The Galileoscope

[erick]

https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/content/specifications

Looking forward to the review article!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU47zpattVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc9Po2roJBE

OK, where are we going to be able to buy them in Australia? Which Society is getting in plenty of stock?

(Just checked - whether you buy 2 or 100, shipping to Oz seems to be US$15+ per scope.)

[Omaroo]

A great find Erick :thumbsup:

Our society is holding 7 public sessions at the UWS domes S/W Sydney during the IYA2009 year. These little trinkets might be just the ticket to make available to the public in attendance.

[renormalised]

What a great idea for clubs and societies....the kids will love them!!!:D

Great idea for schools as well:)

[Omaroo]

How to take the shine off? Easy - ship them!

I just went through the order process, with the intention of ordering 20 scope kits and having them shipped to Australia.

20 x US$15 for the scopes - US$300 (AU$465 - or AU$23.30 ea)

Shipping - US$305 - which brings each scopes landed cost to US$30.30 or AU$46.90

Hmm.. then you have to make a slight profit for your club or organisation...not so attractive any more.:shrug:

[erick]

Yes, the shipping cost stopped me. :sadeyes:

[Omaroo]

Don't despair Eric. We've written off to them to explain the problem. What costs 15 bucks to a parent in the USA costs 46 bucks to an Aussie. It ain't going to happen. If their goal is to get them out to the world, they'll have to do MUCH better on the shipping. They assume that we want them tomorrow morning, and price accordingly....

[erick]

They might not just be "trinkets". I suspect, from the images I have seen, that they might perform pretty well when stacked up against cheap scopes. And you can put in a better 1.25" eyepiece to help it along.

[Omaroo]

You and I know that, but from the way that I've observed the parents that are in attendance on behalf of their interested children at our public night events, they even naively consider our large mega-dollar scopes "trinkets". Most have no idea, and would just want to get Johnny something to keep him happy until they get home - like a show bag. Mind you - there are plenty of others who are inspired...

[dannat]

Am interested, will still order a couple but would be interested to participate in a bulk order, looks like you have put your hand up Eric ;):P

[erick]

As I recall, when I put in 100, it gave a $250 discount on the $1,500 purchase price - but shipping remained the same - around US$15 per scope. I'll pay A$25-30 per scope for a few but not $45+ :(

[Omaroo]

Have you told them that?

I have. I wrote an email stating that it was too expensive for overseas non-profit organisations to partake in their efforts. At Nearly AU$50 each, they would not be considered an impulse buy and were close to being as expensive as some larger ultra-cheap reflectors including mount (Warehouse, Crazy Johns, etc for $35-$50).

[astronut]

I know what their answer is going to be Chris, "It's not our fault that the$US to $AUD exchange is so lousy"
True, but never the less a lousy situation.:)

[Omaroo]

I think that they cabn do better than that John, and so does Geoff. We've both sent emails to them from what appear to be different sources, so we'll see what they say. We don't need them tomorrow, so I don't think we'd beed to pay for that. Anyway...here's hoping!

[erick]

In my view it's just the shipping cost. If that could come down to a couple of dollars per scope, I'd be OK.

No, I didn't say anything. I cannot imagine that they haven't thought about it. I was hoping some big Society would sort it out, cut a deal and get in hundreds and hundreds so we could buy locally.

[renormalised]

Better yet, make a local version.

[TJD]

you can buy a 50mm refractor from dick smith electrical for only $50 and i got mine for $23 on a big sale the mount needed a bit of grease but after that perfect no shipping cost


the galileo scope may seem exspencive
but even at $50 there still cheap if you weigh up the cost (1.25 inche eyepiece and so on)
cheap for what you get.

[erick]

A Cloudy Nights forum response:-

Quote:
Has any one else from outside North America calculated the shipping cost.

To Europe/NL shipping is $19.

I bought two scopes for $50. Thanks to the favorable exchange rate, the scopes are still affordable even with shipping.




And this reference:-

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/02/24/local_news/doc49a368b43b4bc112221953.txt

[Omaroo]

The official response. Not very good of them. I'm afraid. Look like they won't even discuss different shipping methods. The shipping rate for 100 scopes is still high per unit!!
-------------------------------------------------------------


Should we look at seeing who here is interested, and then try to gather other parties together from the different forums and clubs?

-------------------------------------------------
Dr. Richard Tresch Fienberg
Chair, IYA2009 Galileoscope Task Group
Editor Emeritus, Sky & Telescope
Visiting Scientist, Phillips Academy[/QUOTE]

[erick]

Funny thing is we are comparing shipping from China to the USA versus shipping to Oz - didn't know we were several times further away from China than the USA? :shrug:

[erick]

From what I have read of them so far, I think we could use hundreds, if not thousands in Australia. They would appear to be an acceptable quality cheap introduction. But it's up to either clubs/societies or retailers or institutions to take the lead. Obviously it will be difficult to also add a local shipping component as well so maybe there is a way of a bulk order being distributed to multiple capital cities so local pickup is possible.

[Omaroo]

ASA?

ASNW?

ASV?

Isn't this right up their alley?

[astronut]

I'm afraid that when the world makes a decision about anything, poor old Austria..........er.......sorry, Australia is never thought as part of the mix.
If you're not in the U.S.A or Europe, you're nowhere!!:mad2:
As Eric has stated, the scopes would have to come from China, not the U.S.A.
Pricing should reflect that.

[erick]

Of course, I'm only guessing they will be shipped to customers from China. But it seemed a good guess since they are being manufactured in China.

[astronut]

You would hope that sanity prevails and that the scopes would go straight from the manufacturer to the consumer.
The Meade Lightbridge scopes are made in Taiwan and shipped to Australia first, not the U.S.A then Australia.
If they can do it, so can the makers of the Galileoscope.

[Omaroo]

Wouldn't it be wonderful if one of the larger vendors looked into taking up the case, and manage the import of several hundred scopes. If they were able to transport them in bulk it'd be great if they could pass on the savings somehow - knowing that they were being on-sold by clubs to the general public. Maybe if they even sposored the scopes with a sticker or something applied - not advertising with phone numbers, etc, but a small logo maybe.

Hmm....

[erick]

For information, someone on Cloudy Nights told me that "The scopes are being assembled in Racine Wisc. USA."