orionspotter
super member
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 159
Loc: Los Alamos, NM
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Just bought our new scope and I wanted to pass along the great deal incase anyone else is in the market for one. I noticed through another post on here that Woodland Hills was clearancing out their Astro Tube models for $695. Unfortunately, they are out of Astro Tubes, but said that they would honor the price on a blue tube one! Would've rather had the Astro Tube personally, but I'm not complaining about the price!
We'll have it in about a week....yeah!! Here's to hoping for clear skies.....it's been raining every day here in the desert 
Anyway....I'm not connected to the store or Meade in any way. Just thought it might save someone a good deal of money.
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10" Meade LX200 SCT on a CG5-GT
80mm iOptron SmartStar (kids' scope)
Galileoscope (kids' scope #2)
Celestron SkyScout (really fun for the kiddos...love this thing)
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Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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Congrats orion! I'm sure you'll enjoy it, the 125's are a lot of fun!
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
 Updated: 09/16/2009
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Dr Morbius
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/06/07
Posts: 1721
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That's a great price! And you'll love it!!!     
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Meade ETX-125
NightFire 6" f/8 Refractor with Moonlite focuser
Meade 14" LX200 S/C
D&G 10" f/15 Refractor with Parallax Mount
Little Giant 11x70mm Binos
I'm afraid of dying, but I've learned to live with it. ......Steve Perry
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Kolenka
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 1009
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
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The Astro tubes are still around? I remember Astronomics was claiming they were selling the last of Meade's stock of the Astros as they were switching back to the blue... this was in over a year ago.
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Orion XX12 / Orion 80ED OTA / AT66ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XS, TIS DMK 31AF03, AstroTrac TT320X
Northwest Astro Photoblog
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Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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That's when I picked mine up last year through Astronomics. Couldn't beat the price, plus they ate the shipping and passed along the CN discount! Yummo!
I've heard some folks knocking the "astro-tubes", I thought they looked pretty cool myself. 
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
Updated: 09/16/2009
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Rusty G
member
Reged: 12/01/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Hueytown, Alabama
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I ordered one.this morning. If you ask me Woodland Hills is a BS Company. When I get home from work I had an e-mail to call them. I called and they said call back in 10 minutes and talk to John. I call back, give them the order number, I'm put on hold 15 minutes. Then this Asian Woman speaking broken english comes on. She informs me that all they have are blue tubes. And beside the 695 plus 50 shipping I'll have to pay 55 more dollars for a grand total of 800 dollars. Great Company. Just the kind I like to deal with. Well, I told her what I thought about it and her company and I want my order stopped. She tells me their the only company on the planet that has the ETX 125. I tell her yea, whatever, I want my order stopped. She says can I put you on hold while I talk to my Manager ? I said not for 15 minutes, just cancel the order Lady. Well she goes off the line and comes back in about 3 minutes and says their going to honor the price on the internet. I keep telling her I don't want it now. I.m having a hard time understanding her. So I said whens it shipping ? She said they'll "release" it maybe Monday. Nothing else to say but goodbye. I call my Sister who's a lawyer and tell her how they tried to jack the price. She called it bait and switch or something. She said she'd take care of any problems with Woodland Hills. If somethings wrong with this telescope its going back the same day. I won't deal with this Company again. Just what happened to me........Rusty
Edited by Rusty G (08/07/09 07:21 PM)
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orionspotter
super member
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 159
Loc: Los Alamos, NM
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Wow Rusty......I'm so sorry you've had difficulty! I can't speak about the company other than my experience. This is the first time that I've purchased from them. I haven't received my scope yet, so I'll let you know how it all works out.
I first heard about the deal on the Astro Tubes while I was reading the older pages in this forum. I clicked on a link to the scopes at WH and then added one to a cart to see if the deal was still around. I ended up calling them to ask a question and when I did, I just ordered over the phone. The lady told me that they no longer had the Astro Tubes, but they would honor the price for the blue tubes. I was wanting the others, but didn't want to pass up the price as we were about to buy a refurbished one from Meade for $675. I did have to pay $50 shipping, but it still makes it cheaper than a buying one elsewhere, and I'd rather have a new scope than refurbished. I also paid $50 for the Sky Assurance insurance because it has so many electronic components....but I wasn't forced to. Without the insurance my total would have been $745 (vs. the $899 before shipping that everyone else is selling them for). With the insurance, I paid $795.
What were they charging you the extra $55 for?
I don't know what to say about the "releasing it on Monday" thing. I wasn't told that personally. I just got off the phone with them and mine should arrive on the 11th.... that's just a week after I ordered it. Maybe if you call back and get someone more fluent in English you'll get a better idea of what to expect. Hope it all works out!
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10" Meade LX200 SCT on a CG5-GT
80mm iOptron SmartStar (kids' scope)
Galileoscope (kids' scope #2)
Celestron SkyScout (really fun for the kiddos...love this thing)
Edited by orionspotter (08/07/09 08:31 PM)
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Rusty G
member
Reged: 12/01/07
Posts: 66
Loc: Hueytown, Alabama
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The extra 55 was just to see if I'd pay it. Rip off. I was gonna do a stop payment but my Sister told me to make them honor their price. It was like I was talking to a woman in a Boiler Room in Manila. Not sure though. May try to stop payment in the morning. Don't like someone trying taking me for a ride. But I appreciate you posting the sale anyway.
Edited by Rusty G (08/07/09 10:13 PM)
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orionspotter
super member
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 159
Loc: Los Alamos, NM
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Hmmmm...that's a real shame Rusty. I'm sorry. Well, if you get the scope, I hope it works out well for you....and if not....I hope you get your money back! If you still need one cheap, Meade has one that's refurbished for $675 and it carries Meade's full warranty. Not sure what shipping is through them though.
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10" Meade LX200 SCT on a CG5-GT
80mm iOptron SmartStar (kids' scope)
Galileoscope (kids' scope #2)
Celestron SkyScout (really fun for the kiddos...love this thing)
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Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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That is unfortunate, Rusty. I hope that you're able to resolve all this without further complications. It's a shame what some folks will do to make a little extra money, and I don't think they take into account just what an impact one disgruntled customer can have on their business in this age of the internet. Chances are I and others who read this thread will think twice before doing business with them just based on your bad experience. If they knew that, I don't think they'd be so worried over $55 anymore, especially if it costs them thousands in future potential revenue.
Regardless, I'm sure you and orion will both enjoy your new scopes when they come. They truly are marvelous instruments, and once you get used to the set-up routine, they're a breeze to use! You'll flip when you see Jupiter, which will reach opposition (that is, the closest point between our two planets) just next week on the 14th! The bright object in the SSE sky is ol' Jupe, and by the 14th the moon should be far enough away that you'll get a great view of him (weather permitting of course!) The one thing you'll discover about the 125...it's a planet-killer!
Speaking of which, if you really want to test out your optics, try swinging the scope about 3 degrees east. You may pick up a faint greenish "star" in the area. That would be Neptune! It won't resolve into a disc, but at visual magnitude 7.8, you should be able to see it as a point.
Looking forward to hearing when your scopes arrive. Keep us posted!
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
Updated: 09/16/2009
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orionspotter
super member
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 159
Loc: Los Alamos, NM
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You know Rusty, I just thought about it.....if you have any trouble getting your money back or getting the scope....contact Meade. Woodland Hills is an authorized dealer for them (they're linked from the Meade site) and I'm sure they'll help you out. No company likes their dealers giving them a bad name.
Treehopper: I'm really looking forward to checking out Jupiter! I was showing my kids it the other night with my daughter's spotting scope, but it's cheap scope so it didn't do much. The kids are all able to point it out now in the sky though....so I'm pleased. We also found some cool shows geared towards kids on the NASA channel!
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10" Meade LX200 SCT on a CG5-GT
80mm iOptron SmartStar (kids' scope)
Galileoscope (kids' scope #2)
Celestron SkyScout (really fun for the kiddos...love this thing)
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Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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Orion... one great educational tool that's free is provided by Microsoft. It's called the WorldWide Telescope Project. This is a fairly robust "planetarium" style program like Stellarium, but it features guided tours for all sorts of astronomy-related topics. Most of the tours are very well done and even a "kid" like me gets quite a bit out of them. 
I'd recommend the client-based version personally; I haven't really used the web-based version (it's relatively new.) I think it's something both you and the kids will enjoy playing with! And you can't beat the price! 
http://www.worldwidetelescope.org
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
Updated: 09/16/2009
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orionspotter
super member
Reged: 07/29/09
Posts: 159
Loc: Los Alamos, NM
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Great, thanks! I'm sure we'll all have a blast with this!
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10" Meade LX200 SCT on a CG5-GT
80mm iOptron SmartStar (kids' scope)
Galileoscope (kids' scope #2)
Celestron SkyScout (really fun for the kiddos...love this thing)
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13815
Loc: CyberSpace
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The extra $55 is a rip job... 
They just want to make some extra coin.. 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's 
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