GavStar

Hi Gav

Nice to talk to you finally at Santiago airport, and your opinion on the TEC 160 Refractor, as mentioned although I could afford the TEC 160 if pushed, I didn't think that I could justify the now £13,800 price tag, and decided instead to go for the Esprit 150 (checked by ES Reid whom I know personally).

Another option I briefly considered was the CFF 160 f 6.5, which is a slightly cheaper option than the TEC (around 11,500 Euro), but came across a tread on SGL indicating that you were not over impressed by these scopes. Interestingly I sent a brief enquiry to their UK importers Peak 2 Valley instruments just asking about pricing and delivery times. To my surprise I was inundated by e mails from their Chris Roper saying that they had got one in stock, asking me to ring him to discuss, then saying that they would do me a special price if I rang him (not saying actually what it was). He appeared so desperate to sell me the scope that it made be a bit suspicious about it, and got me wondering as to whether there might be something wrong with it. With some premium scopes, such as the AP, it is the buyer who is desperate to get on a waiting list.

John.