explore scientific

[rolls05 (Roland)]

Howdy all. I see the odd one around here with explore scientific refractors ,good things said. My son's just been mucking about with my new second hand 80ed skywatcher and I think I may have lost it. . So with this new nz post service from the states I've been looking at usa sites. Back to the explorer, are they a really good scope? I'm a skywatcher man but dont mind changing. Here's the scope in question from telescope.net.
Explore Scientific - 80mm Air-Spaced Triplet Refractor w/ Removable Dew Shield, Two-Speed Focuser, Deluxe Case, 99% reflectivity 2" Diagonal etc. 800 dollars US which is 970 dollars nz. Plus postage here with nz post a little over 1000 dollars. Seems good to me,but I know nothing of the brand. Any thoughts?
edit: I can get a 80ed skywatcher from OPT (california) to here for 850 nz dollars, but no dual focuser or extra gear.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Hi Rolls
Explore Scientific triplets are made by North Group in China.
May pay you to go direct to them, and maybe save yourself a lot of money.

[rolls05 (Roland)]

Hey Laurie and cheers . I see you have a north group. and if I remember rightly you did a magnificent moon photo a day or two ago. They ( the scopes ) cant be too bad judging from that. Thanks,I'll look into it.

[rolls05 (Roland)]

Well, I found the outfit that makes explorer scientific and thought a bit of cheek wouldn't go wanting, so flicked off an email. Here's their web site.
http://www.joctech.com/newweb/html-E/telescopes/ed.html

[chaffingbuttock (Matthew)]

Let me know how you go with them Rolls. I emailed them a couple weeks back as well as north group to query a 127 apo and still waiting to hear back.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Hi Rolls
Gilman Zhang is the contact at North Group. His email is gilman@northgroup.cn
In a recent email, Gilman told me that North Group triplets and Jinghua Optical Co. triplets are all made by Kunming Optics Factory.
He has been a bit unreliable answering emails lately, but China recently had their big annual holidays, so maybe he has some catching-up to do.

[chaffingbuttock (Matthew)]

Does that mean we can even go direct to kunming optics?

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Originally Posted by chaffingbuttock

Does that mean we can even go direct to kunming optics?

Don't know, Matthew-you could try. It doesn't matter which company you order from, you will get the same scope, possibly with some minor differences according to branding.
When I got my NG102mm triplet, I ordered it with a 9x50 right angle finder, and it was actually branded Explore Scientific.

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Originally Posted by chaffingbuttock

Does that mean we can even go direct to kunming optics?

Many of the Chinese optical companies sell thru the umbrella of the JOC company. Northgroup is also known as Kumming, Hioptic, Maxvision (Explore Scientific in USA, OMegon in Europe )..blah blah. I think these may be some sort of family entities, no one knows except them.

Probably pretty much like the early Japanese optical mfgrs...they outsourced lens making to small family groups.

I purchased straight from Northgroup and would get email replies from Hioptic. I didn't care the price was right and the optics for price very good.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

The optics are very good, Brendan. I purchased my NG102mm through Gilman Zhang at North Group-I ordered a 9x50 finderscope with it and it was branded Explore Scientific. That led me to ask Gilman who actually made the 80mm, 102mm and 127mm triplets, and he answered Kunming Optical Company. I saw on one of North Group's internet sites that Hioptic is one of their brands.
I guess since these companies market a range of telescopes, economy of scale would dictate one company manufacture a particular range for all to sell, while other companies manufacture a dfferent range for all to sell.
Not sure of the company structure over there, but it seems North (Nanjing) Group may be the umbrella company under which the others operate.