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  #41  
Old 22-03-2005, 07:04 AM
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Has anyone had any follow up from Saxon to assure us that not only have these filters been withdrawn from sale, but that a product recall has been done, with Saxon individually contacting anyone who has bought one with an offer of refund + ?
This is the least they should do, Saxon scopes are to be found at every 2nd camera shop accross australia
  #42  
Old 22-03-2005, 05:05 PM
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Starkler (Geoff)
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Consumer affairs have not responded to the complaint that I lodged as yet.
  #43  
Old 24-03-2005, 11:46 PM
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I did a school solar field day with my 20 cm SCT and left the scope pointing at the sun with my thousand oaks filter on,forgetting about the finder scope which only had a cover on the eyepiece end, one of the kids told me that the scope was on fire as there was smoke coming from my finder, after examening the cap of the finder scope there was a perfect eliptical plastic lens in the middle of the cap, I pointed out to the kids that was what could happen to their eyes if they looked at the sun with any optical magnification.



40cm Dob with Argo navis
20cm ultima celestron
15x65 Bino's
  #44  
Old 29-03-2005, 08:22 PM
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I have dealt with SAXON before,or more to the point,the company that imports them.This heinous issue comes as no surprise.No apologies for such strong words...this is a deadly serious issue
  #45  
Old 29-03-2005, 08:35 PM
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Good onya Ken.Let us know what the outcome is ok.
By the way,where 'west of Ballarat' are you mate?
  #46  
Old 29-03-2005, 09:09 PM
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ballaratdragons (Ken)
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I will Robin.

I am on acres at 'Snake Valley'. Pop: approx 200. About 45k WSW of Ballarat. Nice and DARK & quiet except for the sounds of sheep chewing and horses farting!
  #47  
Old 29-03-2005, 09:16 PM
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There is a scope on ebay with one of these EP Sun filters. After all the hype about them I want one! So no one else bid please.
  #48  
Old 29-03-2005, 09:19 PM
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Well you're only a resonably short drive from Warrnambool then aren't you. An hour & a bit i reckon. I envy your dark skies...I'm right in town & have a fair amount of light pollution.
  #49  
Old 29-03-2005, 09:27 PM
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I am familiar with Warrnambool. I stay at the Caravan Park out of town next to the speedway when I holiday down there.

It is a very over-lit tourist spot! Got to light it up for all the visitors!!

We used to have 4 street-lights up until a few weeks ago. Now we have 16 that I can find. You are welcome to come up and enjoy the dark anytime.
  #50  
Old 29-03-2005, 09:31 PM
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Thanks Ken, thats very good of you to offer.
  #51  
Old 29-03-2005, 10:05 PM
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First of all, find out if they are really illegal. If not, then find out if anyone ever lost their sight by using one. If not then find out if they have ever been known to fail. If yes to any of the above then write to ACCC (Consumer affairs is no good because this goes beyond state boundaries). If no to all of the above then buy one and enjoy!
  #52  
Old 30-03-2005, 07:12 PM
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I received a letter from Consumer Affairs Victoria today in response to the complaint I lodged regarding the sun filters on the Saxon website.

This response only addresses part of the complaint. One can only hope that the importer now has an awareness of the illegality of the product having been approached by an official agent and will act accordingly.
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  #53  
Old 30-03-2005, 07:17 PM
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It's nice to finally get an answer Geoff, but it was a bit soft! Thanks for trying.

We know it was taken from the website. But there are probably thousands of the filters in shops around Australia.

We need Current Affair or Today Tonight to give a warning.
  #54  
Old 31-03-2005, 07:01 AM
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Good one Geoff
Perhaps you could respond to consumer affairs asking
1. What actions have been taken to ensure no stock is in the shops?

2. Is a product safety recall going to be done for those already sold?

You may like to point out to consumer affairs that these filters were displayed on their site just a few weeks ago, not "a long time ago"
  #55  
Old 31-03-2005, 08:24 AM
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I had one of these filters about 30 yrs ago on an old 4.5" reflector, cant think of the brand, but I remember screwing it in the eyepiece and withing 10 seconds it virtually exploded, thank god I was not looking through it. Have to admit I was real "green" then and didnt know any better, or should I say I trusted that it was ok. WRONG!!!!
  #56  
Old 03-04-2005, 09:42 AM
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Worth a report to Ebay do you think ?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....167855716&rd=1

I have already asked seller a question if they are the importer or if purchased locally.

Last edited by Starkler; 03-04-2005 at 09:49 AM.
  #57  
Old 03-04-2005, 12:09 PM
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Looks like maybe a private resale of an ebay scope. I don't think much can be done about these sun filters popping up on ebay from time to time.

What's the seller to do? devalue the product by throwing out accessories that came with it? Even if we try to warn them, how are they to respond? On the one hand there is the manufacturer of the scope who obviously thinks the sun filters are perfectly safe and on the other there is some crackpot sending them alarmist emails.

And what can we expect ebay to do? Unless it can be clearly demonstrated to them that something illegal is going on, probably not much.
.
A more effective way of dealing with the problem might be through a public demonstration; like buying a bunch of these sun filters and getting them to explode in the focusers of various types of scopes. A show like Today Tonight would love it. Or call in the Mythbusters!!
  #58  
Old 04-04-2005, 06:06 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Quote:
Or call in the Mythbusters!!
Now that's a great idea It's on tonight peeps, 7:30pm SBS.
  #59  
Old 23-09-2005, 06:45 AM
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These type of filters have been LEGISLATED against here in Oz. Have never seen a sun filter from Saxon yet, and don't want to! These types of filters were meant to be used in conjunction with an Herschel wedge where only 5% of the incident light is reflected to the eyepiece, the eyepiece is fitted with a No4 Density sun filter to bring that 5% down to 0.01% which is safe for viewing. The other 90% passes through the prism and out through a hole in the prism cover. If you see one, stomp on it, smash it with a 5kg sledge hammer, and ensure that al that left is glass powder!
  #60  
Old 28-09-2005, 11:08 PM
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I agree that this topic should be a "sticky".
Solar film is an inexpensive alternative as has been mentioned.
It only costs $40-$45 for an A4 size sheet.
I went halves with Rob Xreckor in a sheet, and with that $20 half sheet have turned 3 scopes + their finders, and one monocular into solar viewers. $5 per instrument. How cheap is that.
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