Daystar Solar Scout

[bomberbaz]

I profess to knowing very little about these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/daystar-solar-h-alpha-telescopes/daystar-solar-scout-ss60-ds-60mm-h-alpha-solar-telescope.html

I have read a lot of the blurb on FLO's website but not much wiser.

There is this statement, "The engineers at Daystar offer this premium quality 60mm H-alpha solar telescope with 'double-stack' performance". 

But how does this translate and be in comparison to my existing Lunt LS35. 

I looked at the basic and full package but can't see to much in the full to make it worthwhile.

Any info will help.

A purchase is far from imminent though, but the price does seem very attractive from how they were just a short while since.

TIA

Steve.

[johninderby]

Had one of the Solar Scouts and found it to be very poor visualy. It is much more suited to imaging use. So if you are looking for a scope to use visualy there are better choices. 

. The PST is quite good visually but not much different to the Lunt 35. New they are a bit overpriced but can be had second hand at a good price

Edited May 14, 2020 by johninderby

[Grant]

6 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Had one of the Solar Scouts and found it to be very poor visualy. It is much more suited to imaging use. So if you are looking for a scope to use visualy there are better choices. 

. The PST is quite good visually but not much different to the Lunt 35. New they are a bit overpriced but can be had second hand at a good price

I didn't find that in my testing John - I tried a Lunt 60 B1200 Pressure Tuner side by side with the DayStar 60 and found I could see some fainter prominence detail with the DayStar than the Lunt and with slightly better contrast too. Up until that point I had been using the Lunt for maybe two years but decided to swap for the DayStar which I still use. I also tried the larger DayStar 80 but found the additional bulk / expense not really worth it for my needs vs the 60, particularly when the sun wasn't doing an awful lot!

The downside is the heating up time and more cables in the way...

Don't get me wrong, the Lunt is a beautiful scope but I found adjusting the pressure tuner a pain and in terms of value, it is much more expensive than the DayStar.

Whichever you end up going for, have a look at the SolarQuest mounts - that has been the best solar investment for me. I now have two of them - for outreach it is absolutely fantastic and for just leaving running, tracking it will go all day so you can keep popping back out for a peek.

[johninderby]

I think it may be down the the differences in Quarks. They do seem to vary a bit. 

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Grant said:

Whichever you end up going for, have a look at the SolarQuest mounts - that has been the best solar investment for me. I now have two of them - for outreach it is absolutely fantastic and for just leaving running, tracking it will go all day so you can keep popping back out for a peek.

Thanks Grant. Just had a quick mooch at it and although it seems an impressive bit of kit, think its a wedge to shell out for something my wife gti mount will do once it's centred.

Hope you only bought the mount, the tripod is same as the wifi gti one and it is pretty average at best.

cheers, steve

[Grant]

4 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Thanks Grant. Just had a quick mooch at it and although it seems an impressive bit of kit, think its a wedge to shell out for something my wife gti mount will do once it's centred.

Hope you only bought the mount, the tripod is same as the wifi gti one and it is pretty average at best.

cheers, steve

I'm using the steel tripods with these. Found the standard star adventurer tripod fine when not extended but not for doing anything to high up.

I've used the GTi a lot as well but it isn't as good at following the sun, spot on in the center of the FOV all day long as the SolarQuest.

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Grant said:

I'm using the steel tripods with these. Found the standard star adventurer tripod fine when not extended but not for doing anything to high up.

I've used the GTi a lot as well but it isn't as good at following the sun, spot on in the center of the FOV all day long as the SolarQuest.

Yes I know there is a little drift over time. Not enough to warrant the spend though. (Caveat, not at this time 😉 ) haha

[Solar B]

There is no magic formula or easy access to what I consider to be quality solar views 

The 60SS is good but like all solid etalons it's subject to good seeing and "supreme" EP 

selection in the range of 25 - 32mm (so not as simple as the air spaced options)

My exprience with quarks and indeed the 80mm SS (which is considerably better)

bears this out.

Ultimately there is still no substitute for air spaced etalons at their given aperture 

however here etalon finesse becomes critical ... which is hard to define but we do

encounter plate flatness & parallelism here.

An isle of man (solarscope) single etalon will exhibit a true 0.7A bandwidth by 

comparison a daystar quantum filter at 0.7A will not display the same detail as 

the solarscope (at similar apertures) as solid etalons lack the finesse of air speced ones.

Brian 

 

 

[catburglar]

I picked up a Solar Scout from FLO a couple of weeks ago.

To date I’ve managed about half a dozen sessions and been quite happy with the prominence details. There’s been nothing much to see on the disk apart from granulation - which is visible, but more subtle than I thought it would be (but I guess that’s what happens when you compare images with visual).

In terms of eyepieces I’m using a 16mm Nirvana for the most part- which gives a good full disk view, with reasonable control of scatter and sufficient magnification to see detail in larger prominences. But I also have a scan around the limb with a 10mm BCO to check for smaller proms- but the view is quite dim- I need to get a better hood to block out ambient light.

Overall, I’d have no problem recommending one as a first solar scope- the price is V good in comparison to new Lunt and PST options....but this is my first solar scope so I don’t have any experience of these other options to compare the quality of the view.