The Price of things

[Robert Watson]

Does anyone else think that our great hobbie is to dear? I,ve just be looking for a new goto handset,and to be honest my mortgage costs less a month in fact to buy a new handset i would have to take out a new mortgage. Why don't these big companys do repairs,I wound'nt mind paying £40-£50 to get something fixed instead of £250 £299 for a replacement is it just me or do other people see it that way (got out of bed the wrong side this morning)

[MjrTom]

It is an expensive hobby but then anything involving finely tuned optical systems is going to cost a lot of money.

In your case regarding the cost of handsets I suspect it comes down to the number of units they can sell each year. More units the lower the individual cost. They need to pay for infrastructure, design, tooling, manufacturing and marketing. These costs need to be recooperated some how. Its not like thye are selling microwaves or tv's which are manufactured on a huge scale and therefore can be sold cheaper.

My thoughts anyway

[steelfixer]

Good morning Robert.

Basically it is cheaper to manufacture electronics than to repair them.

Take cordless drills for example it is cheaper to buy a new one than to get your old one repaired.

It is not worth the companys' time repairing stuff when they can sell you a new one.

There are however many small electronics firms who will be only to willing to repair it for you.

At a price!!!

[kniclander]

compare it to prices 10 to 20 years ago - as they say, you've never had it so good (well except for the last couple of years...)

[shaunster]

which handset is it ?

[JamesM]

I understand how you feel and on the surface what you say makes sense. I have been looking back at some past Sky At Night episodes and watching Patrick Moore commenting upon an 8" reflector, reminded me of how lucky we all are in being able to buy a similar scope today (or bigger) for relatively little cost compared to then. The cost charged on the handsets allows the scopes to be sold cheaply which enables more of us to get started in astronomy and to set us on course for the upgrades (read aperture fever!) A scope is essential for deep sky viewing/imaging whereas GOTO etc isn't and so I'm happy that Skywatcher and others decide to subsidize this interest at the front end rather than in the toys.

One compromise is to keep an eye out on the for sale section here and astro buy as handsets etc do come up for sale from time to time.

James

[Robert Watson]

Don't get me wrong ,i do see you point about the tooling and and all that, but to make a product you have to have the parts at hand, My son has a remote control car and you can buy every single nut,bolt,or part for it, if you manufacture quantity you must have the part's so why can't the manufactures set aside spare parts, Look at a goto handset it's made up of six componants If somthing fails in the handset its only going to be 1 of three parts the main board, back light ,lcd screen,not one of these parts is going to cost anywhere near a new handset.Synscan AZ goto handset, I really do love my Hobbie but when things break and it costs the earth to replace it !my....my I did get out of bed the wrong side to day

[MjrTom]

I agree spare parts should be available if you want to do repairs yourself or get someone else to do it.

I suppose their pricing model is a bit like games consoles, sell it at cost price to get you hooked then make the money on the games and accessories.

[astro mick]

Hi Robert.

I,m with you on this one.The cost of items does seem very expensive,especially(Although not in your case)we can never seem to settlle with what we have got.I have a 12nm H-Alpha filter but now i want a 6nm,because their supposed to be better.I cant afford it,but i,m chopping at the bit.

Yes spares would make it easy,or repairs should be an option,to try and keep costs down.

Hope it goes well for you.

Regards.

Mick.

[Moonshane]

Ironically, I think part of the problem here is the booming used goods market. if many people buy used equipment there's obviously a smaller market for buyers of new gear and hence new prices are high for the reasons stated relating to small production runs and the resulting higher costs per unit.

[Shibby]

Agreed that this is a very expensive hobby, however it can be done on a budget as a beginner. Skywatcher in particular can take credit for this. I think a lot of the better equipment is over-priced, but this is simply down to how specialised the equipment is; maybe this will start to change with the recent boom in budding astronomers.

Ironically, I think part of the problem here is the booming used goods market. if many people buy used equipment there's obviously a smaller market for buyers of new gear and hence new prices are high for the reasons stated relating to small production runs and the resulting higher costs per unit.

It's the other way round imho. Or at least a vicious cycle!

[John]

The hobby was much more expensive around 25 years back when I was looking for my 1st serious scope. Back then the Chinese and the Russians had not entered the market and the choice was i) department store rubbish scopes ii) a few UK manufacturers (some not much more than hobbyists) or iii) very expensive Japanese or US made gear. The 4th option was DIY which was very popular back then because even a 6" newtonian cost many £hundreds to buy.

The last decade has been a wonderful time for affordable equipment - I hope it lasts and the Chinese in particular can continue to supply our voracious appetite for affordable yet sophisticated equipment

[blackparticle]

If you take into consideration that for about a grand you can produce images in your back garden far better than George Hale ever did just over 100 years ago with the worlds most advanced 40" telescope and observatory.. You can't really complain about that.

[kniclander]

If you take into consideration that for about a grand you can produce images in your back garden far better than George Hale ever did just over 100 years ago with the worlds most advanced 40" telescope and observatory.. You can't really complain about that.

well said but if George Hale were still alive he'd come and beat you with his 200 inch telescope

[rfdesigner]

I wound'nt mind paying £40-£50 to get something fixed instead of £250 £299 for a replacement...

Trouble is you're buying skilled labour to fix, so that's £50 an hour minimum (half of which is tax). Where as to build another one a set of machines can do just one more itteration of building and you got a new one. (and ~20% of that cost is tax)

Of course in these days of google the course of action is different. Once you spend a long time trying to find out what went wrong, but today there's always someone somewhere prepared to give a little how-to to fix the item... best bit is the tax man can't get a slice of the action

1. note failure symptoms.

2. google for a fix.

3. try fixing it yourself.

4. If it works pat yourself on the back having spent <£5 to sort it out. If not, go buy a new one in the knowledge that the fault is probably more serious and you do need to replace it.

Derek

[Robert Watson]

But with the price of things today that 200 inch scope would cost a Squillian pounds and try buying spare parts for it

[blackparticle]

I have to admit, the outperforming of the 40" or even 100" Mt Wilson scopes by a 3" refractor isn't really much to do with the scope. It's to do with the camera and computer processing afterwards.

They way things are going with advancements here you never know, in another few decades amateur scopes might be able to knock Hubble out of its orbit, so to speak.

For example, has anyone invented "Digital Adaptive Optics" yet whereby the CCD can process the images and adjust for atmospheric disturbance in real-time computationally rather than mechanically?