What's the difference?

[Starkler (Geoff)]

For a complete newbie it could be worth spending the extra $100 for the support and service from Bintel. Do ask for a frieght quote from both though.
I do get the feeling that Andrews tend to just "sell boxes" and do it cheaply, which is fine if you are confident and competent of being able to identify any issues with the supplied equipment.

[dannat (Daniel)]

yeah they are both made by the taiwanese( i think) company - GS or GSO or Guan Sheng.
There are many telescope suppliers around the world selling their stuff. BIntel might put different acces on thiers, or they might have there technician check it over to make sure it's ok. Also if you're in bris or Melb bintel are local so you don't have freight (though sometimes andrews offers free freight).
On customer service i prefer one over the other - but I 'm sure veryone will have their own preference. I like Bintel's customer service, but andrews doe have rock bottom prices. I have gear from both places

[Zuts]

Hi Guys,

If the price difference is so small, has anyone ever asked either company to price match? Maybe they will.

Paul

[Trido (Justin)]

Yeah, the price from Andrews is appealing, but being pretty noobish, the after sales support from Bintel would be nice. Perhaps they would price match, although I would kind of be surprised.

When it comes time to buy my scope, I think what I will do is call them up, talk to them, get shipping quotes, ask some questions and see who I get the better feel from.

[GrahamL]

I find them both great to deal with , though with both I have found
back orders and follow up enquires fall through the cracks at times .
A straight up order of any in stock item ?.. both are
fast and I wouldn't hesitate to deal with either of them .

Matt Lovell from telecopes and astronomy I find good also , his site seems to me a little cryptic to
navigate around, but prices are comparable or cheaper than the other two for some items .

[dannat (Daniel)]

yes, the bintel brand are just GS with their own sticker on them

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by Trido

When it comes time to buy my scope, I think what I will do is call them up, talk to them, get shipping quotes, ask some questions and see who I get the better feel from.

If a certain woman answers the phone, ask to speak to somebody else. This woman put me off that particular vendor for a long time due to her absolutely atrocious attitude to customer service. I believe she is the wife of the proprietor.

eg1: I rang with credit card in hand ready to order an ed80. She said "im busy, order it from the website".

eg2: I rang for a quote on an eyepiece. When told the price i mentioned that the competition had them at a much lower price. She launched into an emotionally charged tirade about the high rent they have to pay. Sorry, thats not my problem!

I mention this not to vendor bash, but to advise those who cross paths with this person not to judge the entire operation based on a potential bad experience with this certain individual.

[GrahamL]

Very true geoff.. I was fortunate to of spoken to some of the very helpfull staff there on occasion ..before..I came across madam lash .
I can really understand how somone would think twice about doing buisness there.. which is a pity as that one person no way reflects the genuine and helpfull service you'll encounter most of the time.

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by Starkler

If a certain woman answers the phone, ask to speak to somebody else. This woman put me off that particular vendor for a long time due to her absolutely atrocious attitude to customer service. I believe she is the wife of the proprietor.

This happened to me too, and it put me off them for a whiles as well. Hence
I ended up spending my $1500.00 at Star Optics who are also very pleasent
to deal with. When I ordered my first premium ep I couldn't decide whether
to get a 10mm XW or a 13mm T6 so I emailed both Star Optics and Bintel
and the order would go to whom ever was first. Star Optics replied within
an hour or two. Bintel replied about a week or so later.... I figured I must
of email the granky old lady. Anyways That how I became an XW fan lol.

However I have dealt with Bintel since and have found their service to
be as good as anybody elses.

regards,CS

[kljucd1 (Daniel)]

Originally Posted by CoombellKid

Obviously $40,000 is incorrect or mistakingly said, it aint rock science

Yeah I got that bit but this was on the back of a whining session about everything that had nothing at all to do with me. Sometimes you get this type of thing but it is usually some idiot kid who couldn't care less. On this occasion it was the owner!!

Really both stores are good, as are others, but everyone has their preferences for their own reasons. I like like Bintel and Myastroshop, they do the job I need and so I will stick with them.

Regards

Daniel...

[Trido (Justin)]

Do I need a store with excellent after sales support though? And by that I don't mean in the case when things don't go well out of the box. I expect most stores (And the 2 I am looking at at the very least) will be good about returns on faulty equipment. I am talking about the support on things like eyepieces, filters and everything else. How much would I use that when I have a resource such as this place? If I lived in Sydney, it would be different since I could see these things, potentially in action too, but not living anywhere near a real astronomy store, I can either hear them tell me about stuff (And potentially try to upsell me) or I can come here where I get multiple viewpoints. And let's face it, I would trust the users on this forum before I trust a sales man, no matter how good/honest people find them.

Obviously I don't just trust everyones opinion I read on a forum (Wow, wouldn't that make your head explode), but if multiple people are saying the same thing (For instance, that Dobs are great scopes for newbies) then you tend to believe it. These are people who were newbies once and know what current newbies are going through. They also have the benefit of having more advanced stuff and just being all around more knowledgable.

[Kokatha man]

Well - after reading a couple of recent posts and respecting Trido's desire/need to hear it like it is; I'll put my two-bob's worth in again (further to my previous.)

Haven't had the good fortune to meet the aforementioned lass, but maybe I've encountered her fiancee - but afore I go too far I should emphasize that there are 2 with the same moniker. I too formed the opinion that this character was the prorietor, due to the fact that he knew very little and was pretty off-hand!

However, I allways make a point of asking to speak to Don - and if he's unavailable I'll ring back later when he is! I can't speak too highly of Don.

As for the other firm, I've had the big cheese giving me his (extended)version of why he only hires young people: not necessarily the most tactfull when talking to an "oldie!" (especially when I was paying for the call!) That said, I've never found him unwilling to have a yarn, but neither him nor Luke could hold a candle to Don.

But, price is allways a factor when you're on a limited budget; and although Andrews don't stock as extensively they are cheaper........

As a last comment, Steve et al at My Astro Shop are good people to deal with as well.......

Cheers, Darryl.

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

When I was a fresh faced noobie nearly 2 years ago I had likewise decided that a dob was the way to go, again based on all the excellent advice offered by folks on this forum (and they were all dead Right too!)

Anyway I had done a lot of research, even had a spreadsheet with 14 diffrent makes and models of dobs as available from all the different retailers I could find, with features, included "extras", etc, all listed. I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to buy, but I somehow needed to hear at least one human voice answer some basic questions to reassure me that I was on the right track.

I phoned two retailers (neither of which were Andrews nor Bintel) and got little more than "insert credit card here" out of them, so the 3rd company on my list was Andrews Communications.

The phone was answered by Lee Andrews himself, and after my initial sentence to explain that I "thought I wanted to buy a dob, but didn't know much as I was a brand newb" Lee gladly took the time to explain all the things he thought I should or might need to know (and in doing so answered every question I had written down in front of me, plus a few more). We spoke for about 25 minutes with Lee really taking the time to give advice on things that were obviously not even related to this imediate sale, ie at no apparent monetary benefit to his company.

In short Trido you mentioned above that you might ring a few places and see who/where you get the best "Feel" - well that's absolutely what I got from Lee that day.

I ordered my 10" GSO dob (which arrived here the following day) and I have never looked back since then.

I want to point out that I have bought other items since from both Andrews and Bintel, as well as A.O.E., MyAstroShop, etc, and have had fantastic service from all of them with no hassles at all, but I WILL be ringing Andrews again for my next GSO dob purchase!