New Triplet Refractor by Baader

[Pig]

Lovely looking scope even though it is very pricey, if you include all the extras it adds up to quite an amount

[lensman57]

Mr AG,

I think you are, as we say in Sweden, "out bicycling" in this matter. No offense intended! Let me explain...

When I bought my mount I picked it up at Baader Planetarium in person on my way to Olly Penrice's Les Grange, and as a visitor I was given a tour of the of family business. I also drove by when I was on business in Munich and got to look at the scopes and the production facilities. There were tons of Chinese stuff visible in that place, all in one place and all with the word "Celestron" on the boxes (Baader is a large European re-seller of Celestron).

The Travel Companion, along with focusers, extensions, mechanical stuff in general, eyepieces and even the laser collimator, is made right there. The scope is made with glass sourced locally to the same specification as the stuff that came out of Jena (glass composition, separation liquid and general design) with Baader's mechanical knowledge applied. Why do you think I jumped the wagon there and then? €3,850 for that scope is a steal! Yes, actually I think it is! Although I don't do visual, I do on occasion glance through my scopes in order to assess them in star tests. I have also looked through other people's scopes on many occasions and I always make note of optical behaviour. This was way above anything I ever look through, and couple that with a good flattener and you have something that is a total dream scope.

As for expensive... On this forum the rant about UK prices being absurd compared to US and Asian ones is constantly on-going. Well, if you try to manufacture something in Germany - which Baader obviously does - you are exposed to German labour laws, taxation and general conditions. Let me tell you, the UK situation is nowhere near the German, nor is the Swedish (which is also considered high cost). The Germans get 13 monthly salaries a year but negotiate their salary based on monthly numbers (some, with good deals, get 13.5). Like in France, it is difficult to lay off people so you have to make sure you "invest" in the right person. All this costs money. What I am trying to say is that if it is expensive to produce stuff in the UK, it is even more so in Sweden, and still more in Germany.

Please do not take this as defence of Baader. I am sure they have their bad moments as most companies do. I am also sure that they do not have 100 per cent good and likable products - few companies do. I will soon own one of their scopes and I have one of their focus motors, a cliklock and some mechanical stuff. They are all top notch and not made in China.

All the best,

Per

No Offence taken Per as none were intended, I still think that 3850 euros is expensive in my book for any level of performance that I require.

Regards,

A.G

[perfrej]

That I can subscribe to, but not the comment about Chinese

/per

[TheMightyKong]

No wonder, that's a terrible picture of Jupiter.  If you can't send it back, I can take take it off your hands.

Not so sure about this.

My second hand FLuorite FSQ arrived courtesy of Parcel Farce...

And does this...

The older fluorite FSQs are far less sensitive to cooldown than the later ED versions but I think this has to do with lens element spacing, not that I know for sure.

Olly

[TheMightyKong]

So are Baader saying they grind, polish and figure the lenses themselves??  If not I wonder who in Germany has the contract.

[philj]

Too costly, I would get the WO FLT 98, and the FLT 132 comes in very close to the Baader in terms of cost and they are not exactly second rate.

I shall stick with my Strakov lensed, feathertouch focuser Flt98 I reckon. Much cheaper and I doubt I could tell the performance difference if I went for one of these anyway.

[clubjoker]

All gone quiet on this. Have any materialised and in the wild?

[perfrej]

I am on my way to my remote obsy at Olly's next week and will stop by Baader on the way. Mine has been there for six months but I have been in no hurry to pick it up, and I may not do so this time as I will be roaming Provence with my wife as well. I also have the problem of light right now and cannot do any astronomy locally until mid to late August.

Eventually I will pick it up and start testing it on the balcony. Maybe even do some visual If I do bring it along I will try to test it with Olly. No promises, though - so much to do and so little time to do it in.

/per

[alan potts]

I hope the scope lives up to your expectations.

I would not by Baader gear again after the buying a so called high quality Baader Vario Finder and the famous words Carl Zeiss were used in the advert on the site. It was so bad I returned it as it would not give a sharp focus. It was then I am told specially seleceted by Baader after return to TS, if true it is reasonable at best, vastely overpriced and was designed in a coffee break, it is also bad enough that I would not sell it to someone else. The Sky Watcher 50mm finder scopes I have are better at a fraction of the price.

Good luck with the scope though I know your buying into a different price bracket so all should be well.

alan.

[NickK]

Baader is reasonable - I remember doing an EP comparison through the Pentax at saturn back at one of the SGL parties. TV Nagla was 3D, Baader Hyperion was just on the verge of being 3D and the William Optics EP was a blurred mess in comparison. The RDF I have is decent too. I do know they have issues with their MkII zoom that had issues locking up but other than that stuff seems pretty decent.

As always there's always the customer satisfaction that Baader need to ensure. Given Per's experience I think if he turned around to them and said he was unsatisfied.. I think they'd refund.

[perfrej]

I have held it in my hands, fondly. What a great little scope, and all that calium fourite stuff and oil and stuff. It is waiting for the first batches of the new Baader Steeltrack Diamond that should arrive in just a few weeks. It will then be shipped to me. I thought abot having the Baader Hyperion focuser on it, but after testing an example of the Diamond I decided that it would be the focuser of choice for this scope. I may put the Hyperion on my Takahashi FSQ-106; definitely better than the original Takahashi focuser.

I have posted a short video clip that I shot with my iPhone while playing with the Diamond. Unfortunately it is rotated 90 degress and I do not have any good video editing software in my travel laptop, but anyway. It is of a 6 kg 10Micron counter-weight being lifted by a Steeltrack Diamond... I don't think it will slip with my camera and wheel at the back...

/per

http://filer.frejvall.se/Diamant.mp4

[DaveS]

I'll be very interested in the report on this Per.

BTW, what reducer or flattener would match the quality of the 'scope? It would have to be pretty special, but the small size of the Baader focuser would preclude the APM ones.

[ianaiken]

That's good the Diamond takes the Steeldrive. I can see my old steeltrack going up for sale soon!

[Earl]

Per what are your thought processes on this scope considering you have a fsq106 already? im not sure i see why myself?

[Earl]

The older fluorite FSQs are far less sensitive to cooldown than the later ED versions but I think this has to do with lens element spacing, not that I know for sure.

Olly

Having replaced the focuser which also removes a coupling piece of ally used to connect the original, ill be interested to see what the focus shift is like as i have some ideas on this.

[ollypenrice]

Having replaced the focuser which also removes a coupling piece of ally used to connect the original, ill be interested to see what the focus shift is like as i have some ideas on this.

So you suspect that the alloy is expanding/contracting and adding to the problem?

Olly

[Earl]

So you suspect that the alloy is expanding/contracting and adding to the problem?

Olly

It could well be contributing, Ill keep a note of the focus posistions over a session and see how much shift there is.

[HD-AP]

So

Vorsprunge flourite techniqe ed 

[perfrej]

Earl, Dave,

From what they tell me, the TS 2" one has been used in the tests and produces excellent results, so I will use one of those to sart with. The scope is more or less a duplicate of my FSQ-106, and it is the flourite I am after. I have yet to find out the imaging circle capabilities and I doubt that it will match the Tak's 88 mm, so I am not getting rid of the Tak unless I can run a reasonably large camera, like the FLI ML-50100 or so, on it. The Baader will most likely be superio visually, so maybe this is my entry into some visual... All I have done in terms of quality visual is a couple of casual after dinner peeks in Olly's beast DOB.

/per

[DaveS]

Thanks Per. This is looking increasingly attractive. I can afford it, the question I have to ask myself is, "can I justify it?"

[perfrej]

That's always the question, and the answer is usually stuffed away in a corner in an attempt  to postpone it until after the purchase...

/p