Solar Max III

[Solar B]

Pls see CN link with other links

 

Certainly does look the biz ... they're now reverting back to full aperture externally mounted 

etalons which has long been known to be superior to smaller internally mounted options.

Also upgraded the focuser and doing away with the clamshell.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/587197-coronado-solarmax-iii-70mm/

Brian 

[Craney]

Yet more kit to spend my dwindling reserves on !!.......  

It is surprising that a manufacturer has not stepped into the marketplace with a 'new' H-alpha scope that overcomes the issues of all that has gone before, especially with the interest focused on the eclipse this year.  A good 'budget' scope is long overdue. The new PST  etc....

Here is the manufacturers blurb.....

http://www.meade.com/solarmax-iii-solar-telescopes.html

Interesting to note that they have shown a demo-picture that displays Newtons rings and has differential brightness across the image......  I am not a seasoned veteran in the H-alpha world but doesn't a tilt adapter get rid of NR   and does this scope still suffer from a  'sweet spot' ..... so are we as we were before ??  with a similarly performing scope that fits in the market place between a 60mm and a 90mm.....  akin to a BMW 4 series  'filling the gap' between  the 3 and the 5.

Interesting.

 

 

Sean

 

 

[Solar B]

It is a 60mm filter/s Sean but just with a 70mm OTA ... so its a bit cheeky to call it an SM70.

 

Brian 

[Craney]

So it is BMW 4 series diesel .... with smaller alloys....and a limiter.... 

[Pig]

They are very nice looking scopes.... still quite a lot of cash though ?

[Peter Drew]

24 minutes ago, Pig said:

They are very nice looking scopes.... still quite a lot of cash though ?

Agreed, but if you add the cost of a single 60mm Ha scope to a full aperture 60mm front etalon then it appears to be in line. I don't 100% agree that internally mounted etalons are always inferior to external ones. I have 60mm and 90mm full aperture etalons and they don't come close to the performance of my internally mounted 20mm PST etalon on my PST mods.  

[xtreemchaos]

why not just buy a quark, thats my wisdom for today, ill have to have a lye-down now .. charl.

[Pig]

My thoughts too Charl .... but hey, we must forgive them for they know not what they do ?

[Solar B]

It depends what you mean by performance Peter , I wasn't referring to resolution , but filter finesse which is quite a hard thing 

to quantify , basically here they're reverting back to the original SMs which were all externally mounted so these are just really an 

update on these but it's still given that the original (pre Meade) USA made etalons are the best.

 

Brian 

 

[Peter Drew]

I would be good if they do supply etalons as good as the original IOM ones, currently we have to work with what we can get. My 20mm PS etalon is the best out of dozens I've tried.    

[MarsG76]

It looks like a marketing ploy... If you're in the market for a solar scope than it can be an attractive item, but if, like me, already have a Solar scope like the SolarMax II, than an upgrade would, most likely, be little or no improvement.

 

[Highburymark]

I guess it's in line with Meade's recent 'redesigned' ETX - more tinkering with an old product line than launching something really new. But it's still welcome - anything that might help increase competition in this market must be good.