Stay away from Protostar!

[SimmoW]

Made an order for $450 worth of product from them on 16 June, for $150 of flocking and a really good looking spider.

Repeated emails asking for progress updates or even threatening cancelling of order ignored.

So I'll be contacting PayPal for a refund tomorrow. I'd stay away from him if I were you.

Anyone recommend a high quality secondary holder for a beefy 100mm sec?

[billdan]

There are heaps of threads on Cloudy Nights about the lack of performance of this guy, going back years. I am surprised people still go back to him.
He does eventually come through but its a long wait for any goodies.


Bill

[ausastronomer]

Hi Simmo,

Unfortunately Brian Greer's Business (Protostar) has been wound right back in the past few years due to a declining market as a result of the influx of mass produced Asian Telescopes and the fact that Brian is not a young man anymore. Brian's business / communication / customer service skills also leave something to be desired IMO. I have purchased twice from Brian in the past, both times with a happy ending. The first time was a heated secondary holder and a 2.6" quartz secondary mirror about 10 years ago, which was delivered within a few weeks of ordering. The second time was a heated secondary holder and a 1.83" quartz secondary mirror which took many months and many emails, before it was delivered. I also know of many very unhappy customers in the US who have asked for refunds due to extended delays with delivery.

It's rather sad because Brian's secondary mirrors and holders were the best money can buy IMO, but that doesn't do much good if you can't get them from him. Brian is also extremely knowledgeable on telescopes and optics

To be honest I will not be ordering anything from Brian in the future.

You do have some other options.

The Astrosystems secondary holders are pretty good. https://www.astrosystems.biz/sechold.htm

Peter Read at SDM has used these for the past 3 or 4 years, since Protostar delivery became unreliable. Dave Kriege at Obsession and several other US based custom scope builders also use the Astrosystems holders. I would recommend ordering it with the Secondary Heater System.

https://www.astrosystems.biz/dewgrd.htm

Rather than use the battery as suggested you can wire the secondary heater in with thin wires glued to the top of the spider vanes and then use an external power supply. All my scopes are powered to the top end through the truss poles and then there is no need to fiddle about with 9 volt batteries near the secondary mirror. I have the Astrosystems Secondary holder and Secondary dew heater system on my 18" Obsession. Whilst it isn't quite as nice as the Protostar system on my other scopes, it works just as well in the field and you can at least get it with reliable delivery.

As for the flocking paper you can purchase a self adhesive black felt type material through Spotlight stores. It comes in A4 sized sheets and has a peel off backing paper. It used to be in the craft section and it used to cost $2 for an A4 sized piece. I used this about 12 years ago to baffle a scope and it worked exceptionally well. It is easy to use and the glue is really strong, to the extent that you need to make sure that you don't let it touch itself or something else that you don't want it to permanently become attached to.

I just found this on the Spotlight website for you. The size of the sheets has changed slightly to become square and the price has almost doubled in the last 12 years.

http://www.spotlightstores.com/craft-hobbies/craft-materials/pre-cut-felts/arbee-square-felt-sheet-with-adhesive-back/p/BP80122401003

Cheers
John B

[SimmoW]

Thank you so much John! What a long and detailed reply, with so much useful information. Much appreciated!

I'll forward this to some Astro buddies, esp for the Spotlight tip.

[barx1963]

Simon
I have used 2 of the Astrosystems secondary holders on scopes I have built and, like John, I am very happy with their performance. Easy to install, easy to collimate and well made.
I also had a Dewguard that worked fine for a couple of years and then packed it in, not sure why. I simply replaced it with a Kendrick one on the 20" scope. The one I used is here https://binocularandtelescope.com.au/product/2029-m-kendrick-split-secondary-heater-67mm-minor-axis/ and it works fine with a Digifire controller.

Malcolm

[SimmoW]

Thanks all- update! I logged a message via PayPal and got a refund within hours. About to get the Astrosystems setup.

[peter_4059]

Try this

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_flok.htm