Laser collimator

Hi all, I want to know what is the best laser collimator for under $100. I picked up a Newtonian telescope last fall and I see that I need one to help tweak the collimation. I see that Orion has one for $70 and Kendrick sells a couple for $200+. Any advice would be great.

Joe

The Hotech collimator is very good. I have one and like it very much.
http://www.hotechusa.com/collimator.html

Joe McBride said:

Hi all, I want to know what is the best laser collimator for under $100. I picked up a Newtonian telescope last fall and I see that I need one to help tweak the collimation. I see that Orion has one for $70 and Kendrick sells a couple for $200+. Any advice would be great.

Joe

Joe: The best laser collimator for under $100: A used Howie Glatter...

Howie makes them himself and they are simple but precisely made and very robust. They don't rock and wobble in the focuser, they have a nice tight spot and the collimation spec: 15 arc-seconds, that's 1mm at 45 feet... The batteries last for years if you don't leave it on.

My original Howie Glatter was a 1.25 inch and it stayed in perfect collimation for about 8 years, then I dropped it about 5 or 6 feet and it hit the concrete floor. After that it needed a bit of realignment but it was still better aligned than the brand new Orion units I have tried to use...

But I would suggest just buying a new one... A good quality collimator is a tool that has many uses besides aligning your newt. In the long run any Newtonian owner will end up with a quality collimator like the Howie Glatter. The question is whether it's the first one you buy or the second one... It's cheaper if it's the first one and it is also less frustrating, having to collimate the collimator so you can collimate the scope is no fun...

Jon

Rex McDaniel at AstroStuff may still have some American made laser collimators for sale. He bought up the entire Astro Systems inventory when they stopped making them. I paid $75 three years ago, and it's a very nice collimator.

1-877-739-2787

They are not listed on the AstroStuff website, just like a lot of his stuff stashed in his warehouse isn't listed. He takes in trades on used stuff also, and that's usually listed at online auctions rather than listed on the website. When I lived in Arkansas, I always called him before buying, and he often had better options at a lower price. He is good at getting Russian stuff that you may not have heard of, if you like that. He was a LOMO dealer back when LOMO was selling amateur scopes.

Phil