It was well packed. Simple to attach and align to the telescope.

The viewfinder scope arrived well packaged from OPT. When I opened the box, I couldn't believe how bad the condition of the product was. The body is made up of three separate tubes ******* together with internal collars and lock rings. The two polished aluminum, sections were clearly loose and something looked very wrong at first glance. I gently ******* them back together and it was apparent one of the tubes was machined completely non concentric. What's worse is the collar threads were so badly mis-sized. Yes I'm serious. The thread sizes were grossly incorrect to the extent the tubes cannot even be tightened. The tubes also are so badly machined they easily over rotate. Oh and the illuminator doesn't work at all. What a piece of Chinese garbage. I am returning in e morning and giving some very disappointed feedback. Shame on you Explore Sci!

This is a great finder. Easy to use due to the erecting prism (when moving the telescope to the left the stars move to the right). I really like the cross hair patern. However, I had to fabricate a "base" out of 3/8" aluminum plate to get it to "mate" with the Orion dovetail base that mounts on my C-11HD. Most my friend can saw, drill, counter-sink and tap 3/8" aluminum..

I obtained mine with my 127 mm Explorer triplet OTA. The quality was fine and having a correct image orientation makes use easier. The illuminator is a little cheap and I replaced it with a Stellarvue; likewise the brackets had very little wriggle-room, so I put on a pair with more spacing between their inner surface and the finder - more room for adjustment. So it took at little tinkering, but I still prefer it over the competition.

I recently purchased a new Celestron 11 Edge HD and used the finder that came with it a few times before I added this finder that was bundled with the E.S. 102mm TED Guide/Astro scope. I thought the finder would be redundent with my existing unit. What A Difference! The Celestron finder can stay in its box now as this E.S. finder made a surprisingly large improvement in my overall scope-use satisfaction. Yes, you really do need to focus at least once to get a sharp image - that seemed like a strange complaint above. The reticle seems to be fine quality for a finder too - If I wanted to measure double star separation I would by a reticle eyepiece for the big scope that costs more than the whole finder assembly does. I also do not understand the battery complaint as it seems dead easy to change them. I have already recommended it to a friend who also just got a new HD scope - and was complaining about the stock finder.

Chris Partsenidis review above is basically spot on (if a bit too negative except that I suspect he needs to adjust the focus. It can be WAY out as shipped and need adjustment. I experienced the same problems as he described with supplied illuminator. It's low quality for sure. It also doesn't permit much actual intensity adjustment. I replaced it with a Rigel Systems PulseGuide Illuminator (also purchased from OPT.