Quark questions

[Ags]

I had an interesting discussion with my partner today. It went something like this:

Ags: I found a new astro thing to buy when we win the lottery...

Partner: What?

Ags: It's an eyepiece to view detail on the sun - you can see flares and vortexes.

Partner: Sounds great... but you mentioned a lottery win?

Ags: Actually its advert says it is cheap - only a thousand euros. Eek!

Partner (doesn't bat an eyelid): That's not so bad. When we get a bit of money next year, maybe you should buy one.

Hmmm, so, should I buy a Daystar Quark? It seems lots of people are sticking them on their ST80s, like I would. It would be my most expensive astro purchase ever, about triple the cost of anything else I have bought. I live in a small apartment and it might make more sense to go this route than a big dob, which would be fighting light pollution anyway.

Some bits of info do not make sense to me. Apparently I do not need an energy rejection filter at 80mm for short viewing sessions. It sems hard to believe, and anyway what if inadvertently go over whatever limit they define as "short"? Why expose a staggeringly expensive piece of equipment to any unnecessary stress? Daystar suggest a 2" UV/IR cut filter, but the ST80 has a 1.25" focusser. Could I stick something like this on the front of the scope instead:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/857393-REG/Hoya_A77UVIR_77_mm_UV_and.html

[Peter Drew]

The filtration built into the Quark deals safely with heat and radiation up to 80mm aperture without the need of an ERF, an IR/UV cut filter is added protection, Daystar recommend a 2" version as it will not vignet for imaging. F7 is the accepted ideal for optimum performance but either side will work well. 

[Luke]

The Quark is one of those products we have in astro that is both dirt cheap and crazily expensive at the same time

It's £799 here, that's more than a mighty 21mm Ethos eyepiece

If you have a look at the cost of a dedicated double stacked (0.5A) 80mm scope, though, the Quark is dirt cheap

My best astro purchase, I would not hesitate to buy it again.

[Ags]

1200 euros here... doesn't make sense when it retails at 900 USD, although I hope I am looking at Eclipse Prices now.

[spaceboy]

Conversations going that well with a partner over such a large spend often means they are up to something. I'd be straight out checking the car over for any car park dinks   

[Ags]

I'm leaning toward a hoya full aperture uv/ir cut on the front and also a broad Ha filter before the diagonal. The device might cope with the thermal strain perfectly, but rom what I have read solar scopes have a lifespan after which the various filters cloud and degrade. So the less energy reaching the quark the better.