First light with Daystar Quark Chromosphere - It's a good one!

[paulastro]

49 minutes ago, FLO said:

Welcome to SGL 🙂 

We (FLO) have a similar arrangement in the UK. All our Daystar Quarks and Solar Scout telescopes are checked by Gary Palmer before dispatch. It has been this way for over a year. 

We don't advertise this extra layer of QC because it is something we do for our own peace of mind, not for marketing purposes. 

Steve 

That's good to hear Steve.  Quarks are not cheap, and knowing it is going to be checked beforehand could be a deciding factor for some people before they take the plunge.  Now the cat's out of the bag, you will probably get potential customers asking if Gary Is still checking them before ordering.  I would certainly ask.

Edited May 21, 2021 by paulastro

[Davey-T]

22 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

Some areas of reported customer support do appear to be in need of improvement. 

Customer support via email and phone is fine what lets them down is the production staff.

I've had a Quark returned to me as OK from Daystar which wouldn't even work to the point of the tuning LED turning green, they didn't even need to look at the Sun to discover this before despatch so not a lot of faith in their QC, perhaps they can't get the staff.

Dave

[Roy Challen]

3 hours ago, FLO said:

Welcome to SGL 🙂 

We (FLO) have a similar arrangement in the UK. All our Daystar Quarks and Solar Scout telescopes are checked by Gary Palmer before dispatch. It has been this way for over a year. 

We don't advertise this extra layer of QC because it is something we do for our own peace of mind, not for marketing purposes. 

Steve 

That's really good to hear, I didn't know this when I bought my Solarscout in February. Thanks FLO!

[Victor Boesen]

I continue to add to this thread as I learn more about the quark. Today I spent a good amount of time outside with my 102mm refractor and the quark and I continue to be amazed. Currently I prefer the 40mm plössl that I received a couple days ago  since I find the contrast to be highest with that eyepiece (most likely due to larger exit pupil and lower magnification?). Today I tried adding my 2.5X barlow to the view and the details were amazing but limited by seeing conditions.

After some time I dug out a 3D printed white light solar filter that I had made for my Evostar 72ED. The outside of the filter mount could be fitted loosely onto the Tecnosky which essentially made an aperture mask of just under 90mm and contrast went up noticably (white light film isn't on of course). I think I will try to print a deciated aperture mask for 102mm and perhaps also the Evostar 72. to bring both scopes to about f/8-9.

I tried hooking up my DSLR once again and managed to get slightly better results this time.

 

[Stu]

It certainly looks to be performing very well Victor. Out of interest, do you use an observing hood (sorry if you’ve covered this already), they do increase contrast significantly when observing in Ha.

[Victor Boesen]

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

It certainly looks to be performing very well Victor. Out of interest, do you use an observing hood (sorry if you’ve covered this already), they do increase contrast significantly when observing in Ha.

Indeed, I'm very impressed with it. Full disk in the Evostar 72 is also very nice. I'm using a dark jacket to shield myself from outside light  It helps a lot! Especially at high magnifications when image brightness and ontrast is lower.

[Altocumulus]

Late to this, but good to know FLO go the extra yard and check Quarks before despatch.  I keep asking my usual goto if they'll do the same; but don't answer!

Should be coming up to the quoted re-stock time, have already sorted a scope to use.

[Mandy D]

Interesting to read this topic. I bought a Daystar Solarscout in 2018 and could never to get it to tune. I thought it might be me, so I asked the well-known supplier a few weeks after buying it and was referred to Daystar as the only assistance on offer. Not knowing enough about this and lacking a visible Sun to keep testing on, then followed by Covid lockdowns, I gave up trying to get it to work and lacked the confidence to contact Daystar. I did post in here about my problems, but it did not deliver a solution. I rather suspected something was amiss with my scope, especially as the Sun orbited in the FOV as I tried to focus.

I was convinced that I had in-focus images, but no matter the heater setting, I could see no detail on the disc, beyond the occasional sunspot. I re-focussed at every heater setting and waited for the LED to turn green each time, but no joy. I don't even bother connecting the battery any more and just use it as a (very expensive) simple filtered refractor for solar viewing.

Very disappointed! But, at least now I have some idea that I am not alone and probably not totally incompetent either. Thank you for that much.