After seeing photographs of the sun in hydrogen-alpha on TV as a schoolboy many years ago, I had a yearning to make observations like this myself. When I was in the lucky position of having more cash available than expected very recently, I decided I was in a position to try it - one of the great advantages of solar observation is that it isn't spoilt by light pollution. After an enquiry to FLO regarding the relative merits of the smaller 40mm PST and the SolMax model, I bought the more expensive version, as having a brighter image and more detail. Setting up was straightforward, once the sun was in the field of view. The finder is actually just a pinhole projecting onto a diffusing screen, so a bit of trial and error is needed to know when the sun is in the field of the eyepiece. Nevertheless, once the sun was located, it was clear from the start that the optics were working. Prominences and detail on the disc were both clear once focus was correctly set; adjusting the etalon to allow for the Doppler effect, as the instructions explained, showed prominences becoming brighter as the disc detail faded and vice versa. Some reviews I'd seen of the PST version mentioned the image being somewhat dim at high magnification. This isn't the case with the SolarMax. If anything, it can be a bit too bright, and might benefit from a moon filter. The 25mm eyepiece only gives 16x; you'll definitely need something more powerful to make the most of the telescope, but I was surprised at how much can be seen even at this magnification. The optimum seems to be around 40-60x, although the weather recently hasn't been helpful for extensive testing. Mechanically, there are no serious faults. I felt that the fine focusing is a bit too fine, as it isn't always easy to see when the best point has been passed; it's smooth, but quite heavy, so this aspect could be better. It's difficult to give a rating to such a specialised instrument; the focusing could be better; the instructions could also be more detailed, but optically, it does what it claims, and I've had no problems seeing the features it's intended to show. As it's held a tube ring, it works well on an equatorial mount. It's up to the buyer to weigh whether the cost is justifiable, but personally, I don't regret the purchase.