Orion & Meade… be careful what you wish for

[kittenshark]

Sky & Telescope: MEADE AND ORION CEASE OPERATIONS — MAYBE

The parent company of Orion and Meade telescope manufacturers has shut its California offices. Stay tuned for updates.

Rumors are swirling after two former giants in the astronomy industry closed their doors earlier this week.

Optronic Technologies, Inc., better known to backyard astronomers as the parent company of both Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, and Meade Instruments, has shut its offices and storefront in Watsonville, California. Sources have told Sky & Telescope that all of the staff were let go at the end of the business day on Tuesday, July 9th, although it's unclear whether the company will pursue bankruptcy protection.

More from S&T https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/meade-and-orion-cease-operations-maybe/

Can’t say I’m surprised… the whole thing was just :screwy:

[MortonH]

That's not good.

[OICURMT]

Thanks for closing my thread, didn't see this one.

[RB]

:thumbsup:

No worries OIC

RB

[PaulSthcoast]

Starstuff video link below

https://youtu.be/O9VFVsz_sb8?si=E4NTQ3NrdSys0R2c

Paul.

[kittenshark]

Their office is now listed for sale
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/89-Hangar-Way-Watsonville-CA/31232756/

[Boozlefoot]

A mere Dickensian version of things yet to come.........Astronomy, particularly visual, may become very reliant on rare and hard to obtain "quality" items, manufactued in prior years. Sometimes I think production can be more biased on branding than actual physical worth. Early Meade, love it... but not becessarily all early Meade. Some good, some bad. But sorry to see if they are to disappear.

[John0z]

Meade website is partially non-functional. I checked that the Meade Product Software - is available from the web archive. I still have some Meade stuff and just been downloading drivers and other software.