Why are Questar Telescopes so expensive and yet popular/desirable??

[Dave In Vermont]

10 hours ago, swamp thing said:

Hmmm! 28" webster ($18,000+),  3.5" Questar ($6,500)........"The same amount of money"? What money are you using, and can I have some please?  

Details, details..... I think you get my point though!

Dave

[nightfisher]

On 2/11/2016 at 08:13, timwetherell said:

Oooooo, watch your words sir - That's fighting talk!   But yes, you can certainly get a lot better bang for your buck than a big hunk of glass or a Questar will ever offer. A friend of mine has a Questar. It's very nicely made and the optics are tip-top but my impression was that it the view was much the same as any other good mak of similar aperture which is to say pretty damn good! My impressions of decent maks is that they are more "refractor-like" than most refractors are

One thing I do like about the Questars is the tabletop tripod system. Especially in the days before driven mounts were so cheap and common. Imagine it's 1975. In 30 seconds you can be observing from your garden table with a top quality scope, setting circles and clockwork mount that tracks the stars. When you're done you pop it under your arm and go back in. Meanwhile your mate is still heaving the bits of his 4" refractor or 6" f10 equatorial Newtonian out of the garage. Even in 2016 it would be nice to have that convenience (presuming I knew nothing about cool down!) I've never owned a Questar but I can to some extent see the appeal as a "grab and go" if you're lucky enough to have a lot of spare cash. 

I kind of agree with Fiery Jack, it's a hobby and if it makes you happy to have one and you can afford it then more power to you. If you collect stamps and a two penny red or whatever, is the rarest  coolest bit of sticky paper one can own and you've dreamt of owning one since you were a boy and now you can afford it, then buy one. But I sure wouldn't. You can't even post a letter with it!  

Tim superb post re maks being very "refractor like"

[Stub Mandrel]

On 10/02/2016 at 10:16, Moonshane said:

I can see the Rolex comparison but surely a Rolex is more accurate than a Timex? Maybe it's not! If Questar's are more optically accurate than other scopes then fair enough but are they?

"If this is your first time buying an expensive wristwatch, there is one very important fact you need to know in advance. A $25 Timex or Casio digital watch will keep time just as well as, and possibly better than, a $20,000 solid gold mechanical Omega, Rolex, or other very fine watch."

http://www.chronocentric.com/watches/accuracy.shtml

[L8-Nite]

A premium gold watch is an investment, which can substantially increase in value, whereas you may only be able to resell a $25.oo Timex to recoup enough to buy a couple of hamburgers.

The same comparison could be made for certain ( nameless ) scopes.

[F15Rules]

On 10/02/2016 at 10:50, swamp thing said:

I've wondered the very same thing about refractors  
 

 

And I about funnels, er, sorry, Dobs ;-)

Dave

[munirocks]

People do buy them for some of the reasons mentioned in the original post, but they also have a peculiar combination of features no longer found on other scopes, like fast setup time, usable setting circles, clock drive, 25-hour battery life on a simple 9-volt battery, lever to switch between main scope and finder without leaving the eyepiece, lever to switch between barlowed and unbarlowed view without leaving the eyepiece, lever to reroute the light path to the camera or another eyepiece, table-top legs so you can polar align and do a session sitting at a picnic table with a cup of hot chocolate. People like the whole package. To compare the Questar to a simple dumb optical tube with a larger aperture and better optics but no other features or mount is to miss the point entirely. 

All the more reason to lament the fact that my order, a special Questar 50th Anniversary model that was supposed to be the quality flagship, was a shambles. It had astigmatism, scratches on the optics, ill-fitting components, badly-formed metalwork, faulty eyepieces - all spread over more than 15 months and five attempts to manufacture it. I finally gave up and got a refund, as it became painfully obvious that... well, I don't know if the people who knew how to make them have retired and it's the end of an era, or if my scope was just a production glitch (actually five major glitches). I don't think anyone over on the Cloudy Nights Questar forum has been brave enough to order one and find out, after I gave a detailed account of my experience there, in the Ordering a Questar thread. 

[quaoar]

On ‎12‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 05:50, Dave In Vermont said:

Details, details..... I think you get my point though!

Dave

My Questar there was US$ 2000 Astromart Auction