Overseas Scope

[Zuts]

Hi All. I am thinking of getting a CELESTRON CG11 Advanced. For photography it looks a bit better than a Meade LX90.

Anyway

Do any of those US sites ship overseases (antler optics, telescopes.com and so on). I have emailed a few but get no reply. The prices look good.

Do you think this is a bad idea, would postage be outrageous, and what about warranty.

Any help would be appreciated.

[rogerg (Roger)]

www.optcorp.com

From my experience they are great. Helpful and good prices. Happy to ship to AU.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Hi Zuts.

you may find that there are difficulties getting some scopes from the US as there are contractual agreements between Meade (possibly Celestron) and suppliers in the states and Australian suppliers.

I would also suggest thinking very carefully about purchasing anything large from overseas, simply from a warranty point of view when you need to return to the supplier. This is especially true for delicate objects like lenses and mirror components

The reality is though that buying something large like a full setup from OS doesn't really save you a lot of money in the long run. I bought a Losmandy G11 mount from Optcorp (they are great to deal with) at what I thought was a good price. Buy the time it hit my front door and delivery, GST and Customs were added, I saved about $250. Hardly worth it really considering any warranty issues that may come up in the future.

If you are after something like an AstroPhysics mount and a Takahashi then you mightn't have much choice (but you can get them in Australia at a price ) but Meade and Celestron large items, well......I'm not saying don't do it, just have a good think about it first.

If you are after small items though like eyepieces and focuser and CCDs (under a $1000 Aus) then by all means go for it.

[Zuts]

Thanks. The optcorp link was good. They replied immediately unlike the other US suppliers I tried. In case anyone else wishes to know here is the reply. What a pity, but i have now asked about used and out of box items. Also I am not sure what APO/FPO addresses are, so there is still hope yet.

[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Thank you for inquiring with OPT. Unfortunately we are unable to ship Meade, Coronado, or Celestron products outside of the United States or Canada due to contractual obligations with these companies. We can ship them anywhere in the US, Canada and US territories, so if you have a US address that we can ship to then we would be happy to accommodate you. We can also ship to any APO or FPO address in the world.[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']We are very sorry for the inconvenience that this may have caused you. [/FONT][FONT='Arial','sans-serif']OPT is working hard in an attempt to change the international policies at Meade, Coronado and Celestron, so hopefully before too long they will drop their restrictions and allow free trade outside of the United States. If you have any questions or if there are other products you are interested in, please do not hesitate to ask.[/FONT]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif'] [/FONT]

[Adrian-H]

keep in mind, if you do get it from oversea's and shipped here, customs will charge you an extra 10% of the price of the product, for more expensive products 1000+ i think, if they can.

i have heard that if you have your shipper mark the product as a gift customs wont charge you, i have never tried it though, so honestly im not 100% sure.

[sejanus (Gavin)]

zuts the shipping on a C11 would be pretty substantial. just call andrews, they will look after you.

[Zuts]

Interesting, you can purchase the out of box items. Something to think about i guess. Anyway thanks for all your help.

[MikeyB (Michael)]

APO/FPO refers to overseas US armed forces bases. From memory, the acronyms are short for Army Post Office/Field Post Office.

Also, I understand that US scope dealers do not have warranty responsibility - the gear is sold on a return to manufacturer for service basis. If you buy something from them that is/becomes defective, the cost of getting it fixed could be considerable.