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Daystar Solar Scout 60mm

Carbon Brush

By Carbon Brush
in Observing - Solar

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Carbon Brush

Carbon Brush

Posted
Posted

My forays into solar observing have been with a PST and almost entirely visual.

While the PST is good, I have wondered about upgrading it with something like the TAL 100 +ERF mods that others have done.
But then again would I be better just buying a better solar scope? Whatever 'better' means.
This probably means a 4 figure price tag.

The Daystar solar scout is a very similar price to a PST but offers 60mm vs 40mm for the PST.
Intuitively I should be able to get more magnification.

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/daystar-solar-scout-60mm-double-stack-dedicated-h-alpha-solar-telescope.html

There seem to be very few recent Daystar 60 reviews in the UK.
FLO announced last year they were selling Daystar products, but there almost nothing on their site now.

Is it a good way to throw away £750?
Should I stick with the well known Coronado and Lunt?

Does anyone have any experience of this scope?

Thanks, David.

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Sunshine

Sunshine

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Posted

I was once in the same position, when upgrading from the PST i looked into the solar scout but found diddly in the way of reviews. In the end i jumped on a Lunt 60, i'm glad i did, its a great scope and yes, from 40 to 60made a big difference in ability to zoom in, you can't go wrong with a proven product like Lunt. I may seem like i'm blowing the horn for Lunt, but my experience has been nothing but amazing, especially their customer service.

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Peter Drew

Peter Drew

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Sounds very good on paper but some of the specs are vague, for instance "similar to double stacked". It also appears that the unit is built by marrying one of the Quark models to a 60mm objective, nothing wrong with that but it could produce a dim image for visual. Similar reservations have been expressed "elsewhere". You would think if they were selling so fast that they were pre-order only, there would have been some reviews posted by now. Waiting with interest!    ?

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Floater

Floater

Posted
Posted

+1 for Lunt and +lots for their customer service. ??

And, as Michael writes, the Quark seems to offer as much, if not more.

I’d scout around a bit more ... (sorry)

p.s. just read the linked ad. 

I hereby declare former bad experiences with Daystar Quarks which seem now to have been blamed on ‘unprecedented demand’ due to the forthcoming (then) ‘Great American Solar Eclipse’ and a resulting  relaxation of quality control. So if they’re already warning about huge demand for this product I would be doubly worried. ?

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Peter Drew

Peter Drew

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Floater said:

+1 for Lunt and +lots for their customer service. ??

And, as Michael writes, the Quark seems to offer as much, if not more.

I’d scout around a bit more ... (sorry)

p.s. just read the linked ad. 

I hereby declare former bad experiences with Daystar Quarks which seem now to have been blamed on ‘unprecedented demand’ due to the forthcoming (then) ‘Great American Solar Eclipse’ and a resulting  relaxation of quality control. So if they’re already warning about huge demand for this product I would be doubly worried. ?

Bit of a cop out here I feel. There was no pressing need to buy a Quark to view the solar eclipse, its inherent brightness reduction for Ha use would block out the most interesting visual phenomenom, the corona.

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Floater

Floater

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Bit of a cop out here I feel. There was no pressing need to buy a Quark to view the solar eclipse, its inherent brightness reduction for Ha use would block out the most interesting visual phenomenom, the corona.

Indeed, Peter. Indeed.

Hence my use of quotes. They just don’t convey irony well enough ... ?

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Pig

Pig

Posted
Posted

The Quark out performs the Lunt series ..... I haven’t owned a solar scout so I do not know about it. However,  I have used a Quark in a William optics 66mm refractor and that too gave much better results than my Lunt 60mm. HTH ?

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Pig

Pig

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Posted

Yes a narrow field in larger refractors, but you do get a full disc in the 60mm, if it’s a shortish focal length, and some 80mm like the SW Equinox or Esprit. I enjoyed both the Lunt and the Quark but preferred the Quark by quite a margin. The only real limiting factor I found with the Quarks was the eyepiece selection needed to be 30mm upward 

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Carbon Brush

Carbon Brush

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Posted

Thank you to everyone for your very helpful and very informed comments.

It sounds to me like another case of you get what you pay for.

Now I will sit back and think about the four (at least) options.

1/ Stick with the PST. An easy choice on a day like today. 100% cloud and rain. Cost zero!

2/ Buy a large (perhaps 100mm) ERF to fasten to the front of an F10 refractor.
Put the PST on the back -  'stage 1' conversion on the PST.
Even if the refractor is smaller than 100mm dia as a first go, I am future proofing by spending on a larger ERF.
I reckon that I could get any old (cheap used) long refractor and see how it performs on very high magnification with tube baffles and a visual red filter.
That allows me to select a lens for known figure/focus without having to use a known good quality scope.
This should give me change from £500 assuming I make a few fittings myself.

3/  Buy a Quark and ERF. Fasten these onto a known good scope.
At £1100 for the Quark, then the ERF, then fittings, it looks like a £1500+ cost of scope package.

4/ Buy a working assembled scope. Something that should produce results out of the box. No machining required.
Around £1900 to £2300 or more depending on variant for a Lunt 60mm scope.

Options 3 & 4 allow me to recoup perhaps £400 by selling my PST. But it is still a chunk of money to find.

Right now I am leaning towards saving for option 4. But of course much depends on what might come up in the for sale section.

I also need to learn more about the different blocking filters and tuning options on the Lunt range.

Then of course option 4 includes Coronado scopes.

Lots to think about.

David.

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