Jon Isaacs
Postmaster
Reged: 06/16/04
Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: MikeBOKC]
#5626933 - 01/16/13 08:15 PM
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Well bankruptcy would not necessarily mean they would disappear.
If Meade goes bankrupt, which seems likely, it is unlikely they will disappear, they will still be around but with new ownership.
My guess is that the same thing will happen to Meade that happened to Celestron, they will be owned by the Asian manufacturer who was a major supplier. In Celestron's case it is Synta Optical, in Meade's case it will likely be Jinghua Optical who also own Explore Scientific.
Jon
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Raginar
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/19/10
Loc: Rapid CIty, SD
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Jon Isaacs]
#5627062 - 01/16/13 09:37 PM
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Star Rancher,
I agree completely. I wonder if they had low profit margins on those products? Maybe that would be the reason for their push to a high-end equatorial mount.
Either way, I hope they make it. Having someone besides Synta to rely on for innovation is important.
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budman1961
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/25/11
Loc: Springfield, MO
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Raginar]
#5627260 - 01/17/13 12:07 AM
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And we need this thread why?
Andy
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mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: budman1961]
#5627265 - 01/17/13 12:10 AM
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And we need this thread why?
Andy
Good ? You all shoulda' cared with your wallets. 
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Joe Cipriano
Entropy Personified
Reged: 09/03/05
Loc: Uh... anyone have a GPS?
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: budman1961]
#5627306 - 01/17/13 12:45 AM
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And we need this thread why?
Andy
Anyone considering the purchase of new Meade equipment would probably want to know - if for nothing but potential customer service and warranty issues. If Meade actually does go out of business, is there any recourse for the buyer in the case of equipment problems/failures? If Meade were to be bought out by/merged with another company, will the new parent company honor Meade's warranties?
If I were in the market for new equipment, I'd certainly consider the info in this thread valuable.
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CJK
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/05/12
Loc: Scenic SE TN
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Joe Cipriano]
#5627438 - 01/17/13 04:56 AM
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+1
It's important to remember that not everyone here has been around astronomy for years and is well-informed about this sort of issue. For some of us, this site is our only resource for information about the various companies offering equipment. Looking at Meade's beautiful ads in S&T and Astronomy, I had no idea they were in trouble. For the reasons Joe mentioned, I think it's important that threads like this exist.
Just my 
-- Chris
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fuzzystuff4ever
member
Reged: 11/26/12
Loc: Micco, FL
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: CJK]
#5627502 - 01/17/13 06:45 AM
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If the government shot down Meade's attempt to buy Celestron due to monopoly concerns, maybe they can bail them out to prevent Celestron from becoming the only SCT maker. I'd rather save a telescope manufacturer than some stupid bank.
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jgraham
Postmaster
Reged: 12/02/04
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: fuzzystuff4ever]
#5627628 - 01/17/13 08:45 AM
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I'll never understand why Meade gutted the lower end of their line and poured money into high-end imaging gear.
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Jon Isaacs
Postmaster
Reged: 06/16/04
Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: fuzzystuff4ever]
#5627657 - 01/17/13 09:08 AM
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If the government shot down Meade's attempt to buy Celestron due to monopoly concerns, maybe they can bail them out to prevent Celestron from becoming the only SCT maker. I'd rather save a telescope manufacturer than some stupid bank.
Given that Celestron has already gone bankrupt and Meade has long been on the verge of going bankrupt, I am not quite sure how a merger would have done anything more thnan resulted in one bankruptcy instead of two.
If and when Meade goes under, someone will step in a to buy it. I am not sure if any of their stuff is made in the US anymore, I thought the final step was when they moved their SCT manufacturing facilities to Mexico ???
Jon
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EricRemy
member
Reged: 09/24/08
Loc: Quebec, Canada
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: starrancher]
#5627679 - 01/17/13 09:21 AM
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The AR5 and AR6 were pretty darn good achromats . The Schmidt Newts had great optics and the 8 inch SCT was an awesome tube . All on an EQ go to mount . Now where are the EQ mounts ? Not from Meade ! Meanwhile , Celestron runs with the ball and puts out a number of choices in the go to EQ realm leaving Meade in the dust . Celestron still putting out a variety of decent apertured achromats for the refractor enthusiast .
Yup, my thoughts exactly. Not everyone can afford a 5000$ setup.
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: EricRemy]
#5627694 - 01/17/13 09:31 AM
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"If and when Meade goes under, someone will step in a to buy it."
Hostess went under....and nobody's bought the "Twinkies" brand......
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mikey cee
Postmaster
Reged: 01/18/07
Loc: bellevue ne.
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: csrlice12]
#5627852 - 01/17/13 11:13 AM
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"If and when Meade goes under, someone will step in a to buy it."
Hostess went under....and nobody's bought the "Twinkies" brand......
They will. You can count on it. Too much red tape at this stage in time.  Mike
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Jon Isaacs
Postmaster
Reged: 06/16/04
Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: csrlice12]
#5627886 - 01/17/13 11:29 AM
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"If and when Meade goes under, someone will step in a to buy it."
Hostess went under....and nobody's bought the "Twinkies" brand......
Celestron went under, Suzhou Synta Optical Technology Co. bought Celestron. It was a good fit since Synta had been manufacturing a good part of Celestron's product line for quite some years.
Meade looks to be in a similar situation with Jinghua, it would make sense for Jinghua to buy Meade and add it to Explore Scientific.
But bankruptcy does not mean a company disappears, it means the owners are bankrupt and most likely someone else will take it over. In the case of Hostess, it was a dispute with the bakers union that led to the situation.
Jon
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tecmage
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/10
Loc: Groton, CT
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Jon Isaacs]
#5628046 - 01/17/13 12:52 PM
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Hostess is a lot more complicated than a dispute with the unions, and it is also a lesson it what we don't want to have happen with Meade.
If Meade cannot get it's act together again, the best case scenario is another astro company stepping up and buying it. While Meade has had its problems with new lines, there needs to be a few companies that offer decent quality entry level gear at reasonable prices.
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Joe Cipriano
Entropy Personified
Reged: 09/03/05
Loc: Uh... anyone have a GPS?
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: tecmage]
#5628211 - 01/17/13 02:37 PM
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Never liked Twinkies - but I do miss Ding-Dongs... 
Seriously, though - Celestron seems to be doing well under Synta. We can hope that Jinghua buys Meade, with the same results.
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Awesomelenny
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/02/04
Loc: Long: 81.42 W Lat: 41.21 N
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Joe Cipriano]
#5628227 - 01/17/13 02:48 PM
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For what it's worth, I would hate to see Meade go under for one reason. Their 16" Forks and base are simply superb even though I had bum luck with the electronics. The tracking for me was unbelievable and the forks and base were just massive and could easily take on a load of an additionsl 40 pounds from wheat I heard and read.
Now unfortunately because of my financial predicament that I got myself into, I had to sell the whole shebang. But one of these fine days I WILL love to go back to the 16" optics again. Dang do I miss it!!!
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DrOxygen
member
Reged: 12/30/10
Loc: New Jersey
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Awesomelenny]
#5630118 - 01/18/13 03:31 PM
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Meade - Too big to fail! We'll for astro types that is.....
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orion61
Vendor(Clear Edge Optical)
Reged: 10/20/07
Loc: NW Iowa BURRRR
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: DrOxygen]
#5630214 - 01/18/13 04:24 PM
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It would be a shame but they are about due for a break....
I think the lesson was learned and the 850 will be superb!I still think their tubes are the best constructed for the price.
Just think of what they have done in the past..
I'm sorry they gave up on the SN tubes. they were outstanding, mine even at high powers, nice flat well corrected field.
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Glen A W
sage
Reged: 07/04/08
Loc: WEST VIRGINIA USA
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: mikey cee]
#5630256 - 01/18/13 05:01 PM
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Meade's annual reports have been publicly available. The company has had a hard time making any money. Because they did make a lot for a little while on the basis, if I recall, of the ETX-90 series, the market value of their stock was greatly inflated about ten years ago. Then, it pretty much collapsed when the earnings turned negative and it seemed they kept pinning their hopes on the next fantastic product. It was unlikely they would ever return to the late 90's levels of income.
One interesting thing I remember was that they were moving lots of product and generating great revenue in the low-end but the margin was just awful. I really doubted whether it was worth it, especially since some of those products were really negative for their image with newcomers to astronomy.
The company has not had a stable, decent business model since I have been aware of the goings on there.
They bought some riflescope manufacturers at prices that were dubious, even as the base Meade company was struggling.
I cannot recall for sure, but I believe there was a poison pill to prevent takeovers, which would have been a natural considering the very very low stock price and the fact there was some book value in the buildings and so forth. But it is unlikely this helped the shareholders at all, though I am sure it benefited those running the company who didn't get to be thrown out.
I have not been real impressed with the company's management, let me tell you. I do have a nice stock certificate to hang on the observatory wall, though. That's really all I wanted, in some sense.
GW
Edited by Glen A W (01/18/13 05:06 PM)
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Glen A W
sage
Reged: 07/04/08
Loc: WEST VIRGINIA USA
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Re: Problems at Meade???
[Re: Glen A W]
#5630262 - 01/18/13 05:04 PM
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I am not too impressed with the "probability of bankruptcy" expressed in the link in the original post. I doubt that it is any higher probability than ever. I don't know how they kept going this long, honestly.
GW
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