Lunt White Light Solar Wedges - Question about UK Prices

[johninderby]

My review of the 2" Lacerta.

           John

[moriniboy]

Glad I don't have to buy from the US, looks like they are taking advantage at the moment approx £175

Lunt 1.25

[Moonshane]

I feared my 2'' Baader might cause problems with in focus compared with the Lunt 1.25'' but as it happens it uses less in focus than my Lunt with the eyepiece holder removed (I only use T2) partially as I used a 30mm extension on the Lunt to allow filters to be screwed onto the extension rather than the eyepieces.

Broadly though if you can use a 2'' diagonal you can use a 2'' wedge.

[spaceboy]

4 hours ago, Moonshane said:

The views in the ed120 with baader wedge are certainly better than the star  travel 120 with lunt 1.25 but my jaw still dropped on a regular basis with the latter

To be fair though mate there is a huge difference in cost (and spec) between the two above set ups.

I hear good things about the Baader cool wedge and have been tempted whenever one has come up used but I always get cold feet when I stop to considering what value for money the 1 1/4" Lunt offers..... that and the thought that I could blow £270 on a used cool wedge yet still be at the mercy of seeing conditions

Out of curiosity has anyone ever done a side by side review of the 2" lunt and cool wedge ?? or even the lunt 1.25" & 2" ?? My guess is the 2" should offer some advantage over the 1.25" even in 100mm scopes due to it's ability to disperse the heat better ?? along with the usual advantages 2" diagonals offer.

[Moonshane]

We are slightly off topic but I doubt Ade minds as it will hopefully help him inform his choice? I like talking gear though as we all do so here's my take in full

There is a big difference in cost even used but as I do more solar than anything these days, I felt the cost was justified. My sojourn into binoviewers coincided with the availability of a used Baader Coolwedge and I managed a straight swap for a Nagler 26mm which I was considering selling anyway so happy days.

My main wish for a Baader Coolwedge was that the T2 connectivity would reduce the optical length if I removed the eyepiece holder and used the quick release system with the Baader Maxbright BVs. Luckily this has been the case and I have been absolutely delighted with the Baader. I still have to use the 2.6x GPC but it has 10 to 12mm spare in focus whereas with the 1.25'' Lunt (which I used with the extension as described) had only about 3mm.

Truthfully, the difference in quality is (as always when comparing really excellent with superb) really quite small but certainly apparent. The main benefit for me is the T2 connectivity. That said, many of us pay big premiums for eyepieces just a bit better then the cheaper options. I do find that 96x - 117x is the optimal magnification and I can almost always use the former, occasionally the latter and beyond in my normal haunts.

In essence you cannot go wrong in any shape or form with the Lunt 1.25''. It provides superb views at a decent cost (is perhaps even cheap?) and is very robust. I just like the Baader and never even considered the 2'' Lunt as I could not see the point. All of the wedges I have experience of offer the safest means of observing the sun in white light and are a step up from the film.

[AdeKing]

@Lockie thanks for posting this link, unfortunately it's financially out of reach at the moment but thanks for sharing.

Just when I thought I'd made a decision @johnfosteruk and @johninderby you throw me a curveball of the Lacerta wedge which certainly looks to be an alternative which is certainly affordable.

@Moonshane and @spaceboy I don't mind this going slightly off topic at all it's all useful information for me to take on board.

I do have a question though regarding how I work out whether I'll be able to reach focus with the wedge.

I'll be using the wedge with a ST102 f/5 with a 500mm focal length and I'll only be using the setup for visual and not for imaging.

I normally use a Skywatcher 2" dielectric star diagonal with a 1.25 - 2.00" self centring adaptor which allows me to reach focus without any probs but will the same be true of the 1.25" Lunt or the 2" Lacerta as I don't really want to have to shorten the OTA.

 

 

 

 

[johninderby]

With my Orion 120mm f/5 I fitted a Skywatcher crayford that reduces in-focus a bit that mean't that certain eyepieces wouldn't quite reach focus with the 2"  Lacerta which is why I shortened the tube slightly. Shouldn't be a problem with your 102 f/5. Couple of photos showing my eyepiece and filters setup. 

There is also the 1.25" Lacerta as well which is even more affordable.

           John

 

 

[ronin]

Could find that as previously mentioned they make more 1.25" items then 2" ones, but also the size. It always sounds a small jump from 1.25 to 2 but I have a 2" 20mm eyepiece and it is best described as HUGE. Always fun that it is in it's box next to a set of TV ploss's and I can fit 4 TV plossl boxes in the 2" eyepiece box.

Everything has to be multiplied up in size, a 2" ND3 filter is a lot more then a 1.25" ND3 filter, then comes the casing and the wedge/prism whatever is the internal "functional" bit. If you go by area you are more then doubling the area each component is.

Have often thought that a visit to something like NEAF could save me more money then the added cost of the flights etc. Sure Sir Branson could set up a cheap flight and accomodation.

Bit off topic but some distriibuters of US items here in the UK are strange. One item I wanted had a distributor, so the comany would not sell direct. Problem was the distributer didn't actually stock any of their items at all. They were a distributor in name only. So could not purchase direct and the distributor had zero items. Have recently had to abandon a scope as I just could not manage to make the purchase by any means. Crazy situation.

[garryblueboy]

Ha Chris that used to be mine I sold it about two years ago it's not bad I'd say the Lunt 1.25 I have now is on par really that's one of the older badder ones gives good detail .

[Highburymark]

On 16/07/2017 at 09:41, ronin said:

 

Have often thought that a visit to something like NEAF could save me more money then the added cost of the flights etc. Sure Sir Branson could set up a cheap flight and accomodation.

 

Totally agree. I know the issue of price differences has been comprehensively discussed on SGL, but the current gulf in prices really needs to be addressed. The Lunt scope I have my eye on at the moment is £3961 here in UK - and $2598 in the States. It would be cheaper to fly to the US to get the scope, and pay full UK VAT and duties on return than buy it here. 

 

[Moonshane]

True but what happens when you get a fault? You have no UK support.  I'd value this on something so expensive new. USA prices to my knowledge don't include US tax which you would need to pay.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g191-c1484/United-States:Sales.Tax.html

[Highburymark]

I thought sales tax varied depending on the state - and some places like Washington DC do not levy an extra sales tax? Maybe an SGL member in the States can clarify the tax situation for telescopes  bought over the pond. 

Shane - of course you make a good point about faults and the lack of warranties with self-imported telescopes, but that doesn't make the massive price differences seem any fairer - it just seems to be a ruse that manufacturers use to keep hiking prices in the UK/Europe. 

[AdeKing]

Mark - I have in the past imported small and relatively cheap items from the US in order to get a better deal.  I was also tempted to do this when I got seriously into photography as the Canon gear was much more attractively priced on the other side of the pond.

However, a friend of mine did just that and then faced high repair bills, when the shutter unit failed within the warranty period.  Because it was a grey import from the US Canon wouldn't honour the warranty in the UK and so he had to fork out from his own pocket.  Even after the repair, it still worked out marginally cheaper than buying it here, but I decided that I'd rather have UK support for expensive items.

Regarding the wedge, in the end I opted for the 2" Lacerta version that John has shown above.  Although I only use 1.25" eyepieces and a 2" to 1.25" reducer it gives me the opportunity to upgrade to a larger diameter Frac without having to upgrade the wedge as it shouldn't suffer from overheating and was much more affordable at only about £40 more than the 1.25" Lunt, and I'm chuffed to bits with it .

I still cannot really understand the £233 price difference between the 1.25" and 2" Lunt when its only a $70 difference in the US though.

But I guess that at the end of the day it is a fairly specialist piece of optical equipment that not every astronomer will want or even think about purchasing resulting in far fewer 2" wedges being imported so the economies of scale are smaller.