Helix Observing Accessories

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Helix Observing Accessories
Tim, the owner of Helix, was a pleasure to deal with, and was very professional. Bought a holographic laser collimator from him and it arrived sooner than promised and very well packaged. It has proven to be an extremely good buy, well made and much cheaper than similar popular units. The collimator works well and is easy to use. There are collimation screws on the unit should it ever get out of alignment.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46200

Helix Observing Accessories
Superb service. Honest people.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46201

Helix Observing Accessories
Superb service, nice people, and extremely honest.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46202

Helix Observing Accessories
I think ten says it all

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46203

Helix Observing Accessories
E-mailed Tim several times for info and advice on which hologram to purchase with the Helix. Each time Tim responded promptly and politely. When the Helix was promptly delivered it was top-notch. I just wish he sold more items...he'd see more business from me.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46204

Helix Observing Accessories
Excellent value for a quality product. Customer service is top notch. 3 day delivery. Highly recomended.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46205

Helix Observing Accessories
Wonderful customer service and great products. The Helix collimator is exquisite and with the hologram it is a joy to collimate your scope (in fact fun). I can get mine into pinpoint collimation in less than one minute!!

Tim is great and my only complaint (if you can call it that) is that I wish he sold more products!! Will do business with again, and again, and again.

Bruce Nyquist

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46206

Helix Observing Accessories
Service; instant comeback on any questions, etc. I see it says in the instructions for my Helix Laser Collimator that if it EVER gets dropped or somehow out of calibration, I can reCollimate it myself, using the instructions in the manual - - - OR, I can just send it back to Helix & they will do it for me - - - my only cost will be the postage, no matter how long I've had it.
I didn't pay attention to the exact delivery times, but it couldn't have been more than three days.
The price of the Laser Collimator (LC01A), with hologram attachment, was just about half the price of any others that I had looked into getting.
When receiving my Laser Collimator, I had just gone back thru my 'film-holder
box' type recollimation of my f5 Newt, and was so-o-o-o proud that I had it right on the money. I was much surprised when sticking the laser unit in my eyepiece and discovering the secondary dot on the primary mirror was about a half-inch off center - - - fixed it & then looked at the holo on the wall and discovered my primary mirror was off one whole ring on the hologram. I've got that Newt right on the button, now!
Fred Woodruff

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46207

Helix Observing Accessories
I've bought atleast four items from Helix and everyone was great. Tim's service is exceptional: communication, follow through, delivery, pachaging and price. Keep up the good work.

Jim Rutenbeck

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46208

Helix Observing Accessories
Tim is best astro vendor I've ever dealt with. Fast shipping, competitive prices and honest. But most importantly, his response to questions has been prompt, courteous and informative. This is what sets him apart from the others. He's the best out there! C. Cullen

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46209

Helix Observing Accessories
Very good service and advice. Bought a holographic laser collimator that was recommended for my scope. Great prices.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46210

Helix Observing Accessories
Fast, kind and clear

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46211

Helix Observing Accessories
To sum it up for the impatient:
Great company, excellent and extremely fast service, very good prices for
very good and a nice selection of products! The manual of the hologram
laser collimator needs some minor revisions.

I bought the "scope" hologram laser collimator and realized that I had to
realign the whole optical train of my 10"/F7 Dobs. The laser is a great
tool to do this type of realignment. With my Cheshire I was not able to
check whether the mechanical axis coincides with the optical. According to
the Cheshire the optics were collimated, but infact it was tilted in
respect to the mechanical axis, which leads to a tilted focus plane. I
could easily fix this with the hologram laser collimator in a matter of
minutes! The optical performence of my scope is excellent now :-)
Especially in the dark the collimation is done in a breeze of the WHOLE
optical train !!!

One little point of critic (just for novices, though):
The booklet that came with my hologram collimator is focussing on marked
mirrors. Though, marking the mirrors is not necessary, when you use the
hologram projection. The manual should be adapted appropriately. But when
you are an advanced or experienced observer and/or ATM, there is no real
need for a manual anyways ;-) Everything works very intuitively with the
hologram collimator.

Therefore, my final rating 9.5 (or 9+ :-)

A hologram collimator should be in the toolbox of any ATM, I do not what
to go out without one anymore!

Wilfried, Switzerland

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46212

Helix Observing Accessories
Tim is a joy to deal with. He's friendly, reliable and his products are quality and yet reasonably priced. I once had a problem because of Transatlantic postal service and Tim quite happily shipped me out a second Laser Collimator to the UK free of charge. It's a shame that there aren't more like Tim, real astronomers like the rest of us rather than dealers or manufacturers solely interested in the profits. How could he lose even a point?

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46213

Helix Observing Accessories
I ordered several orthoscopic eyepieces from Helix. They arrived in two or three days in perfect condition--carefully packaged. I also ordered a Konig eyepiece. I knew from the Helix website that this eyepiece was not in stock, but I went ahead and ordered it anyway, mainly to elicit information as to when it would be available. I honestly expected to be dismissed--to get no response, or some short remark about trying again in the future. I've gotten used to that kind of treatment. What I got was an immediate response, honest and friendly, followed by weekly updates on the availability of my Konig until it arrived. I was surprised to get that kind of attention for one rather small order, but I won't forget it. I'm recommending Helix to all my friends. In sum if you want to know a dealer who will be helpful and honest throughout, look for Tim Hagan and Helix. First-rate products, sound advice and great treatment. He'll be my first choice from now on.

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46214

Helix Observing Accessories
I ordered several orthoscopic eyepieces from Helix. They arrived two or three days later in perfect condition--carefully packaged. I also ordered a Konig eyepiece. I knew from the Helix website that this eyepiece was not in stock, but I went ahead and ordered it anyway, mainly to elicit information as to when it might be available. I honestly expected to be dismissed--to get no response or some short remark about trying again in the future. I've gotten used to that kind of treatment. What I got was an immediate response, friendly and honest, followed by weekly updates about the availability of my Konig until it arrived. I was surprised to get such attention for a rather small order, but I won't forget it. I'm recommending Helix to all my friends. In sum if you want to know a dealer who will be helpful throughout, look for Tim Hagan and Helix. First-rate products, sound advice and great service. He'll be my first choice from now on.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=46215

Helix Observing Accessories
Thanks to the Helix Team. For the first time I finnaly found a laser that works. With the Hologram I was finnaly able to get my secondary and primary correctly aligned. I own three differnt dobs ranging from 4.5 to 10 inches, it took me about 10 mins to get the scopes alligned. After trying and spending a few hunderd dollor on other lasers I can honestly say that the HELIX is made with the finest crastmanship that is out there. I found no slopieness in the focus tube with his product. I could go on and on about how good a job they have done. But the bottom line is I sure wish i would of found them sooner.
I will be recomending it to every one in our club. If you do not own one, Get on now, you really have no idea of what your missing out beyond this planet.

Overall Rating: 10
Price:10 Service:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=53693

Helix Observing Accessories
answered all emails, very good price, recieved goods in a week and he followed up by email to make sure I got my collimator and I was happy with it, which is good since Im in Australia, A friend also had the same quality service too wehn dealing with Tim.

Overall Rating: 10
Price:10 Service:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=62249

Helix Observing Accessories
Great company would do buisness with them again.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=66102

Helix Observing Accessories
We were given a Meade DS-2114ATS "Short-tube" reflector for Christmas. This is Mead's DST (department store telescope) which is assembled in Mexico with parts made in Taiwan. It has problems.

Not the least of these is that the scope uses a focal extender lens that fits into the bottom end of the focuser tube to give a nominal focal length of 1000mm in a tube only 16" long. That also means that the secondary is a bit oversized.

The Helix collimator revealed that this focal extender was causing serious vignetting due to improper alignment of the secondary along the primary axis. This could not have been detected, much less fixed, using a single dot laser.

The excellent holographic pattern of the Helix collimator made it possible to eliminate the vignetting entirely, simply by moving the secondary along the primary axis until the entire pattern was visible on the wall.

The rest of the collimation process (centering the laser dot in the primary donut and centering the secondary holder shadow in the pattern on the wall) seemed almost too easy by comparison. When I star collimated... it was PERFECT!

The bottom line is that I could not be more pleased with the collimator! It is extremely well made, perfectly aligned and flawless in operation. It fits quite snuggly in the cheap focuser on my scope, minimizing the error due to wobbling. I don't have much experience, but I surmise that this scope presents as difficult a collimation problem as one could find, and I doubt that I could ever get it this close with any other tool.

By the way, I bought this collimator on Ebay, but Tim Hagan at Helix cared enough about his product to send me a manual and give me valuable advice about solving my scope problem. That's going the extra mile and then some.

Overall Rating: 10
Price:10 Service:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=72408

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