HOWEVER THE THIRD ALIGNMENT UNIT IS A CHROME PLATED BARREL THAT CONTAINS A 3MM ALLEN SCREW, A SPRING AND A SMALL PLUNGER. THE ALLEN SCREW IS DIFFICULT TO FIT A WRENCH INTO WHEN IT'S MOUNTED ON THE MAIN SCOPE. SINCE THE RACI COMES WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS ONE MUST GO TO YOUTUBE OR TO CLOUDY NIGHTS TO GET A SENSE OF HOW TO ALIGN THIS PROPERLY. ONE MUST TENSION THE PLUNGER FULLY (IT STILL HAS SOME SPRING LEFT TO IT), THEN AFTER THE OBJECT IS LOCATED IN THE EYEPIECE AND THE FINDER, TO ENSURE A PROPER COLLIMATION BETWEEN THE MAIN SCOPE AND THE FINDER, THE FINDER NEEDS TO BE MANUALLY PUSHED INTO PLACE, DOING THE WORK OF THE SMALL PLUNGER AND THEN TIGHTENING THE FINGER BOLTS. WHEN DONE THE FINDER SEEMS TO RETAIN PROPER ALIGNMENT. HOWEVER WITH THE DIMINUATIVE PLUNGER AND UNDO FRICTION ON THE FINGER ADUSTMENT SCREWS THIS IS FAR MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE SYNTA BRANDED, (VARIOUS, ORION JUST FOR AN EXAMPLE) LARGE SPRING LOADED FINDER ADUSTMENT MOUNT. SUGGEST THAT CELESTRON REPLACE THE SMALL PLUNGER/SPRING AND 3MM ADJUSTING ALLEN SCREW WITH THE SYNTA TYPICAL PLUNGER AND ENSURE THAT THE OTHER ADJUSTMENT SCREWS TO NOT HANG UP ON THE COLLIMATION CHANNEL. IT WAS A BIT FRUSTRATING. ONCE UNDERSTOOD AND ADJUSTED IT WORKS AND THE ILLUMINATOR PROVIDES A REASONABLE LIGHT SOURCE, NOT TOO DIM AND NOT TOO BRIGHT. A BEST BUY AT $139.XX PLUS TAX AND SHIPPING, HARDLY. IF YOU GET A GOOD ONE, THEN A REASONABLE PRICE TO PAY. SUFFICE TO SAY THAT QUALITY VARIES BETWEEN ONE AND ANOTHER. A COPY OF THIS HAS BEEN SENT TO CELESTRON FOR CONSIDERATION IN FUTURE MODELS TO YET TO BE PRODUCED.NOTE: AS A FINAL ADDENDUM TO THIS POST. CLEARLY THE MASS ON THE REAR OF THE FINDER IS EXCESSIVE TO THE SMALL 3MM TENSIONED PLUNGER ASSY. THUS THE WEIGHT OF THE FINDER WILL ALWAYS REQUIRE THE AUGMENTATION OF THE SPRING PLUNGER TO PUSH THIS UPWARD AND INTO PLACE. THE ALIGNMENT WILL ALWAYS BE SUSPECT AND NOT TOTALLY SECURE UNTIL THE PLUNGER ASSY IS EITHER BEEFED UP TO COUNTER THE HEAVILY WEIGHTED OCULAR END OF THE FINDER OR REPLACED WITH SOMETHING LESS COMPLEX AND CAPABLE OF OFFSETTING THE ADDED WEIGHT OF THE ROTATIONAL EYEPIECE. ONCE A PERMANENT CORRECTION HAS BEEN DONE, EITHER ON A DYI BASIS OR BY THE MFG. THIS WILL PERFORM QUITE WELL. I'M KEEPING MINE AND WILL DEAL WITH IT SINCE I KNOW THE CAUSE AND THE CURE AND I AM CAPABLE OF MAKING THAT FIX PERMANENT.