Buying Takahashi in Australia

[sadia]

Hi,
Estimated waiting period is a bit long for TOA150 at the moment from local TAK dealer. Does anyone know of any alternative option of buying a TAK? Thanks in advance.

Regards
Sad

[RB]

If you're buying from an Australian dealer, Claude is the only one I know of who caries them.
How long is the wait?
When I bought mine it took only a few weeks.

:shrug:

[h0ughy]

and he still hasnt got it out of the box yet either:lol:

[leon]

Yep he is the one to talk to, very friendly fellow,and will get you anything you need, TAKAHASI ;)

Leon :thumbsup:

[garymck]

Might be worth contacting:

http://www.grandeye.com.hk/

They are the Chinese Tak dealers. They will not do mail order because that would violate distribution deals, however can be significantly cheaper to fly to Hong Kong, pick up a Tak and fly back with it as baggage than to buy a Tak in Australia, even when you include the air fares!!! Know people who have done it......wish I had the money to do it!

cheers
Gary

[sadia]

Current wait is 6 weeks or longer. What are my options overseas?

Regards
Sad

[Moon]

My goodness - a TOA150!

[Kal]

lol, I waited 9 years for my apo!

[RB]

Six weeks isn't that bad, it's not like they usually have these APO's sitting on the selves waiting to be sold.
Claude's good to deal with, but it's up to you if you prefer to buy right now from OS.

:)

[Tandum]

OPT (http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1-600-605-878-6428) have stock so you'd get it in a week but it'll cost about the same as here and you'd have to deal with the OPT for warranty. I also hear some people are buying from Starbase (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.mmjp.or.jp/takahashi-sb/data/toa150.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtakahashi%2Bjapan%26hl %3Den%26prmd%3Dv&rurl=translate.google.com.au&usg=ALkJrhheDBLMy9DeXFaenrAFDFwB2hr EAA) in Japan and ordering by phone but they look pretty expensive to me.

[Jeffkop]

6 weeks :eyepop: ... THATS like tomorrow in the astronomy world !!!!
I'de be taking that offer with open arms and wallet :lol::lol:

Good Luck, but dont wait too long .. who knows what the Aus $$ is going to do.

[leon]

Forget about overseas, ;) as Jeff said 6 weeks is a blink in Astronomy time, and once you have bought it, and have it set up It will rain for six weeks anyhow. :sadeyes:, sad but true :lol:

That is the laws of buying Astro stuff. :P

Leon :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

I have seen a couple of TOA150's for sale on Astromart in the last several weeks. I'll have a look and see if they are still for sale.
Usually on Astromart Tak stuff goes for about 25% new price. TOA150 is a smart choice. It is heavy for its size so you'll need a beefy mount but that scope seems to be the leader for resolution in its aperture class.

Here is one ad from Dana Hall. He (?) has posted some sensational images with this TOA150 so you know its good.
It has been on and off for sale for a while so perhaps a little negotiable on price? The American market is still out the bottom
so a rich Aussie perhaps can clean up. Bad timing though with the dollars recent collapse. I thank my lucky stars I paid for my CDK17 just before the collapse.

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=668859

Greg.

[sadia]

Thanks for all the inputs, advices and PMs. I will follow up on those leads.
Regards
Sad

[JethroB76]

Did you mean 25% off new price, ie 75% of new price?

[RickS]

I haven't been that impressed. I ordered some gear six weeks ago. I was told that it was 2-3 weeks away. I'm still waiting 6 weeks later and don't get any feedback on ETA unless I ask. It's not that hard to keep your customers onside by being just a little proactive...

[gregbradley]

Oh yes, I meant 25% off new price. Sometimes it is 30-40% but Tak stuff holds its value pretty well. But as I posted there has been a TOA150 that has been slow to sell for several months. The US market is still quite weak compared to normal.

Greg.