26 replies to this topic

[Blair]

move fast and save a few bucks

[Bill Grass]

Yes, good advice! I bought a brand new one right before the clearance one appeared!

[Stacy]

That was quick. Gone

How much was it I wonder?

[Jarad]

D!Oh! - I bought it about 5 minutes ago - $365. There must have only been 1 or 2.... Now I have to get serious about getting the mount I was asking for advice on a few weeks ago....

Jarad

[Stacy]

Actually I have an ED-80. Steve is still out of town Now I'm really feeling bad. Gotta get this thing back to him!

[Blair]

Jarad,

Did you get an email from Orion saying you bought it and it was in stock. I once thought I had bought a scope on a Sunday only to find out on Monday someone beat me to it.

[Jarad]

Hmmm... No, no e-mail yet, just the confirmation number when I hit buy..... Well, I'll check again tomorrow and see if I got it or not....

Jarad

[Jarad]

Okay, got the confirm e-mail today - looks like I did get it. I will post to let you know how it looks when it arrives.

Jarad

[Tom T]

Guess, I'm coming a little late to this thread: Just a word of warning. I wonder if this is the same one a guy in the Michigan_astronomy yahoo group recently purchased. He found it completely unuseable - the lens cell would not hold collimation at all, and seemed to be damaged. It also lacked a mounting block.

Fortunatly Orion took it back.

Hopefully this is a different one, but given that he recieved his on the 25th of october, the time is just about right for this one to be appearing on the seconds page again.

Good luck!

Tom T.

[Jarad]

Well, if it is that bad, I will certainly return it too! Hopefully it either isn't that one, or it really was refurbished and they fixed whatever the problem was. I will definitely check the scope out carefully when I get it.

Jarad

[jrcrilly]

Oh, yes. You really aren't taking much of a chance, Jared. Their return policy is considered to be very good.

[Tom T]

Nah, John's right - you would just be out shipping costs. Or do they even refund those? Orion is pretty good about normal returns. I just don't know what their policy is on returns for seconds.

I'll be interested to see if it looks like the same one. Surprised that Orion would try to sell it again if it is - at least from the description in the groups.

Tom T.

[Blair]

I once returned a second that was missing some parts which I stated as the reason for return because they could not replace the parts. They refunded to my credit credit the original price and the shipping and handling. Had I called them before hand they may have paid for the return shipping.

To me missing the tripod block would classify as not meeting normal use conditions and a reason for them to return shipping costs as well.

I have bought some seconds which I felt they only opened the box to get the paperwork from the returning person. Overall, I have had good luck with their clearance items. Recently, I saved money on their 100mm f/6 OTA and it was in new condition; I guess the person didn't like it. Most of the stuff I have bought from them came from the clearance section; finders, mounts, eyepieces, scopes, etc.

Now, that I think about it they did pay for the return shipping on a mount I bought from clearance that was not operational because one of the lock down bolts was too short which was something that couldn't happen during shipping. They sent me a label after my some what **** off phone call. I do not remember if they refunded the original shipping or not.

[SAL]

Though my items were not purchased as "seconds", Orion told me that they pay for return shipping on any product that is defective. They will not pay the return shipping if the customer simply decides they prefer a different item, or a full refund... (Scott)

[Jarad]

Well, the ED-80 "second" arrived today. The only thing I can see on it is some scratched paint around the screws that hold the focuser to the OTA, and the fact that the focuser has clearly been adjusted - the gap between the focuser and OTA is not even around the edge, and you can see where the screws were adjusted to collimate it. I checked the collimation as best I could using a sight tube and a holographic laser, and it looks to be dead on to me. New scope clouds also arrived just as I was setting up outside tonight, so I couldn't do a proper star test, but I did get a quick glimpse of Mars before everything closed up - it's getting small, but I was able to see some surface features with a 5mm Radian in a cheapo Surpus Shed 1.25" diagonal (I have a decent 2" diagonal on order, should be here next week). My guess is that the first owner found it out of collimation, sent it back, and Orion collimated it then shipped it back out.

Some quick notes: I like the focuser - there is a slight squeak for part of the motion out, but it feels smooth, and it has a lot of travel. Enough travel to bring my OM-1 to prime focus without any extension tubes. This should make an excellent photo scope for daytime telephoto or wide field astrophotos. The few quick peeks I got tonight showed no color fringes on Mars in focus, some slight amount of red/green on the intra/extra focal images, but that doesn't bother me. Overall I think the scope is a good deal at full price, and even better as a "second". I will give a more full report when I get the chance to properly test the scope, but I think it will be staying here and not going back again.

Jarad

[Bill Grass]

Alright, Jarad!! Enjoy the scope! I sure do enjoy mine.

[Tom T]

Good to hear Jarad. I was sure hoping Orion wasn't trying to resell that *other* second. Enjoy the scope!

Tom T.

[Blair]

Just think, I could have bought it, naw, I have a Stellarvue 80/9D which I am very happy with.

It appears everyone is happy with theirs so I am sure you will be happy with yours.

[Jarad]

Was able to do good star test on Saturday night - looked nice, first diffraction ring all the way around, no color noticeable at all. Also got a peek at Saturn, just using a photo tripod so it was a bit hard to get it steady at high power, but I did see the Cassini Division quite clearly. My wife had been tolerant but skeptical about getting this scope (was picking on me for getting another toy), but I convinced her to take a look through it at the Pleides and she was actually impressed. She commented that it was much sharper than in the ST-80, and that the focus had a very nice snap to it. Coming from her that means it is a very noticeable improvement over the ST-80! Whew, I am off the hook for blowing more money on astro toys! She is even encouraging me to go ahead and get a light eq. mount so we can show things like Saturn and the moon to the kids and neighbors now.

Nice scope, great price, and they also included a copy of The Sky software.

I have 1 question for Tom - how do you like the nagler 3-6 zoom in this scope? I have a 5 radian, but I was thinking of selling it and getting a 3-6 zoom for a bit more power for planets.

Jarad

[Tom T]

Hi Jarad,

I have 1 question for Tom - how do you like the nagler 3-6 zoom in this scope? I have a 5 radian, but I was thinking of selling it and getting a 3-6 zoom for a bit more power for planets.

There are eyepieces that have more contrast and seem a bit sharper (the TMB supermonos come to mind, although upon detailed inspection, night after night, I could never identify something in the supermonos that I couldn't see in the nagler zoom), but the nagler zoom is unique in that it gives you the entire 3-6mm range in one handy little package. AND lets you dial in (exactly) the most magnification your seeing can stand. On this scope that takes you from 100x to 200x (about 65x per inch). Most nights, my seeing easily supports that, and last weekend I was actually wishing for a bit more.

I had a 4mm radian, and outside of the increased eye relief and extra field of view, I thought there was little difference in the actual views provided. The 4mm did not last long after the nagler zoom showed up.

The Nagler zoom is really an amazing eyepiece, and it gets a surprising amount of use even on my big scopes, and amazingly, the 50mm afov is not really an issue - even on my non-tracking mounts at high powers.

It's highly recommended (provided you don't wear glasses to observe).

Tom T.

[jrcrilly]

The Nagler zoom is really an amazing eyepiece, and it gets a surprising amount of use even on my big scopes, and amazingly, the 50mm afov is not really an issue - even on my non-tracking mounts at high powers.

It's highly recommended (provided you don't wear glasses to observe).

Tom T.

Ditto (except that it's fairly useless on the larger SCT's). On the Dob it lets me determine and use the maximum magnification permitted on a given night. I had the same experience Tom did with Radians; sold 'em to buy the Zoom (and a couple other items).

[Tom T]

John,

Ditto (except that it's fairly useless on the larger SCT's).

LOL - I'll bet! I didn't expect it to be useful at 2200mm, (but it surprised me) and I certainly wouldn't at 3000mm It would take superb optics and a rare night indeed....

Gee John, I'm just not used to thinking of a 12mm nagler as a planetary eyepiece.... <g>

Tom