Astro Optical has ceased trading.

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

ASTRO OPTICAL SUPPLIES HAVE CEASED TRADING

We thank all our customers for their continued support over the last 50 years.


The above is from their website.

This was sad news to me. I purchase my first real scope from them and have brought other various items over the years. Silly me thought that they would be there forever!

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Sad news. I built my first scope (10" f/8 newt) from parts I bought from them. Still, their profile has been pretty low for a while and competition has increased recently. I hope the owners got out with enough for their efforts over the years - and the workers get jobs in other stores!

[leon]

Yes and I too bought my first 8" mirror from then many Moons ago.

Leon

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Ain't internet trading a great thing ? , sad news this .

I to got my first real quality bit of astro kit from them in about 1980 ? , a 1 1/4 inch red ringed Celestron 25mm Plossl , the precursers to the sweet ' Silver tops ' .
Still have that eyepiece in storage in NZ .
Brian.

[Exfso (Peter)]

After my dealings with their so called techs, I am not surprised. They were supposed to be able to service Tak refractors according to the Aust distributor. That advice cost me a lot of money.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Hmmm , if my Tak needed a service it would not go to any one but Takahashi Japan , your bad old mate , sorry .
Brian.

Originally Posted by Exfso

After my dealings with their so called techs, I am not surprised. They were supposed to be able to service Tak refractors according to the Aust distributor. That advice cost me a lot of money.

[Exfso (Peter)]

Yeah, unfortunately, It was stated to me by Claude that this guy was qualified to do Tak repairs, in the end it was left to Takahashi to fix the mess they made, in effect rebuild/repair damaged areas they had caused trying to re-collimate the telescope. You would not believe what the Tak rep said once he saw what they had done. Once I read his report, I was devastated, and immediately informed Claude that these guys were butchers and should not be allowed near any Takahashi telescopes.
At least I got back a virtually brand new TOA130 but sure as hell hit me in the hip pocket.

[astronut (John)]

I bought my Unitron 2.4" refractor from them in 1969, when they were still Amateur astronomy supply company.

[PeterM]

Well that's one more Astro shop gone that online purchasers can touchy feely the gear before shopping the internet.
This is very sad to read, I remember when I was 14 my brother and I would travel by rain to stand outside the Clarkes St? window and dream of owning a 4inch Unitron.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

It was a good business when Monty owned it.
In more recent times, I have phoned with questions and the person I spoke to could not answer me. After offering to call me back, no return call, so I didn't bother with them any more.

[LewisM]

Same here Laurie. Back in the 1980's it was GREAT.

The more recent owners killed it. The website was nearly impossible to use for a start, any queries by email had very vague answers, let alone any sort of price ("between $XXXX and $XXXXX" was nearly always the answer, like their entire business depended on the currency market with no at-hand stock!). Anyone I ever spoke to on the phone was really not helpful at all - again, vague is a good description.

Myastroshop.com.au really killed their Vixen sales I believe too (when I did get a price on an R200SS, they were $400 MORE than Steve Massey, so no business for them!)

[UniPol]

Like John, I bought my first Unitron 4" back in 1969 from Eric Witcombe when it was then known as The Amateur Astronomers Supply Co. which it truly was. It is hard to describe the feeling one had entering the little shop at 11a-11b Clarke St in Crows Nest all those years ago, a certain smell and the great display of brand new Unitrons, Newtonians and an assortment of Royal's, books, weather stations and other astronomical accessories. Monte Ash bought the business and changed the name to Astro Optical Supplies perhaps in the late seventies or the early 1980's (I can't quite recall) and carried on the tradition Eric set by having lots of spare parts and accessories for the Unitrons and home built Newtonians. I can't recall when Monte sold out but things changed in the amateur astro world when SCT's became the fashion and Unitrons priced themselves out of the market around the mid 1980's onwards. Of course there was competition in the late 1980's and particularly the 1990's from York Optical and Bintel. It was a bit of a merry go round in those days; Bintel sold Celestron's, Astro Optical sold Meade's, York sold anything, Meade sold Meade's, Bintel went to Meade's, Astro Optical went Celestron's then back to Meade, all very confusing. Please forgive me if my dates, brands and who sold what aren't quite right, my memory is fading somewhat but not a real bother.

Apparently, and only heresay, is that a lot of optical and mirror making gear was literally thrown out after Monte sold the business or at least over the years. I also heard that a lot of brand new Polarex/Unitron parts and accessories were also thrown away because the people running the business didn't know what they were or belonged to. I managed to score a Unitron Super Unihex, a couple of synchronous electric drives and other sacred parts just by chance some years ago when Astro Optical had a clean out (one of many as I believe they must have had a few sheds around the back lanes of Crows Nest full of stuff). Again, not substantiated but one hears quite a few stories over the years. In the case of the Super Unihex, the salesman said that they kept it because it looked too good to throw out and that's a fact. I paid the original price marked on the box which was from the the late 1960's and still wasn't that cheap !

My memories will mostly be with "The Amateur Astronomy Supply Co." instead of the last incarnation of "Astro Optical" mainly because of the sameness of products sold by the current crop of astro vendors.

[PeterM]

Steve that's a great read! Almost forgot Meade sold directly into Oz and can now recall the ad they placed to customers explaining their reasons why and the dedicated line Meade had for Aussie customers.
I hope we retain some astro shops but even great service alone wont get you there either. I think a combination of online, shopfront and great service will be a big help. I cant understand why shops don't make use of pan and tilt cameras that would allow online customers to virtually be in the shop for certain hours allowing them to see what's in the cabinets on the floor. Anyways its still a sad loss to our small community.

[g__day (Matthew)]

Think I still had a credit from the store after I bought my first six inch reflector their!

[uwahl (Ulrich)]

Back in the days of the Amateur Astronomy Supply Company (mid 60's) I bought a six inch mirror kit and together with friends from my high school astronomy club we made a six inch Newtonian reflector and had a story and photograph published in the Newcastle Morning Herald. My dream scope was a 5 or 6 inch (it was bigger than their 4 inch but I can't recall by how much) Unitron refractor I spied in a catalogue at 11a Clarke Street. By today's standards it had a very,very long tube and was mounted on a very tall, square, solid looking mount.

[Ric]

Sad to see them close up.

I got my first large scope from them in 1976, a Celestron C8 Orange tube. I've still got to this day, a wonderful scope.

Mind you I have to agree with Lewis, their website definitely wouldn't rank up in the easy to use list that's for sure.

[Satchmo]

Yep very sad news . The shop I remember fondly though was Amateur Astronomers Supply Co when Eric Whitcombe ran it. Like others I use to haunt it a bit before I could afford to buy anything much . One came in the front door and walked past a long row of Unitron scopes on the left which ended in a massive 4" equatorial at the front counter . I well remember buying my first mirror grinding kit in 1973 with a mass of copper and silver coins from my money saving tin. There was always the smell of pitch abrasives and polishing compound wafting from the back where mirrors were being ground and the smell of hammertone enamel on the telescope tubes. The popularity of Celestrons probably started to be the death nell of the equatorial mounted newtonians. I bought an Orange C8 myself there in 1979 with the proceeds of my first summer job.I can remember the black tube C8's when sold on the Celestron branded Super Polaris mount was an affordable package , and the Vixen Flourite refractors with their much shorter tubes pretty much killed Unitron within a few short years- the hsop never felt the same without that row of classic Unitron refractors !

It was rebadged Astro Optical in later seventies as part of a spruce up prior to putting it on the market . It was sold to Monte Ash in 1978 if I remember correctly . In the mid eighties it moved to Huime st just around the corner. To Monte's credit he kept the local manufacture of Newtonians going and improved the Samson mount as time went on. . I worked there mysolf from 1985 to 1988. We also sold a Dobsonian kit for 8 and 10" newts which was quite successful selling over 100 in my last year . This cut many hundreds of dollars off ownership of a newtonian. From memory a 10" tube assembly in 1988 was around $1600 with Dobsonian mount- not cheap but consider that all you could get wasa 6" Vixen on super polaris mount in those days for similar money.

The current owner killed the manufacturing side when he bought the business in 1993 and the shop became another cardboard box pedler and the shop was no longer a haven for budding amateur astronomers who were budding telescope makers . How it survived another 22 years is beyond me -though I guess you have to credit the owner for that - there mustalso have been some goodwill in the name of the shop and being in Crows Nest all those years . I 'm sure the beginning of the end was when the shop moved to an industrial estate in Artarmon relying more on web sales.

I still have a little momento from that very early history - a Dall Null testor used by Eric Whitcombe to test the mirrors in the mid - sixties before they moved to using a collimated light source as used by Celestron . It may well have been rifled for bits though !

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Hmmmm, a lot of nostalgia, yet, businesses close through being unable to compete. For me, it's a novelty to have a local astro store to visit, but really, few stores can hold something to everyone's liking or needs. To me, online shopping is a revolution, an ability to find exactly what I want for my needs. I in fact prefer it, and find it most convenient. Ordering online with safe and simple payment methods, with the goods normally arriving within a week or so, either to my home or to my local post office if I am not home.

I like it this way the best.

Steve

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Same here Laurie. Back in the 1980's it was GREAT.

The more recent owners killed it. The website was nearly impossible to use for a start, any queries by email had very vague answers, let alone any sort of price ("between $XXXX and $XXXXX" was nearly always the answer, like their entire business depended on the currency market with no at-hand stock!). Anyone I ever spoke to on the phone was really not helpful at all - again, vague is a good description.

Myastroshop.com.au really killed their Vixen sales I believe too (when I did get a price on an R200SS, they were $400 MORE than Steve Massey, so no business for them!)

agree with Lewis the website wasn't up to scratch which turned me elsewhere when searching for items.
I did buy some of my earliest gear there back in the 90s.

[dylan_odonnell (Dylan)]

I'm pretty sure this is where my first childhood telescope from the 1970s was purchased. I actually just took it out and brushed off the optics and did a super quick digiscope of the moon just for kicks!

"Astroimaging the Moon With a 1970s Childrens Telescope using 2015 Technology"
http://deography.com/astroimaging-th...15-technology/

It's a little AMASCO refractor

End of an era.