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I bought from them several times. Just small stuff mind you, nothing like a scope or anything. I actually found their prices to be competitive (at least on the stuff I looked at) the problem was the web site wasnt updated often or reflective of the real price given if you went to the shop. They were quite helpfull too. Anyway for me they were just in too difficult a place to get to really (I generally like to see what I buy first), and always felt like a little bit of a strange setup too.
I do recall going in once and seeing a C11 which had the corrector plate smashed (looked a little like it was hit by a truck) quite an unusual thing to see, and when I asked about it they said the owner bought it, took it home, and promptly dropped it (with the resulting dammage), looked a little like it was dropped of the 2nd story to me.... but it was a new model and that was probably at most 18 months back, so I think they did sell some new models.....
Anyway that is how life goes, competition drives prices down, and you need to be competitive to survive and have a low cost base. I would assume the inner city rent probably killed them more than anything. Lets hope not too many more go that way or we will be left with little choice. As an asside I believe they are also the sole importers of Celestron into Australia (through the Brisbane office under then name of Vision or something similar...), I wonder how this sits with ongoing Celestron products?
Michael
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