To see objects through the telescope you must point it to exactly the right spot. The Telrad is a sight for pointing telescopes to that "right spot".
Through a Telrad you can see the sky the way the star charts show it. Not a small upside down and magnified portion of it, but the "real sky" with three illuminated LED target rings set against it.
Telrad helps you Star Hop
The large ring is 4 degrees across and shows the area covered by a conventional 8x50 finderscope. The second ring is 2 degrees across. The small centre ring is 1/2 degree across outlining an area seen in the telescope with a low powered eyepiece.
Select an object on your star charts and note its position among the visible stars. Then set the rings on that spot in the sky. A quick rough setting will put the object in the field of a finderscope. With no finderscope, or a faint object that won't show, use a more careful setting to put the object in the field of the telescope.
The Telrad makes it much easier to "star hop" across the sky compared to a finderscope. With practise you will be able to judge the angular distance between objects. Use a Telrad alone for finding bright targets and setting up GoTo telescopes. For hunting out fainter deep sky objects use a Telrad in conjunction with a magnified finder. The Terad gets you close to your mark, then switch to the finderscope to see fainter objects more easily.
Customers constantly tell us the Telrad is the best accessory they have added to their telescope. We are sure you will agree.