First Impressions of GSO 12" R/C Truss

[Astro_Bot]

Production costs are amortised across the number of units sold. Dobs are sold in vastly larger numbers than RCs and it stands to reason that the cost is much lower. Whether GSO chooses to take a loss on the RC in order to compensate for low numbers is its commercial decision. My guess is that it's not doing that.

[Astro_Bot]

Originally Posted by dpastern

$3800 is not a budget price.

Again, it depends on the production cost and quantity of manufacture. If there's any hand finishing involved, expect the costs to sky rocket. Small numbers alone seem enough to justify the price at the moment. If larger numbers are produced in future, the price may come down (though we don't know if this is a loss phase for GSO with the hope that they will turn a profit later).

If you had bought a 80K bmw that had issues, and I told you "tough luck, it's cheap, you should have bought a Ferrari, just suck it up" you'd be pissed. This is very elementary, I find it amusing that some users are so staunch in their support of bad QA and design, no matter what the price.

A better example would be if I'd bought a $20K Proton and expected the same quality and performance as a $100K BMW, I'd be an idiot.

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To get it slightly back on topic, I do hope the issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the owners, whatever the cause is finally identified to be.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Yes good point David, these guys are doing illegal things in selling units not fit for purpose.

Sometimes it takes pressure to get compliance and make them try harder and get over their slackness.

A classic example recently was Nikon in the USA. They put out the defective D600 which was plagued with dust and oil spots on the sensor requiring constant cleans. They did nothing about it. They eventually released a D610 with a redesigned mirror box/shutter to handle it.

They were threatened with a class action suit. They suddenly offered a free replacement for D600 owners even if out of warranty. They never acknowledged the problem officially. Slack as. Cost them a lot of goodwill.

Greg.

One of the major auto manufacturers just got whacked with a $35 Million fine for selling vehicles they knew to have a defective ignition which they did not tell their customers about. The moral of that story is that it doesn't pay to use your customers as beta testers.
Peter

[Astro_Bot]

Originally Posted by Kunama

Bot, I assume you would expect the Proton at least to run on 4 cylinders,

Of course, just as the 12" RC runs on all 12 inches ....

These comparisons are getting silly and we're not helping the OP. The common polarising effect of politics seems to be in full force here - whilst starting out on different sides of an entirely arbitrary line, by a small margin, the argument drifts towards ever more polarised positions. Is it just because everyone wants the last say (including me)? I don't know. But enough.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

The moral of that story is that it doesn't pay to use your customers as beta testers.
Peter

Many of the products for astro we buy are issued initially as "beta" for user testing (especially software), or we implicitly understand that just released product is bound to have frequent upgrades shortly after release.

Using customers as beta testers is a successfull tried and tested way to get unique product to market fast and efficiently.

[RobF (Rob)]

I'll just stick my head up out of the trenches and between bullets to note this is our hobby, and there's no denying its a major spoiler when our latest gadget doesn't work first time as expected. This is a pretty expensive gadget for most of us, so hope you get it sorted soon Geoffrey with minimal fuss, and still get lots of satisfaction from it.

[Paul Haese]

It looks like the silicon tabs are the cause here of the pinched optics.

Yes you could argue that this is a QA problem and it meets the current criteria to return the scope. That is up to any purchaser. The mirror cell itself is not the problem, it is the way the mirror is being held in place. Either the clips are the problem (apparently not in this case) or this silicon problem.

Fred it right though. I have been reporting minor issues with these scopes since 2008. GSO have been making adjustments to design and working to make an affordable telescope. Not an easy task in the very small market place. I bought this scope because I was after the optics. The optics are the important part. If you don't mind doing some tweaking to get the scope performing then you will have a great scope. If not send it back GSO will honour their warrantee, they are good guys and not out to screw anyone. They are a small firm in Taiwan and are very approachable, not some evil empire that is out to rip someone off. Knowing these guys as I do I find the insinuation of them being out to rip someone off insulting.

My recommendation is tinker if you are happy to do that, or send it back if you are not.

[KenGee (Kenith Gee)]

dpastern you should start building RC's telescope, it will be great to see a low cost high quality telescope.
Or maybe operating system for microsoft, an error free OS would be an industry first, but apparently you have the skill to learning how to do something without making any mistakes .

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Originally Posted by KenGee

dpastern you should start building RC's telescope, it will be great to see a low cost high quality telescope.
Or maybe operating system for microsoft, an error free OS would be an industry first, but apparently you have the skill to learning how to do something without making any mistakes .

gee, I've kept pretty much away from personal attacks, but it's good to see some of the regulars on IIS are still at it. I find it amusing when someone poses a different viewpoint on a forum, the regulars come out and play bully. And even better, the mods do jack **** about it. I mean, it's the regulars. Gotta let them have their fun *wink wink*.

PS Microsoft sucks. Anyone who works in the industry knows this and that there are far better alternatives if one desires stability or reliability, or dare I say it, security!