I just bought a second hand GIRO mount. I would have preferred the Porta mount but it would have taken to long until I had one.
I am thinking about getting myself a Vixen Porta mount from Japan. Due to the high shipping costs it is only worth it if I find at least two more people who want to get a mount too. In this case the price for each unit would come down to $387. If any body is interested please let me know. If we find more than 2 people the price will be reduced again.
For those who do not know the mount, see the attached picture.
It's sad that buyers have to resort to getting the units O/S when there are plenty of Vixen dealers here already. The story I was told is that Vixen require the dealers to order 100 units before they will import in to Oz. I am mildly interested, however as the mount can be bought with OTA for $750 and a bulk buy would probably incur customs duty and GST, it may be a better option to buy the unit locally.
Yeah, I was looking at these too, mainly because Wildcard have off-the-shelf encoders for the Portamount, for use with their Argo Navis. It looks like a good mount. ITMT I was lucky enough to be able to buy a TV Panoramic mount (complete with encoders) so I'm no longer in the hunt. (As I've said elsewhere, I wish someone would manufacture a decent GOTO alt-az mount that easily allowed you to swap OTAs.)
I don't know where the $1000 come from, but you have to pay GST from $500 upwards. The only difference is the way you pay the GST. when you stay under $1000.
Careful! Customs are a sneaky lot and keep an eye out for such things. If they pick up on several parcels going to the same recipient, they will bundle the value and you will end up having to pay +5% customs duty +10% GST. So make sure there is sufficient time lapse (whatever that is) between the parcels.
When you talk to the supplier see if they can invoice you separately for the transportation costs. Opt will occasionally do that if it will keep the order below $1000.
For anyone that's interested, Steve at my Astroshop has advised they will be available shortly but does not have pricing at this stage. Vixen have missed at least 2 and possibly 3 sales that I know of because of their initial refusal to sell mount only. I will post further when prices become available.
Last edited by acropolite; 03-03-2006 at 06:07 PM.
They weren't available in the first place. In the context of a buy & sell post, the new title makes sense I guess. Although this thread would probably be better placed in Equipment Discussions. Some one else can fix it. I'm going star camping now!
As I wrote in my thread I was looking for people who also want to buy the Porta mount. As there is no forum called 'People who want to buy things together to save postage', I thought the 'Buy, Sell, Trade' forum is appropriate but apparently it's not. So janoskiss, which forum is the right one?
Now, why is it not available anymore... (the bulk buying deal that is).
I got replies from people who first wanted to participate, and then wanted also some eyepieces. Then the price was not good enough (and I just told him the price I've been told, I don't make a cent on this) suddenly the whole deal was off. A while later they come back and want now only one eyepiece... and finally they don't even get back to me... Isn't that so janoskiss ?
BUT ALL I WANTED WAS SAVING SOME MONEY ON THE POSTAGE
Anyway that was all too much hassle so I got the second hand GIRO mount and that will do (for a while at least )
They weren't available in the first place. In the context of a buy & sell post, the new title makes sense I guess.
From the perspective of a person reading the thread titles only I would say that the title is misleading. One would have to open and read through this thread to ascertain that Porta mounts are indeed available if one wants to source one from Vixen.
That's a shame Stephan, because the price was quite reasonable IMO, hopefully Steve at My Astroshop can deliver at a similar cost. I have bought an Az3 to do temporarily (From Raff @ AOE $129) until I can source a porta mount.
From the perspective of a person reading the thread titles only I would say that the title is misleading. One would have to open and read through this thread to ascertain that Porta mounts are indeed available if one wants to source one from Vixen.
Common Geoff, you don't seriously mean what you just wrote, do you?
I think anybody who can read, knows perfectly what this thread is all about!
PORTA MOUNTS ARE DEFINITELY AVAILABLE.....
I now have a price from Matthew at Telescopes and Astronomy and one from Steve at My Astroshop, both prices are close to the $387 figure quoted by Stephan, one slightly under one over. Delivery time is expected to be around 4-6 weeks.
Vixen Porta Mount - [BULK ORDER OFFER WITHDRAWN]
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
In the context of a buy & sell post, the new title makes sense I guess. Although this thread would probably be better placed in Equipment Discussions. 
Some one else can fix it. 
I'm going star camping now!
