While looking into the Meade 80mm 5000 ED telescope, i found Maxvision who make these scopes in China. I found them on the hkastroforums where Maxvision have there own sub forum. http://www.hkastroforum.net/viewforum.php?f=39
This lead me to another forum with some interesting pictures. Meade and Celestron scopes from the same factory..
Not really surprising i guess. The Celestron gear in these pictures seem to be there entry level goto telescopes.
Edit:
I do have a great respect for the Chinese manufacturers who have turned the world economy around and are making more products available to a larger market. And the quality will improve over time. On a recent trip to India I noted how technology was becoming more available to everyone. Like for examples cheap mobile phones. You can always find varying levels of quality in the same product. Quality A, B and C, it just depends how much you want to spend. When considering quality however one must also consider the lower replacement cost.
I don't know about the production of scopes that much, but this is not uncommon with other products , where two different brands of products share the same factory space, so to speak.
Alan yes you will not see that in any marketing or magazine ad's. At first I thought i was seeing things then I zoomed in and could make out the Celestron badge leaving no doubt. Synta are obviously sub contracting the work to others, which is not surprising. I would not be surprised to find similar pictures in factory's making other branded equipment.
Looking over the product range available on the hkastroequipment website, I note that only a subset of the Meade product is available. This is no surprise as the rest is more than likely made in California soon to be moved to Mexico.
Fascinating reading in English and those smilies are something else - I have no idea what they are meant to indicate! Thanks for the pics anyway, always interesting to see inside the factories.
Did you also read the thread about the new Maxvision 5" air spaced triplet APO.
They compared it (very favourably) to a 7" TMB APO !
Not conclusive (by any means) but we're talking about a cheaper Chinese scope now being compared in the same class as Tak130's, FSQ106's, TMB 5 to 7" AstroPhysics EDT130 etc
Did you also read the thread about the new Maxvision 5" air spaced triplet APO.
They compared it (very favourably) to a 7" TMB APO !
Not conclusive (by any means) but we're talking about a cheaper Chinese scope now being compared in the same class as Tak130's, FSQ106's, TMB 5 to 7" AstroPhysics EDT130 etc
Someone asks him to post a comparison pic of 30 second exposure using a DSLR, and his reply "However please note that we are testing TELESCOPES, not astrograph" yet he says "So is it high time for us to think twice before spending money on a Takahashi TOA 130, AstroPhysic EDT130 or a TMB 5 inch? Since at 1 / 3 the price you get a same performance (or even better) Maxivision 5 inch APO"
I must admit, you invent or design and manufacture something, and the Chinese will improve on it and sell it cheaper!
They do it with all sorts of products.
When I had a Harley Davidson Dealership in Ballarat, I was always amazed at the quality of the Taiwanese parts and accessories I sold. The quality (and fit) was far superior to the original HD factory parts and the Japanese copies.
I asked the salesman how they can produce such excellent products and also cheaper. He said he visits the Taiwanese Factories, and the production line workers totally love their work and take pride in every piece they make!!! They each make thousands of items a day, and have pride in every one of them. It shows!
There is a funny story about Japanese copies though.
During the second world war, the Japanese took a captured soldiers WLA Harley Davidson back to Japan and back engineered it. They wanted a bike that was as good as the Yanks.
The engineering dept, that did the copying somehow got every measurement 25% wrong!!!!!
What they ended up with was a WLA Harley-Davidson that was too big for them to ride
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 07-11-2007 at 02:14 AM.
Alan yes you will not see that in any marketing or magazine ad's. At first I thought i was seeing things then I zoomed in and could make out the Celestron badge leaving no doubt. Synta are obviously sub contracting the work to others, which is not surprising. I would not be surprised to find similar pictures in factory's making other branded equipment.
Regards
Fahim
You will find that almost all "companies" that are registered or based in Hong Kong are purely trading agents. They do nothing but source items from factories. There is no room left in HK for factories. ALL products they sell will be manufactured by mainland China factories, or Taiwanese factories.
For my importing business I never deal with HK sellers. I always track down the actual factory. Usually around 25% cheaper.
Someone asks him to post a comparison pic of 30 second exposure using a DSLR, and his reply "However please note that we are testing TELESCOPES, not astrograph" yet he says "So is it high time for us to think twice before spending money on a Takahashi TOA 130, AstroPhysic EDT130 or a TMB 5 inch? Since at 1 / 3 the price you get a same performance (or even better) Maxivision 5 inch APO"
I've been dealing with the Chinese for several years now. One thing that stands out. In China there are no False Advertising laws. Anybody will tell you anything they can think of to get youto buy their product.
What ever you ask for, their product will do it. Until you actually buy it. Then for some reason
"the research on that particular portion is not complete yet & so we didn't add it to your order"
