View Single Post
  #79  
Old 23-09-2017, 04:18 PM
Atmos's Avatar
Atmos (Colin)
Ultimate Noob

Atmos is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 6,982
There is surprisingly very little difference.
Saxon/Skywatcher/Orion are all owned by Synta and therefore exactly the same except for their decals.

GSO is its own, has been around for quite some time although big in the western world, pretty sure they provided the optics and components for the Meade Lightbridge series way back when though. We've only started hearing about GSO quite recently but they've been around for a while.

TS is probably the oddball in all this mix. Their baseline reflectors are all GSO but they do allow for customisation on their ONTC series which can either use GSO mirrors or higher quality ones from another German company (used to be Orion Optics UK but their quality control has really gone down the gurgler).
TS get their carbon fibre tubes custom manufactured, not sure how they compare to the likes of GSO or Synta ones. They do use GSO mirror cells but have some custom secondary supports.

Just to clarify, there is Orion which is Synta and then there is Orion Optics UK which is different... KEEP AWAY! That's about all I can say. Although some good scopes do make it out of there, there are more negative than positive reports/reviews of their products. Customer support appears to be next to non-existent.

Also to clarify, the TS newtonian are largely just rebadged GSO but allow for greater customisation. Their customer support is one of the best in the business.

So to actually answer your question, there isn't much of a difference. When it comes to the non-truss newtonian, the TS ONTC line is possibly a bit better quality as I believe (although not entirely sure) it may have a stiffer CF tube but it has the benefit of having them customise it a bit. You can get them to put on a Moonlite or Feathertouch focuser in factory, you can pay a bit extra for a higher quality primary or get stronger secondary supports or a double vein if you like.
Reply With Quote