Antares 1.25" Newtonian Laser Collimator with Side View

5.0 Newtonian collimation, quick and easy

Easy to Use,Accurate,Compact

I bought this collimator some time ago for use with an f/8 Newtonian. It worked fine, but that scope didn't need frequent collimation. Recently a switched to an f/4 Newtonian astrograph, and I had read that these need to be collimated each time they are used. I have found this to be true, but fortunately the process is easy and very quick with this collimator: pop it into the 1.25" eyepiece holder, use the adjustments on the secondary to center the laser spot on the primary, then use the primary knobs to center the spot in the collimator, which is easily visible from the back of the scope while doing the adjustment. The whole thing typically takes about a minute.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 BUY THIS!!

Accurate,Strong Construction,Easy to Use,Quality Lenses,Lightweight,Compact

If you have a Newtonian and/or Dob....BUY THIS!!

This is by far the easiest, quickest, and in my opinion, an extremely accurate method of collimating your reflector. Collimation can be done BY YOURSELF and IN DARK conditions with relative ease AND collimates BOTH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY mirrors!! Blows away other collimation tools.....YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Works as stated, easy to use.

Accurate,Compact,Easy to use,Strong Construction

None that I could see

Makes short work of collimation on my telescope.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Well Constructed

Strong Construction,Compact

A very well constructed tool which includes the battery. I use the laser colimator in conjuction with my cheshire piece.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Great buy

Solid construction,Price great,Compact,Easy to use,Accurate

None really

I did a lot of shopping before I bought this one. It is well built,very easy to use, and the price is very competitive. I use it to collimate my Skywatcher 12 inch dob and it takes less then five minutes.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Easy-to-use collimator

Handy,Compact,Comes with battery,Side-view

Too bright no attenuat,No tool included

Truss tube Dobsonian telescopes combine portability with big aperture. But in contrast to catadioptric systems such as Cassegrains one has to check the alignment after every setup and also occassionally when using a closed tube OTA.
I moved to the US recently and needed a good and inexpensive laser collimator for my 16" truss tube Dobsonian. The Antares 1,25" laser collimator is in my opinion the best solution; it's the cheapest (in price) I could find, it has a side-view, which is perfect for aligning the primary, even when you are 6 ft. away from the collimator, and it was properly factory-aligned.
Two minor drawbacks should not be omitted (and as far as I know, most laser collimators suffer from that): First, the laser is way too bright. You have to screw up your eyes when aligning while being dark-adapted or even in twilight. There is no chance to get it darker (except you place a filter in the 2"/1.25"-adapter).
Secondly, the collimator doesn't come with the necessary hexagon screw driver for adjusting the laser. Even though it was properly aligned, one should be given the opportunity to align it since you can't expect, that the factory-alignment will remain stable till eternity. If you want to align it by yourself, you will have to get rid of some sealing which obviously is supposed to fix the headless screws (and keep customers off from manipulating).
I am able to manage to get the scope properly aligned in less than two minutes with this collimator. This includes both the primary and the secondary.
If you are looking for an easy-to-use and inexpensive laser collimator, this one will be a great choice.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Easy to use

Accurate,Strong Construction,Compact

The Antares laser collimator is easy to use, and works quite well as far as this style of collimator goes.

Mine came well calibrated, and did not need the laser adjusted. However, if you do need to adjust the laser alignment, you need to scrape out a bit of silicon covering the adjustment screw-heads.

The base fits well into a 1.25" focuser, with about the same amount of play as a typical eyepiece.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Great for quick collimation

Easy to use,Strong Construction

Loose in focuser

This collimator is a breeze to use but needs a slight modification. This was loose in my focuser so I wrapped a single thickness of tape around it to assure that it would center. Once in place just center the beam on the primary and then put the beam onto the collimator's grid by adjusting the primary. It may not be quite as accurate as using a cheshire tool but now I can collimate my 10" dob in about 5 minutes and easily by myself.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 The Antares laser collimater

Really easy to use.

needs a good steady focuser to be accurate.

I already had a type of cheshire collimater for my newton (a type of black metal tube with a pinhole and a cut away diagonal) that did a fair job of collimating my F/6 dob. However, with an F/5 dob and especially he to check collimation at night I decided to get a laser. The one I chose was an Antares but appearance wise, It looks just like the GSO. For one nice description of how to use these, check the laser add at Agena Astro Products and I will give you my variation here: I use the sight tube to make shure the diagonal is centered and turned so it looks round in the focuser. Then insert the laser and adjust the diagonal so the laser hits the center of the primary. Then I adjust the primary until the laser hits the first dot on the diagonal and goes back into the laser and hits the bullseye in the cut away diagonal of the laser. Then you fine tune it so you hit the original dot. It is easy with this laser taking only 2-3 minutes and I don't have to do it often. If you are new to this I want to saycollimation is huge in making images sharp in a newton and shipping can really throw a telescope out of collimation. I found this laser to work perfectly and to have a precise sharp red beam that stayed in the same spot when I rotated it in the GSO Crayford style focuser.