Quark - is this a problem ?

[skybadger]

Hi all

I finally succumbed at astrofest to a Quark.

Its been on a scope and tried yesterday and I got to see the sun in some of its glory. My eyepieces were dewing up continuously though so not that successful.

The thing I noticed was that the eyepiece side optical surface seems to not be flat. It distorts reflections when inspected by eye and there is a spot that appears as if there a dust spot under a film so gives an obvious local distortion to reflections.

The question  - is this normal and is this significant. ? I won't be able to use this again until next weekend and I could swap it during the week depending on the advice I get here....

Cheers

Mike

[Joves]

Hi Mike,

As much as I hate to say it, it does sound normal for a Quark. Should it be? Probably not. Personally, I have three of the things and two have quite obvious distortions. Two chromosphere and one prominence. The third, a second chromosphere model, is very clean, but doesn't appear to be at the same bandpass as the first chromosphere. This leads me to prefer using the first, irrespective of distortions.

To be fair, all three of mine are early models, most likely off the first couple of production runs, and it appears that some of these issues have been resolved (haven't heard too many complaints of late, whereas there were many in the beginning) in the later releases.

If it is any consolation, even with the distortion issues, I love them. Considering what the Quark is setting out to achieve (a cost-effective HA observing tool which can turn several basic refractors into sol-observing weapons), I'd say Daystar have absolutely nailed their objective, even WITH some of these initial hiccups, right on the head!

Whether or not you should enquire into a replacement is up to you. Probably not a bad idea if you're really concerned about it. Better to be sure with your decision than spend the rest of your life questioning whether your hard earned dollars have been spent on sub-par performing equipment.

All the best,

Aaron

[jetstream]

Hi Joves, which scope do your Quarks perform best in?

[skybadger]

Thanks Jove.

I'll get on with.it...

Mike

[Davey-T]

Mine has a very uneven looking surface but performs OK.

Gary, the Quark performs well in quite a range of refractors, your SW120ED would be fine and you can always mask it down a bit.

Dave