[mic_m (Michael)]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

There may be a third party involved between orion and the retailer
either way we can all shop around

All those scopes are probably pretty similar to look through and all
despite the space savings on the truss types still have a very large
and ungainly base.

while there are some nice assemble yourself kits around , the pricepoint of them was always well above the dirt cheap dobs .. maybe worth another look at the dollar price of some of these scopes .

Thanks for your input. I have had a look at some of the kit scopes as well as companies such as Discovery US and Orion in the UK; however, like Orion US they all come form overseas and the shipping from these locations to Australia quite expensive. So the aggregate cost is really no different then buying a complete Orion and is often more; though the bases are much smaller for an equivalent size.

The budget dobs from Asia are the extent of what I feel comfortable in spending my money on; its just a shame that the Orion XX12, which seems to be the best budget dob available, is not sold here for reasonable a price. I don’t expect these scopes to be given away, but I would expect that they are more comparable in price to their sister scopes that come off the same production line.