2020-06-04T11:38:09
Rated 4 out of 5
EVOGuide 50ED
This scope is intended to serve as either a guiding scope or a finder scope. It does both jobs very well and can even take good images of large deep sky objects. Optically, it is one step better than most 50mm finder scopes that do not have APO optics. There is no false color and stars are perfect little dots, although keep in mind that this is low power and small aperture.
I am using mine primarily as a finder by adding a 20mm, 70 degree eyepiece with illuminated crosshairs. The extra bit of sharpness in the image makes finding faint objects a little bit easier from the added contrast boost. However, be warned that this is a straight through finder. A diagonal will add too much light path length for most eyepieces to reach focus.
The scope is constructed fairly well. The focus ring turns with a little bit of drag and my set of mounting rings were badly out of square with the mounting foot. I could still align it with my scope but the amount of tilt is obvious. The extension tube at the back of the scope can be removed to give you a wide range of focal points. In my case, I mounted the T-ring of an Olympus Pen mirrorless camera to the scope and took images of M7, M8, and M22 with success.
Overall, darn well worth the price if you demand a scope above the optical quality of the mass produced finder scopes, and you can live with less than perfect build quality. Made in China.
RICK C.
