Orion / William Optics

[LewisM]

Cn anyone confirm the new Orion short "imaging" refractors are Willaims Optics made? The ED80T (http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/...CategoryId=332) seems IDENTICAL to the WO Zenithstar 80 (http://www.williamoptics.com/telesco...d_features.php)

I inspected the Orion version recently. Seems OK, and decently priced (at half the WO price!)

[MortonH]

I don't think William Optics actually make their own scopes. Long Perng seems to be their supplier.

The Orion you mention is a triplet while the ZS80 is a doublet. THe other specs are different too.

Morton

[MortonH]

Holy cr@p! Just realised that the Orion is only $1049 at Bintel. It was over $2000 when it first came out. I remember the Bintel guys saying at the time that it was quite good, and I wasn't looking at buying one so I don't think it was just sales talk!

Way, way better scope than the ZS 80 II ED.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Cn anyone confirm the new Orion short "imaging" refractors are Willaims Optics made? The ED80T (http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/...CategoryId=332) seems IDENTICAL to the WO Zenithstar 80 (http://www.williamoptics.com/telesco...d_features.php)

I inspected the Orion version recently. Seems OK, and decently priced (at half the WO price!)

William Optics don't make anything, Lewis. According to Andrews Communications, they have no factory and have every thing made for them. Apparently Long Perng make most of their scopes.

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by MortonH

Holy cr@p! Just realised that the Orion is only $1049 at Bintel. It was over $2000 when it first came out. I remember the Bintel guys saying at the time that it was quite good, and I wasn't looking at buying one so I don't think it was just sales talk!

Way, way better scope than the ZS 80 II ED.

Yeah, the specs are different. Actually, there was another WO scope I thought it was, and did not read the specs. Seems Orion is getting a lot of stuff out of Taiwan now.

Sirius has the Orion for $995 - beat me to it, as I am VERY VERY tempted!!!

[MortonH]

Should be a bit nicer than your ED80. Smaller and lighter, too.