I'm just returning to the hobby after a break of about 12 years & this is my first post on IIS.
I am considering buying a WO FLT 132 (non feather touch) for purely visual use and a Losmandy G-11. The G-11 will double for my existing 10" f6 newt. This would be my 1st refractor; Always had newts.
However, I am VERY surprised at the variation in pricing I have found from various Australian dealers who WO list as being distributors for their products.
Remaining nameless, the pricings are as follows....
Dealer A has quoted me $6000 AUD.
Dealer B then quoted me $4628 AUD.
Dealer C has quoted me $4415 AUD.
Dealer D has $5699 advertised on their website.
Dealer E also has $5699 advertised on their website.
I initially went to dealer A, since I have done business with them previously.
But when Dealer B & C quoted me around ~$4.5k, I thought what's going on here?! Around $1.5k less!!!
Looking at 3 US based pricings for the FLT 132, I found them all to be $3398 USD. So allowing for AUD vs. USD, adding GST & a guestimate for freight, it seems that about $4.5k AUD should be reasonable... i.e.: a bit more than $1k on top of the US pricings. $6k for a scope which sells for $3400 in the US seems very overpriced when considering the current exchange rate.
As a benchmark for comparison, I notice that Bintel (who don't sell WO) is selling TeleVue & Orion refractors (NP101, Orion EON 130, etc.) for about $1-1.1k AUD more than the pricings from the US; So Bintel's pricings seem reasonable and confirm that I should expect no more than $1.5k above the US pricings for a 4-5" refractor.
I'd love to hear of people's opinions & particularly from those who have purchased the FLT 132.
