Pathetic advertising

[MiG]

Check out this disgusting advertising for a crappy 60 mm refractor. Nice price too. Triple what you can get it for.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3636&item=6155790820&rd=1

I couldn't resist, I just had to make a comment to the seller. Replying to his reply at the moment.
I can see why E-bay is getting a reputation for being full of junk.
Imagine you were a newbie who didn't know any better. You'd think you're getting the deal of a lifetime when in fact you're getting the infamous 60 mm refractor with Huygenian eyepieces.
Spotting scope my arse.

[Starkler]

I love the one where the scope is on the alt-az mount backward and so is the finder !

And these clueless people are selling them when they cant even assemble it correctly.

[ballaratdragons]

Hi MiG,

Geez,
The add goes on and on and on and on . . .

And no mention of the Ginzu Steak Knives!

It even says you can 'star watch'.
That's sounds exciting!:reindeer:
Problem is he will sell heaps of them.

Please let us know his reply.

[RAJAH235]

I totally agree. This is the type of stuff that people should be warned of. BUT, there is a market for them. As a beginner, unless you have contact with an Astronomy club and are told/shown differently, then this is where the problems/frustrations start. Most of our members have admitted to owning one of these.(I did, for about 2 weeks then returned it)!

[ballaratdragons]

Apart from the high cost for junk, Plus shipping charges, he also charges a 'Packaging Charge'. It's not even mentioned in the price! What's a packaging charge. I have never been charged one of those by anyone.

It's in the 'selling policies' way down the bottom.

Add that on too and it's damn dear.

What a con.

[ballaratdragons]

Here is a photo of the REAL saxon DF700-60mm. The same as in the ad.

[ballaratdragons]

Now here is the one in the ad. It is actually a Saxon.

I haven't been able to get a price off the net yet but if I remember they are usually fairly cheap.

[MiG]

I own a Tasco 60 mm refractor. I read all the awful comments about them and then decided to buy one for $50 anyway, because I wanted to find out whether I really want a proper scope or not. It has served its purpose (I now have a 10" Dob) and I actually got some excitement out of it (splitting alpha centauri, seeing Saturn, Jupiter and moons, Orion nebula, some beautiful clusters, jewel box etc.).

It's the method of advertising that offends me deeply.
It's not even a spotting scope! He's just trying to make it special.

I might as well show you the dialogue:
Me: "You should be ashamed of yourself for making so many false claims about this small low quality telescope."

Him: "Not as ashamed as you should be for making such unfounded statements. I suggest you check your facts prior to opening your mouth in future. Many satisfied clients have this item from my site and expressed their total satisfaction. It is NOT the standard SAXON model, it is an improved version. Go away and do something more constructive with your life!"

Me: "Let's see:
"...FULLY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST FEATURES."
Rubbish. What the heck is up to date on the scope? Crappy 60 mm refractors have been polluting the market since the 50s. Except they were constructed better then.

"THIS TELESCOPE HAS THE HIGHEST QUALITY OPTICS..."
Since when is an achromatic doublet full of spherical and chromatic abberation the highest quality? It's the most basic refractor design available.
Let's not even get started on the eyepieces.

"HERE IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS AMAZING MODEL RELEASE- TODAY!"
What crap. So many places have been and will be selling these for years to come. It is not amazing. You can get a slightly better 60 mm refractor for $50 at Tandy.

"...A HUGE 60MM APERTURE..."
Excuse me? You can't find a smaller telescope unless it has "children's telescope" written on the box and costs less than $30.
I have a 250 mm Newtonian and even that's not worthy of being called huge.

"...AMAZING RED DOT FINDERSCOPE..."
Yes, amazing...

"THE 3 POWERFUL QUALITY EYEPIECES ( 25MM, 12.5MM AND 4MM) WILL MAKE OBSERVATIONS MORE CONVENIENT AND CERTAINLY MORE ENJOYABLE."
Powerful? Does that mean magnification? Yes, the 4 mm is powerful then, and incredibly crap. This scope can't provide a good image at 175x magnification, it's the laws of physics. Compound that with the fact that the scope and eyepieces are crap and you get an even worse image. No doubt it also comes with a 2.3x or 3x Barlow to give a ridiculously highly magnified blob. The eyepieces are not quality if they say H, HR or K in front of the focal length. The 25 mm is the most useful one out of the lot.
More convenient than what? No eyepieces?

I bought a 60 mm refractor for $50 to see whether I'm really interested in astronomy or not, so I know how deceitful your advertising is.
It's not even a spotting scope. Spotting scopes have a shorter focal length and show the image the right way up and not mirrored, without attaching diagonals or image erectors. This is just a crappy astronomical telescope, like all those other dodgy people are selling on E-bay. However, they are not as disgusting with their advertising. People like you are the reason that E-bay is getting a reputation for being full of junk. The other products you sell also seem to be junk.

I guess you're one of those people that think everything is alright as long as it's not illegal. Wake up. You're needlessly f***ing people over just to make a little bit of money."

To be continued... :mad:

[ballaratdragons]

Well said Mig,

But unfortunately he won't give a damn. He will keep ripping people off.

He said <b>"I suggest you check your facts".</b>

Ha! Obviously HE hasn't.

His next reply will be interesting now he has been given some of the facts!

[RAJAH235]

What can you say, but WOW! :bowdown:

[Robby]

Nice one Mig,
I suspect you won't here back from him. He would have been lost after you first sentence!
I accually started this hobby with a 60mm f/15 refractor with 600x power!! It was crap & almost put me off the hobby with it's wobbly mount and blotchy views. Luckily I looked through an 8" DOB and the from there the rest is history. I still have the 60mm. I won't sell it, as no one deserves a crap view of the sky, but the moon isn't too bad through it, just purple!
Cheers

[iceman]

It's the pathetic eyepieces that ruin those scopes.. especially anything under 15mm. The 4mm is a piece of junk, and those pathetic 3x barlow's they put with it..

I bought an ebay refractor for $40 as an experiment.. I knew it would be crap and it was, but this was before I got my 10" dob and just had my binoculars. It gave me something to try while I was saving up, and it was the first telescope I saw Saturn's rings through with the 25mm eyepiece. It was tiny, but it was there.

But the mount was horrible, the backlash on it whenever you moved it was horrendous. It was almost impossible to view anything but bright stuff through it simply because it was so hard to FIND what you wanted with that mount.

I tried looking at Comet NEAT through it, but it just couldn't give me a crisp enough view.