Japanese eyepieces at Japanese prices!

[Starkler]

Japanese astro dealer Kokusai Kohki is now selling and shipping direct globally.
http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohkiparts.html

Check some of these prices...

Volcano top orthoscopics $53.27AUD
Pentax XW 5-20mm $346.28AUD
Vixen LVW various prices around $220AUD

:eyepop::eyepop::eyepop:

I'll be ordering a few orthos for the refractor me thinks :D

[Dennis]

Thanks for that Geoff - bookmarked the site for future use!

Cheers

Dennis

[MikeyB]

Barry Gooley is the manager there, so as you'd guess from his non-Japanese name, there aren't any language/translation problems in dealing with them. From my own small experience with KK, I can recommend the service - friendly, fast and excellent prices.

[Starkler]

Im pretty surprised that this hasn't generated much excitement. :shrug:

[GrahamL]

Its been mentioned before Geoff,and Barry is good to deal with by all accounts btw .

[Dennis]

:lol: Wallet still recovering from the Canon 40D.:(

Cheers

Dennis

[erick]

If I wanted a finderscope and had the money, their finderscope is very tempting. 8x50, straight through "correct" view, small circle at the junction of the crosshairs so you can see the centred target, one degree increments marked on the vertical crosshair, adjustable LED crosshair illuminator, finder bracket and foot with two lock screws - I make it about A$247 including shipping.

[dannat]

I was thinking about buying a tak LE ocular - because I read on cludy nights they are comfortable to view with, I have trouble with my WO swan 9mm ep, I find it slightly uncomfortable to look thru.
Does anyone know - even though our eyes are all different - how comfortable are these japan ortho's to look through - I would buy either the 7 or 9mm, with 51/2 & bit over 7 ER for both oculars.
thanks daniel

[MikeyB]

If "slightly uncomfortable to look thru" means 'lacking eye relief', then orthos aren't the answer, Daniel. In my experience, orthoscopic eyepieces are all about jamming your eyeball almost right onto a tiny eyelens to see anything - mighty uncomfortable for many of us.

I'm not sure how your mention of "a tak LE ocular" relates to orthos, as Takahashi LE eyepieces aren't orthoscopics - I believe they're a super plossl design (and a very fine one in my limited experience). Like plossls generally, their eye relief is somewhat limited.

[mark3d]

bookmarked thanks for the tip :)

[dannat]

Michael - I mention tak LE's because I read on cloudy nights that the LE ep's were similar to orthoscopic oculars but an improved design,
anyway thanks for the advice, maybe I will give the ortho's a miss and save up for the tak ep's.
I have found it hard to gather much info on the tak oculars on the web, there are hardly any reviews or much other info ???

[skies2clear]

The Tak LE's are understated oculars all to often, but they are great eyepieces! You can see nothing but positive comments on Excelsis, especially for the Tak LE 5 and 7.5 (ED's)...
http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/section.php?sectionid=22

I have had a few shootouts with volcano top orthos and there is no doubt the Tak's are better optically and have more eye relief, and therefore, more comfortable to use. Takahashi would not put mediocre optics with their excellent series of refracting telescopes.

Clear skies.

PS Geoff, thanks for the link above to KKOHKI.

[StarLane]

I'm in Japan at the moment and just bought a 17mm LVW for 16,900 yen, what a bargain, around $180 AUD.

[PhilW]

I just used KK to buy an eyepiece & it was an entirely positive experience. The service was quick, & the eyepiece arrived cunningly packed & padded & in perfect condition.

Phil

[dazastar]

Quick is an understatement, I ordered on the weekend and recieved it Tuesday morning. Not even interstate was that quick let alone from Japan.

[allan gould]

I ordered on the 22nd May and still awaiting delivery:prey:

[erick]

Apart from those lucky enough to go and visit the shop (:thumbsup:), how did you other guys arrange payment. Site says no credit card, rather carrier pigeon carrying yen or something???

[Starkler]

Eric at the bottom they mention PayPal.

I have used pp for a number of transaction including buying from Astromart without any issue.

[erick]

Thanks Geoff, I can see that now. Thank goodness. Their terms say:-

"....for the time being, all payments for goods must be made via international wire transfer directly to our bank account." That's a groan!

[JethroB76]

I went to email Barry last week to see what they accepted other than wire transfer and noticed at the last minute that they took paypal.:thumbsup:

Once he had the EP in stock it was only 2 business days and I had it in my hands

[dazastar]

Drop Barry an email. He will chase it up. You may find that it comes any day now with a customs inspection letter in it. I has happened to me before, customs will randomly audit packages. Sometimes you get yours picked and delayed.

[allan gould]

I was incorrect in my last statement. The eyepieces had to be ordered from Vixen. They came into Barry's store on the 26th and were shipped to me that day and arrived on the 30th.
Excellent service, very well packaged and the new eyepieces are magnificent. :P:thumbsup:
Expect a slew of eyepieces for sale once I sort out what I want to keep.
Regards, Allan

[erick]

:2thumbs::party2::party:

I got a nice new finderscope coming!

Hello Eric

Good news! Your EF-508 and Vixen L bracket I shipped today via EMS
airmail, tracking number **********. It should arrive at your door
in about 1 week.

........

Here is a copy of your invoice attached. Thx again for your business
and enjoy!

Barry Gooley
Kokusai Kohki
Kyoto, Japan


I'll do a review with some pics after I get it working on my 12" GSO reflector. Barry has been a pleasure to do business with (presuming the goods arrive promptly and in good condition). So far, I'm very happy to recommend him. :thumbsup:

[erick]

WooHoo! I got an email from the Japanese Postal Service which Babel Fish translates to say:-

"Thank you for utilizing postal business corporation “delivery completion mail notification service”. We report concerning the delivery circumstance of the mails and the like which do acceptance. June 19th (Thursday) 09:52 819-1802-747 E???????????JP EMS AUSTRALIA 3083 June 24th (Tuesday) 12:30 We completed delivery. * “Delivery completion mail notification service” transmits with transmission private address. Replying by this mail, it cannot receive."

And a neat package which I have opened. Looking good. I'll let you know and give pics. And I've move this to a new thread in the general "Equipment Discussions". :thumbsup:

[Prickly]

Hi Eric,

Congratulations on the new purchase - I you like it. Ive been very happy with the vixen finderscope that came with my neoachromat.

Incidentally the finder will fit straight into the bracket on the GSO dobs as well. A friend of mine has a 10 inch GSO dob.

Cheers
David

[erick]

Yep, David. I tested the Vixen bracket tonight - a lovely neat fit into the GSO finderscope foot. :thumbsup: Now working out how to mount the finderscope in the bracket to avoid damaging it. There are three grub screws designed to be tightened against the finder body - I want to pad them in some way :confuse3:

[erick]

Just briefly, I've started using this finderscope on my 12". Seems to be doing just fine. I have to admit that making adjustment with three screws is a bit different to the simple GSO arrangement (two screws at 90 deg pushing the finder against a spring-loaded peg). Loosen one too far and the finderscope sort of flops - practice needed I guess.

I have a bit more work to do. The image isn't as crystal clear off-axis as I expected it to be - maybe I don't have the focus right as yet. I also am using it with my glasses so that I can see the sky with left eye simultaneously. I have new glasses as well - so a bit of sorting out to do. The cross-hairs with central unobstructed circle are great. The illumination is overly bright on minimum setting - I'd better let the batteries flatten a little! I have discovered that the illuminator on my Antares illuminated eyepiece has the same thread and fits straight in. It is one of these where the illumination with settable time on and time off periods. I might play with this illuminator as well.

Having the image erect is also great for recognising the sky and moving the scope.

Its a nice compact clean-looking unit. With the falling AUD against the Yen (I guess that is happening - I haven'tt checked), it will be less attractive financially. Glad I dived in and bought it as a treat to myself when I did! :)

[va1erian]

KK is now having a sale on their Fujiyama HD-OR (orthoscopics, introduced this year). They reduced the price from 9800 yen to 7800 yen. Plus postage 2000 anywhere to the world. I paid by Paypal, Barry got back to me about 5 hours later saying that he was sending the eyepiece tonight. Very efficient service and communication (compared with what I get in Australia).

Who is Barry Gooley -- is he Japanese or a westerner ?

[AG Hybrid]

Epic thread resurrection. Nearly 6.5 years.

[dannat]

I believe he's from US

[erick]

I've since bought a second of these finderscopes from Barry. He was a good guy to do business with, both times. :thumbsup:

[Wavytone]

Bought my LVW's from Barry a few years ago, perfect service.

Nice to see someone carrying products you won't find so easily elsewhere and is prepared to export them.

[GrahamL]

I've bought off Barry a few times ,, great service and fast

One order coincided with obon week and i couldn't get a reply to add to it which seemed strange , I now know most of the country shuts down
for this important break .

[glnn_23]

Another happy customer here. Would recommend buying from Barry without hesitation.

Thinking of grabbing a couple of his orthos myself.

[N1]

3 orthos grabbed :thumbsup:

[inertia8]

If he ever drops the price on the Pentax XW10 my bank account will take an immediate hit! :rofl:

[niko]

is that a Dr K I see before my eyes?!?!

[N1]

Update: 3 Orthos arrived today. Great Service. Sorry about the 5mm no longer being available (at least until May), I got the last one! :P

[gb_astro]

Really surprised at what some people seem to be paying for second hand Pentax XWs here on IIS at the moment
when as per this thread most of them are available new direct form Japan for around $370 including postage, delivered within a week.

gb.

[va1erian]

Well, I have amassed a collection of about 9 constant-focus eyepieces and 3 specialised eyepieces (zoom, cross-hair etc).

I bought a 6 mm Fujiyama HD-OR, and I must say that this is one out of the short focal lengths ones I end up using. I like the quality of picture and resolution.

The other eyepieces I find most using is a 25 mm Celestron X-Cel LX (for wide field), 12 mm (for the Moon), and a Celestron zoom (use it at 18 mm for alignment of the go-to mount). I should be able to discard the rest.

[Profiler]

I think it depends whether it is 'grey' versus authorised stock.

One trick to differentiating them (and I can't vouch for the reliability of this methodology) is whether the eyepiece comes with all the original packaging and in particular the Pentax paperwork.

Pentax like all factories manufacture their product in mass and have a proportion from this process which aren't 100% but still very good. For example, my father worked for a chocolate manufacturer which every week had sacks of supposed 'reject' chocolates. They tasted fine but something like the decorative circle on the top wasn't perfect or the strawberry wasn't perfectly in the middle. Whatever the case - these 'rejects' weren't thrown-away (as this would be too great a loss for the company) - they were instead sold at a much lower cost to a secondary "smaller" "non-authorised" re-seller (not one of the main retail outlets) who thereafter sold them to the public as grey stock minus the official box/warranty etc.

Whatever your viewpoint on 'grey' stock to my mind a far worse situation is the circumstance where an identical eyepiece (lets hypothetically call it 'really big field of view eyepiece') are all made on a very small island nation wherein once it has some green paint applied to it is sold for 5x more than the same thing under a not so highly marketed/hyped brand label and simply painted black.:thumbsup:

It is the old saying 'if the deal is too good to be true then it probably isn't'. In this context folks need to critically ask themselves (avoiding wishful thinking) how can one small retail outlet drastically under-cut all the major astronomy retail outlets? Whereas these big stores are located in the UK or US there is a rough parity in their prices once conversion of the exchange rates is taken into consideration.

When you objectively answer this question the reality is that the stock is not the same thing. If you go into buying equipment accepting this situation then everything is fine. The problems arise when something isn't quite right with the equipment and then locally located dealers don't have to help you and your overseas vendor doesn't really offer genuine support from the manufacturer.