The part that decides whether pointing is a pleasure · review

Explore Scientific 8x50 illuminated finder (0620150) review

An 8x50 finder with an illuminated reticle and an upright image, listed in two short lines.

The bottom line The right two features for a serious finder, described in a listing that says almost nothing else.

Two features that matter

An illuminated reticle and an upright image. The first solves the problem of a crosshair being invisible against a dark sky; the second lets a chart be read directly. Together they describe a finder intended for real observing rather than for making up the numbers in a telescope’s accessory list.

The exit pupil is generous

Fifty millimetres at eight times gives 6.25 mm — larger than any other finder on this shelf. For a young dark-adapted eye that means the full aperture is used; for an older one, part of the cone falls outside the pupil.

What the listing walks past

Whether the body is straight or angled. Field of view. Whether the illumination can be dimmed — which matters, because a reticle that is too bright destroys the dark adaptation it was meant to preserve.

As an upgrade

Against the 5x24 finders supplied with inexpensive telescopes, an 8x50 with a lit reticle is a different instrument. It is also the single most effective purchase for anyone who cannot find things.

Availability

German, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon stores sat at about 146 € on the day of the survey.

British Amazon store lists it in local currency, which the euro range above sets aside.

American Amazon store gave no result whatever, so the buy button there opens a search rather than an empty page.

Figures as Keepa reported them on the day this page was last updated. Stock and pricing shift without warning.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 17 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

What it publishes, and what it withholds

Strengths

An illuminated reticle is visible against a dark sky where a plain crosshair disappears
An upright image makes a printed chart directly usable
A 6.25 mm exit pupil is the largest of the finders here

Compromises

The listing runs to two lines of lower-case text and publishes nothing measurable
It does not say whether the body is straight or angled
No brightness control for the illumination is mentioned

Specifications

Aperture	50 mm
Magnification	8x
True field of view	The listing does not carry it
Image orientation	Upright, as the maker states it · Not described as straight or angled in the listing
Bracket fitting	Not published by the maker.
Reticle illumination and eye relief	6.25 mm — 50 divided by 8 · Illuminated
Amazon reference	B00B2L4LQA (same reference on 5 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN	4007922198729

What observers ask about this one

Why illuminate a reticle?

Against a genuinely dark sky a plain crosshair vanishes — there is nothing to see it against. A dim red reticle stays visible without destroying dark adaptation, which is exactly what is needed for centring a faint target.

Is a 6.25 mm exit pupil too large?

For a young eye, no. For an older one whose pupil no longer opens that wide, the outer part of the light cone falls on the iris rather than entering the eye — so some of the aperture is not used.