Re: Optics makers: STOP Gouging!!!!

From: james (george_at_washington.edu)
Date: 02/23/05 

Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 20:24:03 GMT

On 21 Feb 2005 22:48:19 -0800, levin7331@hotmail.com wrote:

>How do you sleep at night charging seven thousand dollars for a 6"
>telescope?! I can understand that you need to charge more than a
>chinese manufacturer but get real its glass and aluminum.
>
>Henrietta
**********
Here is a reply that may help. One thing to remember is that many have
love affairs with certain makers of scopes. Some also feel that the
more one pays, the better the scope is. To some extent this is true
but not always 100% of the time. Finally there is among some a deep
hatred for Chinese products. Irregardless of the quality that is
produced from these vendors. Some trade low cost for low quality.
While they maybe correct in the very low end products, this is not
necessarily 100% true in the mid tier products.

In the case of high dollar price scopes you are paying for labor, more
costlier materials, hand assembly and higher levels of testing. Most
of this time and labor is in the polishing of the lens and testing.
Some costs of making scopes are not only the lens material, the OTA
material, but also the equitpment to grind lenses and test them. If a
scope maker does not wish to grind lenses then he must pay to have
someone grind them. Some add other costs in by higher capital expense
with CNC machinery to make battleship tubes and the focuser. The maker
has capital equiptment invested and needs to recover that cost before
making a profit. Most of the $7000 scopes that you complain about are
done in low volume and thus higher prices are required.

The Chinese scopes are produced in higher volume and this generally
reduces overall cost to manufacture. In high volume manufacturing,
cost drives the design. When low tier products are offered, there is a
concerted effort to reduce the cost of the materials to make the
scope. First thing that comes to mind is the use of plastic instead of
metal. Injection molded plastic is far less expensive that CNC
machined parts. Also they rely on higher sales and this allows lower
profit margins.

A person making two or three scopes per month to sell, will need a
higher profit margin in order to stay in business.

IS a $7000 scope for everyone? No. These scopes excell in
astrophotgraphy. How much better in visual astronomy is a matter of
individual preference.

Refractors have one major flaw. That is refraction of light through
the lens causes light to diverge and not focus all the color spectrum
at the same focus point. This aberration creates false color fringing
on bright objects. This is objectionable to some and these individuals
will pay what ever is needed to get views without this color
aberration. If it ends up costing $7000 then they will pay it. And as
long as someone buys them, they will sell them for that price.

Outside color correction, there is no major difference in APOchromatic
and Achromatic lens. A good quality achromat of 4 inch design will
perform visually as a 4 inch Apochromat with the exception of better
color correction for the APO. In all a 4 inch refractor is still a 4
inch refractor, irregardless if it is an apo or achro.

Yes there are very good $400 to $800 achromat refractors. One can
enjoy many nights of observing with these. Some of these are Chinese
made. As long as there are people to buy the high tier products like
$7000 refractors, then there will be people to make and sell them. You
have to look at your budget and what your expectations are when
observing. Then buy the equiptment that satifies your needs.

james

Relevant Pages

  • Re: the refractor craze??
    ... Someone asked if the star party I ... there were a lot of refractors there. ... on there- are they producing lenses at lower cost? ... > bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: A lot of twaddle about nothing
    ... digitizing variety were buildable mostly or entirely from comodity ... real scopes and has fixed some of the flaws, ... is they jacked the price and retained the low build cost. ... company expected-but the premium price stayed high long after the CD ...
    (rec.audio.opinion)
  • Re: A lot of twaddle about nothing
    ... real scopes and has fixed some of the flaws, ... is they jacked the price and retained the low build cost. ... company expected-but the premium price stayed high long after the CD ... As for vinyl, does anybody seriously think it is better than CDs? ...
    (rec.audio.opinion)
  • Re: What telescope vendors and companies will close in 2009?
    ... The average delivery time from accepting an order to ... those scopes that are discontinued, ... When I first started making triplet refractors, ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: What telescope vendors and companies will close in 2009?
    ... The average delivery time from accepting an order to ... those scopes that are discontinued, ... When I first started making triplet refractors, ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)