Hi notBert,
In the last 3-4 months I switched over to laser pointers for my Aligning and pointing. They are really great compared to my Red Dot sight.
No more craning my neck to get a straight view through to aim at the star.
While a bit pricey IMHO, I really like these from Z bolt.
https://www.custom-laser-pointers.com/standard-btg-2s-p-astronomykitThey are closing them out. I got the green with AAA batteries. So you can get a much better deal than I did.
And honestly, I have yet to wear out the first batteries in either one. (I got the green one first and mounted it along my telescope. later, I got a blue one and mounted it on my Astro Binoculars.)
On my telescope I got the 30" lead and like that for aligning my stars during my alignments (Modeling). For my binoculars, I only need/use the 6" lead.
It's amazing how much easier it is to get on target for me.
As far as Planes go, the smallest use of care to not aim it in the direction of aircraft is sufficient to stay out of trouble. When an airplane is approaching, I simply wait a bit and show some curtesy until it passes where my rig is aimed. It only amounts to seconds.
And as I said, my batteries are the originals. I rarely have the laser on for more than a few seconds at a time.
The green laser is the easiest to see. The blue is a bit harder, but once you get the hang of it, it works very well.
I've have many manner of lasers I've tried. The cheap, super bright ones cover up your object you are trying to aim at. And the ones that use the 123A Batteries get expensive to feed.
Both of mine came with a rechargeable battery kit, which was a $25 value, for free. I don't know if Karen is still offering that.
But I'm completely sold and very happy with these Z bolt astronomy lasers. They go down to 14° F, which is quite below my shivering zone.
I took the following images with my lasers on for 25 seconds in order to get good examples. I rarely have one on for more than a few seconds during adjustment of my mount.