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  #21  
Old 17-06-2019, 12:24 PM
SkyWatch (Dean)
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Originally Posted by gregbradley View Post
Very true but I believe there has been a lot of production on the latest 92mm F6 Stowaway.

Greg.
Apparently they have been contacting people on their list with their second production run of this beast. CN has a number of threads devoted to it, with people saying things like "I put my name down at 7pm EST on April 6th" (or whatever), and others "But I put mine down at 6.58pm..."

It is a fascinating marketing strategy, with even AP themselves calling people who are notified "The lucky ones" (translation: "How lucky are you that you get to give us $US3500 for a 92mm scope!"...), and people being prepared to wait for years. It is a good gig if you can do it!!! As for their 130GTX: you can't even put your name on their list. I think they have put all production on halt while they wind up the Stowaway production. So it is used or nothing.

WRT to the comments about Takahashi: I guess it is a bit like Harley Davidson bikes: "If you have to ask "why", then you just don't get it!"

Mind you, with a listed price of $A21,160 at Claude's, vs $8280 for the TOA 130NS (which BTW is also quite a bit cheaper than the listed price of $US6900 for the AP130GTX) you would have to be a very keen AP'er to fork out the extra $13000! - and have a very difficult time convincing the finance department why!

In fact I suspect that is a major reason why the FSQ 130ED is finishing up.

- Dean
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  #22  
Old 18-06-2019, 12:36 PM
FrancoRodriguez (Franco)
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Aww crap! This was going to be my 'forever' scope
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  #23  
Old 23-06-2019, 07:05 AM
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gregbradley
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyWatch View Post
Apparently they have been contacting people on their list with their second production run of this beast. CN has a number of threads devoted to it, with people saying things like "I put my name down at 7pm EST on April 6th" (or whatever), and others "But I put mine down at 6.58pm..."

It is a fascinating marketing strategy, with even AP themselves calling people who are notified "The lucky ones" (translation: "How lucky are you that you get to give us $US3500 for a 92mm scope!"...), and people being prepared to wait for years. It is a good gig if you can do it!!! As for their 130GTX: you can't even put your name on their list. I think they have put all production on halt while they wind up the Stowaway production. So it is used or nothing.

WRT to the comments about Takahashi: I guess it is a bit like Harley Davidson bikes: "If you have to ask "why", then you just don't get it!"

Mind you, with a listed price of $A21,160 at Claude's, vs $8280 for the TOA 130NS (which BTW is also quite a bit cheaper than the listed price of $US6900 for the AP130GTX) you would have to be a very keen AP'er to fork out the extra $13000! - and have a very difficult time convincing the finance department why!

In fact I suspect that is a major reason why the FSQ 130ED is finishing up.

- Dean
Good point. The TOA series are spectacular scopes and have flatteners and reducers available.

A TOA 110 would be nice but it also may compete too much with the FSQ106ED. Perhaps a TOA 115.

130mm is a slightly awkward aperture. Not really wide enough for many galaxies and fainter targets yet not really widefield either.

Greg.
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  #24  
Old 23-06-2019, 03:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyWatch View Post

It is a fascinating marketing strategy, with even AP themselves calling people who are notified "The lucky ones" (translation: "How lucky are you that you get to give us $US3500 for a 92mm scope!"...), and people being prepared to wait for years. It is a good gig if you can do it!!! ..........

- Dean
I don't think it's a "gig" at all. AP are a boutique manufacturer and simply can't churn out a uncompromised product any faster with half a dozen or so employees.

I have both the AP92 and 130GTX. Sure they weren't cheap, but if there is such a thing as a perfect optic, then likely it has an AP badge on the side.

There are simply no OOUK epic AND expensive failures from the AP factory...and that is precisely why demand far out-strips supply for their product.
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  #25  
Old 23-06-2019, 06:02 PM
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There's no question AP and Tak lead the pack at this stage. Probably a common argument about which is better but the truth is they are both superb.

I also prefer AP as they are super practical, overengineered (sometimes Tak is not engineered strongly enough). Optics are both superb. AP may go that step further.

My AP140 for example had a stainless steel drawtube that was quite thick and I think I could park my car on it before it would flex. Tak persists with all aluminium and its just too weak a metal for a super strong no flex focuser.
So often they are fine and occasionally they fail.

I am hoping CFF is the new AP. Time will tell.

Greg.
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