Hi Ken.
I observe the sun every clear day using my "state of the art" instrument, an old 20x80mm tripod mounted binocular that I bought second hand from an Army Surplus store 6 years ago. One objective is broken so I just project the sun onto white paper using the one working side!
This is good enough for me to enjoy observing the multiple sunspots that can be seen daily. I can even make out the sunspots umbra and penumbra
Clear Skies
Joe