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Good discussion regarding buying from local dealers or importing direct from overseas. I know a bloke who had heaps of trouble many years ago getting service on an early Meade LX200, who had bought it directly from the US.
At least today, we are certainly getting things cheaper than we used to. Ten years ago, after much research, I bought a 10" Orion Premium Deep Space Explorer with a 2" Crayford focusser for $2200. It's been a great 'scope but at the time it came with no finder (although the dealer threw one in as the order took 4 months to arrive after an initial quote of 2 weeks) and one eyepiece.
Today, thanks to the Chinese and one dealer who had a big hand in starting the trend, you can get a big aperture Dob with eyepieces and a finder for much less tha $100.
The more upmarket scopes are a LOT cheaper than they used to be as well.
That's a long spiel since I mainly wanted to ask the question, "Has any attempt ever been made to manufacture amateur astronomy optics in Australia"?
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