Which Lunt 35THa - basic or de luxe?

[michaelmorris]

I'm in the market for a Lunt 35THA solar Ha telescope. They come in two flavours, basic and deluxe. The price difference is a whopping £150. The spec. given on various websites says that the difference is the extras (Clamshell, Televue Solsearcher and 10mm 70deg eyepiece). However, one dealer has told me the de luxe version has a larger blocking filter than the basic version. He said this made no difference to the view except that is allowed you to view a wider field of view, and hence allow for wider field eyepieces to be used.

Would there be any other advantages/disadvantages to the use of the larger blocking filter?

Would the larger blocking filter affect the back focus?

[brianb]

The small blocking filter gives a field of view just wide enough to view the solar disc. The larger blocking filter has much more "breathing room", this makes a big difference for imaging not so much for visual.

Don't know about the back focus. I'd be surprised if there was any difference though.

The clamshell is useful for mounting the scope. The SolSearcher is useful for finding the Sun .... don't know about the eyepiece, in my experience solar scopes usually work best with simple EPs like orthos ... wide field is simply not an issue as a 40 deg apparent field EP will show the whole solar disk at x80 which is more than a 35mm aperture scope will support (it's marginal with a good 60mm scope).

[NGC 1502]

Hi Michael, I have a Lunt 35TH-alpha. It's the basic package with the B400 blocking filter. The retailer said the same as brianb & your own retailer :- the B600 that comes with the deluxe version would be better for imaging, but the quality of the view is the same. So I went for the basic job as I am a visual observer, have loads of eyepieces and had a spare dovetail to attach to the mounting rings. Wide field eyepieces offer no advantage here as the field of view is constricted ( as with other such scopes ) I splashed out for the SolSearcher however, works a treat. A warning, on sunny days you won't find time for cutting the grass, cleaning the car or going shopping etc !! Happy viewing, Ed.

[brianb]

A warning, on sunny days you won't find time for cutting the grass, cleaning the car or going shopping etc !!

All positive so far as I'm concerned.