telescopes.com?

[jared clark]

I purchasedmy first scope from an online classifiedpage that was not astronomy specificby any means. I am happy with my 1/2 price celestron astromaster 130 eq... BUT, it won't feed my appetite for much longer! There is a telescope specialty store called "The Observatory" about an hour from my home, but if the prices on telescopes.com are as low as advertised it would be hard to turn them down. I am all for shopping local, but hundreds of dollars difference in price is hard to ignore.

Anyone have an opinion?

[Capricorn]

Tend to balance it out.

Years ago I bought 2 sets of binoculars from their sister group binoculars.com, they were on a very good offer and they shipped to the UK. Took a day and a half to get from Duluth Mn to me.

Paid the import costs and I ended up spending less (just) on both pairs as I would have for the most costly here. Later bought a spotting scope and again excellent.

Since then they have changed ownership, or some change has occurred, and they will no longer sell to the UK, shame as they are a lot less even after all costs.

Part depends on your knowledge of optics. To me as long as all the bits are there I would sort something out.

Part of the question will be how good is The Observatory?

If someone said "They are OK but nothing special" that makes a difference.

Everything I bought was delivered very quick and very well packaged. The spotting scope was like a russian doll, either 6 or 7 layers before I got at the scope. Could have been dropped out of the plane as it flew over and it wouldn't have been damaged.

With the experience I had with their other side I would be fairly happy to go with them and save on the final cost.

[rwilkey]

You could always check out the Obsevatory to see which telescope you want, perhaps even try it out, and then go back home and order the cheaper version online at Telescope.com, just a thought.

[jared clark]

Thanks guys...as long as peoples experience with the online sales sites are positive I believe I will lean towards "more bang for the buck"

[Jiggy 67]

Virtualy everything I've bought has been online with no problems. Rwilkey's crafty, sneaky and slightly underhand idea is a good one

[StarSteve]

I purchasedmy first scope from an online classifiedpage that was not astronomy specificby any means. I am happy with my 1/2 price celestron astromaster 130 eq... BUT, it won't feed my appetite for much longer! There is a telescope specialty store called "The Observatory" about an hour from my home, but if the prices on telescopes.com are as low as advertised it would be hard to turn them down. I am all for shopping local, but hundreds of dollars difference in price is hard to ignore.

Anyone have an opinion?

I sadly don't have the option since there are no dedicated astronomy stores around where I live. If there were I would be tempted to support the local store if they could add some value in the form of knowledgeable staff and a well stocked showroom. It's difficult though, since I'm on a budget, would I be prepared to sacrifice, say, 2" of aperture to keep a local brick-store going? No, I wouldn't. But YMMV.

I would suggest you pay the Observatory a visit and ask a lot of questions of the staff (preferably ones you know the answer to ). Perhaps they have dedicated and skilled people who can become a good source of information for your future purchases? That would certainly have some value.

For me though it's online stores all the way, for the reason you mention, the savings are too great. I try to use the astronomy club meetings, star meets and friends as my showroom instead, always good to fondle stuff before one make a decision.

HTH

Steve

[StarSteve]

I should add that I have been careful where I buy from, mostly starting with a small order to see how the store behaves before placing a bigger one. One can learn much from this, a vendor who responds quickly to email inquires and answers the phone are the only sort I want to deal with.

[jared clark]

Thanks StarSteve... I am going to go down to the store this weekend to check them out. Maybe they will make a lasting impression on me that will make shopping there worth my while!