Baader Q Turret

[Ags]

What are people's thoughts/experiences of the Baader Q Turret?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-q-turret.html

It's made of plastic, which is a good thing if it is tough and light plastic! But what about the nosepiece screws - surely they will wear away the plastic before long? Is it strong enough for Starguiders or does it max out with a load of little Orthos? And how is it ergonomically?

I have been wanting to make my Maksutov telescope more interactive for a while. When other people are looking through the telescope I want them to change magnification to suit themselves particularly when viewing the moon or planets (basically give them more levers to pull), but Zooms are expensive and/or limited in field of view. A Q Turret loaded up with BSTs would give a click-stop, constant 60 degree zoom covering 5-18mm, although I imagine it would be quite weighty. Would "blow away" a Leica zoom though - wider zoom range and same FOV? 😀

Another use would be in dual scope mode on my giro-type mount. I could get the scope balanced and flip between a few eyepieces, using the ES 24/68 for initial location or a wider field, and flipping down to 18mm or 12mm to pull out details on doubles or globulars - no messing about with eyepiece changes!

I don't own any starguiders but I hear they are perfectly good optically and (most importantly) comfortable. Narrow field than some other eyepieces, but with a wider field one click away, who cares? And I hear they are parfocal, which is super useful in a turret.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Ags

[heliumstar]

It holds Starguiders well but I never became friends with it For what you want I feel Baader zoom would be much better.

[Louis D]

There's also the Geoptik Ocular Turret which is made of metal.

[domstar]

I bought it with the BCOs. It doesn't focus on my scope with my 2 inch diagonal. With a 1.25 inch diagonal it was fine especially with the small eyepieces. The long 32mm poked my in the face so I just used it with the other 3. I only used it a couple of times. The plastic is solid. Maybe I'll give it another try but at the time I felt I didn't want to use it.

[AdeKing]

I had one of these a while ago and used it twice before quickly selling it on as personally I found it about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

In the example that I owned I found that the "click" between eyepiece positions ranged from vague to virtually non-existant and as such found that I spent too much time twisting the turret left and right trying to get the eyepiece in the correct position to align with the optical path and give a view.  I have no desire to replace it, though I guess that I could just have been unlucky with the one that I had.  

There are others available, in addition to the Geoptik one linked to above although they tend to be rather expensive.  However, given the prices they sell for they should be supremely well engineered.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p5863_TEC-1-25--Eyepiece-Turret-for-up-to-5x-1-25--eyepieces.html

https://www.astronomics.com/takahashi-4-turret-1-25-eyepiece-holder.html

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/npae-rotating-eyepiece-turret.html

Based on my experience I'd suggest that you avoid the Baader Q-turret and look towards something like a Baader Mk IV Zoom, which gets good reviews (I own both a Mk III and Mk IV Baader).  The slight issue with the Baader Zoom is that the AFOV is a bit tight at 24mm at only 48 degrees getting progressively wider up to 68 degrees at 8mm, but I've never found it to be too much of a hinderance to be honest.

The Pentax Zoom is very well regarded, but has a significantly higher price tag than the Baader.

 

 

 

[Saganite]

Hi Agnes,

 

I  used one, for some time actually, and it worked perfectly well with small eyepieces such as Orthoscopics and plossls, but for Starguiders I would not like to say . The locating click between stations worked very well on mine I have to say, but it seems good and not so good can be what you end up with. I did sell mine on eventually because I binoview now with all sorts of eyepiece pairs from 35mm Eudiascopics to 7mm Ortho's.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Saganite

[AdeKing]

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

Hi Agnes,

 

I  used one, for some time actually, and it worked perfectly well with small eyepieces such as Orthoscopics and plossls, but for Starguiders I would not like to say . The locating click between stations worked very well on mine I have to say, but it seems good and not so good can be what you end up with. I did sell mine on eventually because I binoview now with all sorts of eyepiece pairs from 35mm Eudiascopics to 7mm Ortho's.

Thanks for giving some balance to my negative experience Steve. On reading my response again it is much more negative than intended.  It sounds like good and bad examples can be had once you've got the item.

My experience was clearly one of the latter and sadly enough to put me off. 

Apologies again @domstar for my rant above. 

[domstar]

@AdeKing Not at all. It seems like I didn't express myself well. I wanted to say that its lack of use (by me) points to its lack of usefulness but on the other hand I didn't want to advise too strongly against it as I've only used it a couple of times. I don't like fiddling around with eyepieces so I thought it would be up my street but I didn't like fiddling around with the turret either.

I did consider mentioning the clicks. They worked OK for me but didn't give me a lot of confidence that it wouldn't give future alignment problems.

[Ags]

Thanks for all the opinions and experience. I think the Baader zoom is the better, lighter and cheaper option! The only drawback is it's easier to spend €50 now and then as opposed to €200 in one go...

[Ags]

Still thinking about this one... Now thinking it might be really useful in combination with my ASI 178 MM.