Help needed in buying a telescope.

[ananthvyas]

Hey guys,

I'm a newbie here, not sure if this is the right place to ask. I live in India and i want to buy a good telescope soon. But the problem is that the scopes available here cost heck of a lot more than the US price listings. For example, the sw 200p eq5 costs 415 usd if you buy in the US, whereas official dealers here charge 820usd which i find very unreasonable. So i would like to know if there are any good online stores which do worldwide shipping. I'm guessing even with the shipping charges and import duty, it should cost me way less.

Thanks for the help,

Ananth.

[Capricorn]

No knowledge of any US retailers, you will have to search out a few and ask, also try Canadian retailers.

In the UK I am not aware of any that would ship to Mumbai, they are not big enough to get into that.

Try Telescope-Service in Germany

http://www.telescope-service.com/

They ship to all of Europe and may be able to ship to Mumbai, email to enquire.

Another that appeared recently is optical systems:

http://www.optical-systems.co.uk/index.php

They have a list of shipping fees and although India is not in any there is a section for Other.

Worth an email.

If you wanted a refactor then WO have an Online shop.

[DirkSteele]

Oceanside Photo and Telescope in the US ship worldwide and I have found their customer service and shipping speed to be first class. Though you shoud be aware that certain products have restrictions that prevent them from shipping to a country where a dealer already exists.

http://www.optcorp.com/

As well as import duty and shipping, the items may be subject to value added tax as well. In the UK that adds 20% to the price.

[ananthvyas]

Thanks a lot capricorn and dirksteele, hopefully with a few emails i should find the right seller...

[Carbon Brush]

Just word of caution.

I sometimes ship goods to India. Usually small electronics, returned to the user following repair.

Getting items through India customs/import can be very problematic to say the least.

You would be well advised to enquire about procedures and problems before you have a parcel stuck at an airport incurring storage charges.

Then, check that the carrier used by the shipper (UPS, Fedex, etc) will be handling the parcel door to door. Often they delegate the handling to local agents. In my experience these have less than reliable.

Good luck with your scope purchase.

[umadog]

I wonder if there is a sizeable second hand market in India? Could you look around for a local astronomy club and ask the members what they have done? I'd suggest you explore other avenues in addition to getting a new one shipped from abroad. I don't know which option will be better, but you have to investigate to find out! Good luck!

[ananthvyas]

I'm not sure about the second hand market. The problem is tht astronomy is tough on the pockets, more so in india as i mentioned. This defnitely dissuades many people from buying them and hence i'm guessing not so thriving second hand market. I did join a local astronomy club in mumbai but i haven't got any updates from them as to when a star party might be hosted. Since it's the monsoon season, i'm not gonna have very high hopes

[umadog]

I see. You are probably right about second hand, but you never know. Definitely contact the local club, though. Star Parties are usually rare events, a club may host one a year or none at all. Usually a star party will be at a remote, dark, site. Most clubs will have regular meetings and regular observing sessions closer to home. Those are the events you want to be going to. If you have to pay a premium for gear then make sure you get the right gear. The best way of doing that is to see it in action and decide for yourself what will work best for you. Also, take a look at posts on the beginner's forum and not which scopes are being repeatedly recommended. You'll probably see a pattern. Another thing you could try is getting in touch with with an Indian observer over on Cloudy Nights: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showprofile.php?Cat=0&User=188870&page=64&what=showmembers He's very keen and will doubtless share a lot of advice.

[farunj]

Hey guys,

I'm a newbie here, not sure if this is the right place to ask. I live in India and i want to buy a good telescope soon. But the problem is that the scopes available here cost heck of a lot more than the US price listings.

Thanks for the help,

Ananth.

Hi there ananthvyas. I also live in India in Pune. Where do you live? And I agree that the scopes here cost a lot. From where did you check the price of the 200p?? www.tejraj.com is a good site for us Indians!! ( I think!)

[umadog]

As I think about it, another option open to you is to build a scope. You would likely need to import mirrors (learning to grind your own is possible, but perhaps not what you had in mind), but this would probably be easier and cheaper than importing a whole scope. Building a Dobsonian mount isn't hard. You could do it your self or, and this may be equally cost effective, pay a local carpenter to do it or help you do it. There are books you can buy to help you (e.g. that by Kriege and Berry). I built a scope as a kid, it's not so hard. Over here in the west, building doesn't usually result in savings. But for you, with high import duty and probably cheap local labour, it may make financial sense.

[ananthvyas]

Hey farunj, i live in the IIT campus in mumbai (student) Actually tejraj has a much higher price. I checked in galileo telescopes. Great to meet you, can you please recommend me a good astronomy club here? How's the AAAB?

@umadog : that seems like a good option too..! i just din know whether they would be so easy to build... is there any online resource i can look up?

[farunj]

I don't know about any astronomy clubs in Mumbai. In Pune I am a part of Khagol Vishwa. I think they also have a branch there. I also regularly go out with astronomica. These 2 clubs are good!

[ananthvyas]

khagol vishwa seems like an awesome club, from what i saw on their web page. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to commute to pune from here on a regular basis. In case, you do get to know what's a good club here, do give me a heads up

[farunj]

Yes I will! I too am a student and am going to give JEE next year that is in 2013.