deSitter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 778
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There are some interesting new products out there - the NEQ6 mount (updated EQ6 with beefier declination shaft and other tweaks), Meade 127mm triplet refractor, Astro-Professional 10" Newtonian obviously sourced from the same companies that supply parts for the Meade LXD series. Why aren't these items available for sale directly in the US? I inquired in particular to Markus Ludes of APM about the A-P 10" Newtonian - this OTA is $1340 shipped to the US, but only about $800 in actual cost (guesstimating the conversion rate from Euros).
It seems US companies are falling behind their European counterparts in offering new products sourced from Chinese manufacturers. What's the cause of this?
Astro-Professional 10" Newtonian here:
http://www.astro-professional.com/html/professional.html
There are some other very intriguing scopes on this page - check it out.
-drl
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Zebra24601
Postmaster
Reged: 10/09/05
Posts: 7408
Loc: San Gabriel Valley, CA 91770
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Could just be we're a bigger market and they don't have the production capability to support a US launch.
On a somewhat related note, there's a new Chevrolet Cruze that's coming to Europe next year, but not to the US until mid-2010. Some estimate this car will get 45 mpg highway. It's going to be built in Ohio. But Europe gets it a year ahead of us. Why? Again, I assume it's capacity-related.
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Zebra24601
Meade 8" SCT w/UHTC * Celestron 100ED * Celestron C11 * Barska 15x70 binoculars
Meade LXD55 mount * Orion Sirius goto mount * Bushnell Voyager 4.5" Compact Reflector
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TexBiker
super member
Reged: 12/18/07
Posts: 130
Loc: North Texas
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Same with appliances, electronics, cars and motorcycles. The smaller Euro market always gets these items before the US market. In most cases, it's related to marketing, capacity, shipping schedules or a combination of all three.
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Michael
Dallas, TX
Orion 127mm Mak-Cass
Orion 10" Dob
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desertstars
Deja moo
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 30043
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Sometimes all it takes is enough folks saying, "Why can't I get (---)..."
If they see a market, sooner or later they will try to fill it. We may have to wait a bit, of course. 
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Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
Alcohol and calculus do not mix. Please don't drink and derive.
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Waiting....waiting for something to arrive through shipping....waiting for the clouds to go away and for seeing to improve.....waiting for what you just said... Seems we all do an awful lot of waiting; i guess for me it is because I live in NJ and we only have one astronomy store around here...and its almost 2 hours drive for me. Also, that one store doesn't carry some foreign brands like astronomik, so i have no choice but to order online from a vendor 1000s of miles away from me! 
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Bradley B
sage
Reged: 05/14/07
Posts: 344
Loc: Sacramento, California
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Back on the original question, re: the 10" Newtonian . . . why not consider the Orion 254mm f/4.7 In Stock for $499?????
Just a thought . . .
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Vixen NA140SSf
Pentax 105SD
Meade 12" LightBridge
Takahashi 7X50IL "Astronomer" Binoculars
* * * * * * * * *
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. -Thomas Paine
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deSitter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 778
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1) Cheesy and unstable against compression rolled steel tube
2) Horrible bronze paint
3) Ugly hammertone finish on focuser
4) Ugly and rickety finder stalk
5) Cheap secondary mounting
6) Mirror cell loses collimation
7) Giant white ORION emblazoned everywhere
8) Awful plastic tube end rings
9) Don't trust the optics
-drl
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Out of Focus
sage
Reged: 09/23/07
Posts: 232
Loc: Roseville (Sac) CA
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Quote:
1) Cheesy and unstable against compression rolled steel tube
2) Horrible bronze paint
3) Ugly hammertone finish on focuser
4) Ugly and rickety finder stalk
5) Cheap secondary mounting
6) Mirror cell loses collimation
7) Giant white ORION emblazoned everywhere
8) Awful plastic tube end rings
9) Don't trust the optics
-drl
1-Tube is rugged and light
2-Paint looks very good
3-Agree
4-It is adequate
5-Agree
6-Not in my experience
7-5/8" lettering giant? only on either side of tube
8-Incorrect they are metal(steel?)
9-Orion has a 1 year warranty!
10-$499
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Orion XT10i w/FT
Orion XT6
Orion Mini Giant 15X63
Orion ST80-A
24mmHyperion,13mmEthos,
9mmNagler
AO series 160 &
L10 Microscopes
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Blue Canyon, Placer Co. CA
 
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deSitter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 778
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Quote:
Same with appliances, electronics, cars and motorcycles. The smaller Euro market always gets these items before the US market. In most cases, it's related to marketing, capacity, shipping schedules or a combination of all three.
I would really like to see the 10" Newtonian show up as a Meade scope, as well as that 6" f/6.5 refractor using special glass (semi-ED). Both look like excellent scopes. In the past, Meade were really successful at picking good optics for their Newtonian offerings, and this continues with the LightBridge series.
-drl
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deSitter
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/09/04
Posts: 778
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OoF, I really want to like Orion, I really do. But their aesthetics just leave me cold. There is some evidence that this is changing - the new EON 120mm and the 190mm Mak-Newt OTA are beautiful.
About rolled steel tubes - I've always found that loosening the rings, rotating the tube, and tightening the rings back introduces collimation errors because the tube has slightly different dimensions depending on the ring tension.
-drl
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desertstars
Deja moo
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 30043
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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I use an 8" Orion OTA on an EQ mount and rotate the ring to all manner of positions in order to get at the eyepiece. In four years I've never noticed any collimation issue as a result of this.
However, I leave the rings loose and use a "third ring" to keep the OTA from sliding past the rings. So I do not retighten each time I reposition the tube. It would not surprise me if that third ring makes all the difference. Might want to give that a try.
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Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
Alcohol and calculus do not mix. Please don't drink and derive.
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skybsd
sage
Reged: 02/01/08
Posts: 292
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Hello deSitter,
Good to hear from you..,
Quote:
There are some interesting new products out there - the NEQ6 mount (updated EQ6 with beefier declination shaft and other tweaks)
Err.., I'm not entirely sure that the reality of this product offering is actually as what you may have heard / read.
According to UK resellers: -
The mount is NOT actually in stock as a product in itself.
The mount is not really a_new_version EQ6-Pro, but is actually the same old EQ6-Pro with a swapped-in after-market Losmandy plate fitting and a longer counter-weight shaft - that's it.
These mods are intended to add stability in order to take the OTA in the product package - and are mods that any EQ-6 owner (as I have) can do themselves 
Quote:
Meade 127mm triplet refractor
This OTA was discussed here on CN on more than a couple of threads in the past - fact is, its a product that was discontinued for wide-spread distribution by Meade some time ago - it is not a new product.
What may be perceived as "something available in the EU that is be denied to US markets", is in fact, again not even really in stock anywhere, really. Here is ONE listed as a "Great Deal", but read the product details, and you'll note the "brand new instrument in stock that has some small dings in the paintwork on the underside of the dew shield" that should tell you more about where this OTA has come 
<snipped>
Since getting started in this great hobby myself, I was saddened when I noticed the same pricing model differences between geographies as I've encountered in other activities, so its not peculiar to astromony, and believe me.., its nowhere NEAR as bad going the other way - from US to EU. Proof?
See US C-9.25 OTA
See UK C-9.25 OTA
My solution? I buy astro gear on each trip I make to N America and even after import taxes, I still come out a happy camper
The grass isn't always greener..,
Regards,
skybsd
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 6788
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
I really want to like Orion, I really do. But their aesthetics just leave me cold.
If you want something with better mechanical quality and superior optics why not take a look at a Parks 10" f/5...pretty white fiberglass tube and cute finderscope, plus Parks optics are second to none.
Patrick
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Discovery 10" f/6 Split Tube Dob
Celestron C6 SCT
Denk Binoviewers
AT66ED Refractor
Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Binocular
475B Geared Tripod & 501HDV Head
Oberwerk 9x60 Binocular
Celestron Regal 8x42 Binocular
Canon 30D DSLR
Mini EQ1
My Astronomy Pages
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desertstars
Deja moo
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 30043
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Quote:
OoF, I really want to like Orion, I really do.
They could make 'em prettier, I suppose. But then, we do this in the dark, after all...
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Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
Alcohol and calculus do not mix. Please don't drink and derive.
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scopethis
sage
Reged: 05/30/08
Posts: 239
Loc: Kingman, Ks
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Quote:
Quote:
I really want to like Orion, I really do. But their aesthetics just leave me cold.
If you want something with better mechanical quality and superior optics why not take a look at a Parks 10" f/5...pretty white fiberglass tube and cute finderscope, plus Parks optics are second to none.
Patrick
Do you recall the Meade Research Grade refletors of the 1980 decade? The Parks reflectors (EQ mounts) look alot like the old Meade line--why is that? 
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EddWen
super member
Reged: 04/26/08
Posts: 137
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Meade based theirs on Parks? Parks was in business long before Meade.
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Edd Weninger
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**** Lightshield Observatory SoCal ****
Nexstar 11 GPS Questar 3.5
A-P 900 Orion ED80
**** Blackdog Observatory Arizona ****
A-P 155EDF A-P 1200GTO Coronado SolarMax 90
A-P Traveler Baader Mk V bino-viewer
CGE STV Canon 18x50IS
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scopethis
sage
Reged: 05/30/08
Posts: 239
Loc: Kingman, Ks
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Thanks--I always wondered about that.
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
Quote:
OoF, I really want to like Orion, I really do.
They could make 'em prettier, I suppose. But then, we do this in the dark, after all...
This is exactly what i thought....but then again why do people strive to get very nice looking dobsonians?
There are some dobs like this orion that looks pretty fugly, there are meade dobsonains which are still ugly but a little better than orion, then there are wooden dobsonians from discovery which are a step above those.
Even better, there are obsessions, Teeters, Starmasters, etc. telescopes which look better than most peoples furniture!
So yes, we are all observing in the dark, but once your eyes get dark adapted you can still see what the telescope looks like. And i guess at star parties people like to observe next to others who have amazing scopes.
Me personally, I wouldn't give a hoot about the looks of the scope. All i care is that it is clean, that the optics are exceptional, and that the actual construction of the telescope is near perfect. If I could get two scopes with identical optics and construction, one for 3000 and one for 3500, but the 3000 one looks a lot uglier....I would still get the uglier one. 500 dollars more to get a beautiful glossy looking scope is pretty but it isn't practical.
Function is more important than looks when it comes to instruments.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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