Before actually trying one, I thought these were a slightly expensive Tak indulgence. Still, since I have suffered from chronic Tak-itis since buying my first apo in 2001, an FS102, I bought one.

They are actually superb pieces of kit. The ‘shoe’ locates easily, is securely held by a screw-located bracket, rather than the screw itself, and re-positions finders almost perfectly after removal and re-mounting. The screw is quite large compared to some of the fiddly ones on other makes, and easier to use at night with cold fingers.

They are quite expensive, but I’ve fitted one to all of my Tak refractors and use just one 6x30 and one 7x50 finder, which saves some money. It is a pity that the base is not available separately, so that one finder and shoe would fit bases on many scopes, though I doubt that this would save very much.