american online stores

icytailmark (Mark) · #1 08-04-2010, 02:18 PM

does anyone know any good american online telescope stores that ship to australia?

duncan · #2 08-04-2010, 02:32 PM

Hi Mark,

Nah!! I've never bothered. After you pay all the taxes and imports etc, it really isnt that much cheaper.
Besides that if you need warranty for any reason you have to send it back to them at your own expense.
Plenty of very good and reputable dealers right here in OZ.
I,ve dealt with Bintel and OzScopes and had very fast and efficient service from both, and i'm in Weipa!!!!!!! For the sake of maybe a few hundred dollars and warranty dealings i'll stick to shopping in OZ.
Just my 2cents worth.
UNLESS IT CAN'T BE BOUGHT HERE!!!!!! LOL.

Cheers,
Duncan

Terry B · #3 08-04-2010, 02:45 PM

Mostly I have bought locally but some things cant be bought here.
I have used Astronomics for photometry filters and the service was good.

marki · #4 08-04-2010, 03:13 PM

OPT are good but there are a big heap of reliable OS sellers out there. I have also used APM, ADM, the teleskop shop, adirondack, scopetronics, william optics and several others. Depends on what you are chasing and usually there are great savings to be had for items costing less than $1000 AU. There are also a lot more options on gear which is not imported into oz.

Mark

icytailmark (Mark) · #5 08-04-2010, 03:30 PM

im after a shop that sells an AstroZap Light Shroud for a 12" skywatcher and i cant find an australian store that sells one.

multiweb (Marc) · #6 08-04-2010, 03:54 PM

If you buy anything under $1k customs won't be an issue. Buy local when you can unless the price difference is outrageous which doesn't happen very often anyway. Also you can't get everything locally. Sometime it's only available OS if it's specialised stuff.

Terry B · #7 08-04-2010, 04:06 PM

And sometimes some things are available OS that shouldn't be.
These are for the astronomers that don't have the ability to tie a piece of elastic in a knot and put it around an old gardening T shirt.
http://www.astrovid.com/products.php?subcat=736

marki · #8 08-04-2010, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icytailmark

im after a shop that sells an AstroZap Light Shroud for a 12" skywatcher and i cant find an australian store that sells one.

Try Here

http://www.optcorp.com/productList.aspx Just type "astrozap" into the search box and they will come up.

Mark

Paul Haese · #9 08-04-2010, 10:47 PM

Big huge items I usually buy here because of freight charges and duties. Although if you do your numbers sometimes it is better to buy OS. I got my solar scope for 3 k less than what Australian dealers were charging at the time. Now even if that were defective it would have cost nothing to send it back and get it repaired. I do support local dealers as much as possible so long as the price is good and they have the item in stock.

OPT are very reliable with your money and their service. ADM is also exceptional too.

Remember dealers are now unlikely to cause you grief with return goods even in other countries. That is because of the power of the internet to alter the course of a business. They want your business and will generally do their utmost to help you out.

Waxing_Gibbous (Peter) · #10 08-04-2010, 11:17 PM

OPT, ADM, Woodland Hills, OpticsPlanet, HighPoint Scientific, Astronomics, Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird etc.etc.
All are MUCH cheaper than local, especially with anything below $1000AU and offer greater choice.
I recently purchased a spotting-scope from Optics Planet that cost me AU$470 including postage. Local price (OzScopes) $799!!!

Visionoz (Bill) · #11 09-04-2010, 01:02 AM

Hi Mark

I didn't have a problem of picking one up for my SW 12" FlexDob from Sirius Optics, Ron, and the price was not too dear considering he sent it via AustPost to Perth and it arrived in a nicely packed box within a few days - I was lucky he had some in stock! Give him a try!
Quality of AstroZap material is very good

Cheers
Bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by icytailmark

im after a shop that sells an AstroZap Light Shroud for a 12" skywatcher and i cant find an australian store that sells one.

asterisk (Geoff) · #12 09-04-2010, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icytailmark

im after a shop that sells an AstroZap Light Shroud for a 12" skywatcher and i cant find an australian store that sells one.

I have dealt directly with AstroZap with no difficulties
http://www.astrozap.com/Scripts/default.asp

casstony · #13 09-04-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

OPT, ADM, Woodland Hills, OpticsPlanet, HighPoint Scientific, Astronomics, Anacortes Telescope and Wild Bird etc.etc.
All are MUCH cheaper than local, !!

Some of the local shops offer very reasonable prices when there isn't a distributor between the retailer and the manufacturer. Sirius Optics has given me very good prices for Lunt Solar gear, in line with the exchange rate; Televue prices are quite good at Bintel; GSO gear is well priced at a number of shops. I like to support the local guys where I can.

On the other hand we have Celestron (and others) which traditionally costs gazillions more than US prices; a birdie tells me significant price cuts are imminent for Celestron in Australia - it would be nice to see them show a little respect for consumers here.

Visionoz (Bill) · #14 09-04-2010, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by casstony

.... On the other hand we have Celestron (and others) which traditionally costs gazillions more than US prices; a birdie tells me significant price cuts are imminent for Celestron in Australia - it would be nice to see them show a little respect for consumers here.

Yep, that's right!! Our wallets should be doing the "talking" for sure as far as the new Celestron distributor is concerned!! Suppose that with the original shockin' prices they put out earlier when they took over the distributorship they probably would only have fools paying those prices!
I wanted to purchase a CGE Pro but got turned off and got the Losmandy G11 instead - we''ll wait and see if their price cuts are realistic or not - the jury's still out!!

My 2cents only!
Cheers
Bill

casstony · #15 09-04-2010, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visionoz

- we''ll wait and see if their price cuts are realistic or not - the jury's still out!!

My 2cents only!
Cheers
Bill

Birdie says up to 30% - anything less than that won't be too exciting.

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #16 09-04-2010, 01:36 PM

OPT are excellent. The main reason for buying OS is that it is often quicker. Order on Monday, have it the following Monday if Australia Post doesn't stuff up, whereas local dealers sometimes have to order in and you have to wait until one of their regular shipments arrives. Pricewise, there is seldom a difference worth worrying about. If Bintel have it, driving around there is the best way.

On more specialised items, Moonlite focusers are very good.

Geoff

Louwai (Bryan) · #17 14-04-2010, 10:34 AM

I've often dealt direct with the manufacturer. FeatherTouch, Kendrick, AstroZap, etc.
Have found them extremely helpful & top service along with the best pricing.

I also deal with OPT & the like. Have also found them great.

Have dealt with retailers here in Oz, for small value things that are not worth the hassle of getting from OS.

Jules76 (Julian) · #18 18-04-2010, 08:58 AM

I've used both OPT and Opticsplanet in the past and enjoyed great service. Both of which you can save further by getting a 5% discount on your order.

To get 5% off at OPT, sign up for their "Free Lifetime Rewards for Members of Astronomy Organizations" on your next order.

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=7185

Just tell them about being a member of IceInSpace (I gave them the URL and my username if they wanted to confirm) and they'll sign you up. Worked for me.

Opticsplanet can be done by finding the many coupons they give out. I found one which worked here:

http://www.tjoos.com/Coupon/65931/Optics-Planet

Enjoy.