Telescopes from Alibaba, a good idea or not?

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

I'm traveling to the USA in a month and among other things visit a friend. I'm in the market for a ED 80 refractor to expand my AP setup. I can order a Barska scope from amazon for 450 dollar (340 euro) which is a good deal. However, another option would be to order it from Alibaba (400+80 dollar shipping). It is 'brand-less', but appears to be an OK scope. I don't want to have the best of the best, but anyone has experience ordering this stuff from China?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/484122237/ED_Apochromatic_Refractor_BM_ED80_II_.html

Obi

[Carbon Brush]

I would stick with a known brand from a reputable astro kit supplier.

Alibaba offer all sorts of stuff from China. Good and bad.

If the maker is not proud enough of his product to put his name on it, is it any good?

[Psychobilly]

Eklipse and KSON brand kit was being imported by the Swansea Based "Telecope Planet" outfit which went bust a few years ago after the liquidation a lot of it turned up on ebay..

There is a new Company Trading as Telescope Planet that has no association with the previous Swansea based company...

This is the new Company...

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/

We have used alibaba to source components from China on several occasions...

Peter...

[pete_l]

I've never had any trouble with buying stuff direct from China before (apart from a tablet that went missing - someone opened the package and removed it - PayPal refund, little or no hassle & quick). There aren't many 440mm F/L refractors that I've heard of, so a quick google reveals the KSON Ekinox, which is sold in Aus. That looks similar to the one in the Alibaba picture.

One note: a lot of chinese stuff gets shipped with a customs declaration of something like "Gift, value $5". It's doubtful that a telescope sized consignment would fool a customs check with that written on it, so be prepared for someone to charge you duty + VAT when it comes into the EU.

[John]

You will have no guarantee of quality buying through Alibaba and, I suspect, little recourse if the item has any issues. That particular scope has a cemented objective lens. the vast majority of refractor lenses for astronomy purposes are air spaced rather than cemented. There have been one or two cemented ED doublets but they are scarce. I believe terrestrial spotting scopes use cemented lenses more so this might be a scope that was originally intended as a spotter.

80mm ED doublet refractors are not expensive from well know brands these days so I'd not risk going through Alibaba.

[John]

...One note: a lot of chinese stuff gets shipped with a customs declaration of something like "Gift, value $5". It's doubtful that a telescope sized consignment would fool a customs check with that written on it, so be prepared for someone to charge you duty + VAT when it comes into the EU...

I believe thats illegal and, if it did get damaged, the compensation would be limited to $5 - you can't have it both ways !

[pete_l]

I believe thats illegal and, if it did get damaged, the compensation would be limited to $5 - you can't have it both ways !

When you use PayPal, you open a complaint with them and the merchant will offer a settlement amount. In my case the merchant refunded the full value of the stolen tablet. I had asked for P&P, too but didn't get that. How or if the merchant's costs were reclaimed from DHL was none of my concern.

I neither asked the vendor to falsify the customs declaration nor knew that they would.

[John]

When you use PayPal, you open a complaint with them and the merchant will offer a settlement amount. In my case the merchant refunded the full value of the stolen tablet. I had asked for P&P, too but didn't get that. How of if the costs were reclaimed from DHL was none of my concern.

I neither asked the vendor to falsify the customs declaration nor knew that they would.

Fair enough but I didn't know you used Paypal and I didn't say you did ask for the customs declaration to be falsified. I was not accusing you of anything actually, just pointing out the potential risks of that approach.

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

Hmzz thanks for all the tips guys, when something seems to good to be true, it usually is.

Is the Barska any good?

http://www.amazon.com/BARSKA-Magnus-560x80-Refractor-Telescope/dp/B0018CZ52W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372240760&sr=8-1&keywords=barska+ed+80

[lensman57]

I'm traveling to the USA in a month and among other things visit a friend. I'm in the market for a ED 80 refractor to expand my AP setup. I can order a Barska scope from amazon for 450 dollar (340 euro) which is a good deal. However, another option would be to order it from Alibaba (400+80 dollar shipping). It is 'brand-less', but appears to be an OK scope. I don't want to have the best of the best, but anyone has experience ordering this stuff from China?

http://www.alibaba.c...M_ED80_II_.html

Obi

Hi,

Buying cheap is tempting but you have two major problems with obscure or none branded items. First problem is that these are not tried and tested so you don't know if they are up to the job or what sort of support you will get if something breaks during the warranty period, second problem is that you will get next to nothing if after a while you decided to sell it, no one is going to pay money for something unknown. Better pay 30 or 40 extra euros and get an SW ED 80 from a reputable dealer. You will have peace of mind that is priceless.

Regards,

A.G

[ollypenrice]

This gear is delicate and complex. Looking at a scope and saying 'This is exactly the same scope as that under a different name' can be rather naive. What happens to the QC rejects, for instance? Not all objectives come up to scratch. Do they throw them away or push them out unbranded?

I want there to be good astronomy retailers making an honest living, providing backup, advice, spares and help regarding maintenance. I accept that they have to eat. I have nothing to do with no-name outlets when it comes to something like a telescope.

Olly

[perfrej]

I have to agree with Olly on this. There are sound business models and then unsound ones. Everyone has to eat and to always chase the last dollar off is going to eat the business down to bare bones. I like non-ascetic suppliers best because they can be proud about the product they deliver while the ascetic ones can only be proud about the price itself. Quality control is your friend and you cannot be sure about that when going the Alibaba route. Alibaba is only a directory (much like Google search) and do not have to take responsibility for what is published.

Nah, go the safe route and buy from someone with an address in a part of the world that you can fathom and whose face you can see.

/per

[lensman57]

I'm traveling to the USA in a month and among other things visit a friend. I'm in the market for a ED 80 refractor to expand my AP setup. I can order a Barska scope from amazon for 450 dollar (340 euro) which is a good deal. However, another option would be to order it from Alibaba (400+80 dollar shipping). It is 'brand-less', but appears to be an OK scope. I don't want to have the best of the best, but anyone has experience ordering this stuff from China?

http://www.alibaba.c...M_ED80_II_.html

Obi

Hi Obi,

Further to my previous post and considering that you can have exactly the same gear in the USA, as in Europe and pay the same figure but in Dollars rather than in Euro, I think that you ought to ask your frined in the US to order a decent scope of your choice and just pay him back when you get there. The savings could be substantial as you are working in Dollars not Euros or Stirling. I think that it is worth considering.

A.G

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hmzz thanks for all the tips guys, when something seems to good to be true, it usually is.

Is the Barska any good?

http://www.amazon.co...ds=barska ed 80

Hi , these look a lot like the 'Long Perng ' scopes . they make a lot of brand name scopes like WO and the likes , awesome build quality .I had the 90mm f5.5 APO (? ) for a while , it was very well made in all ways but sadly its APO performance was more like 'Semi APO' good but not as good as my ED80 I had at the time by a long shot on bright objects like the moon , Jupiter etc. On deep sky it performed very well for a 90mm scope . As I said the build was first rate , a nice scope . here it is beside my ED80 , both scopes are now sold . the ED80 was "saxon" branded . Brian.

[ollypenrice]

Read Per's post at least three times.

Olly

[Corpze]

I believe this one: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/469141012/ED_Apochromatic_Refractor_BM_ED102_I_.html is the same as the Meade 5000 series 102mm APO ?

[Jessun]

They are big though, selling more than eBay and Amazon combined (or so I Googled) On a whole they must do something right...

I would rate lenses and mirrors as rather critical though, in the sense that they reveal manufacturing errors quite dramatically. The equivalent in, say a car stereo, would be that it didn't switch on at all, not just lacking bass or something. The step from perfect to useless is literally only a couple of microns...

So I personally wouldn't go for it.

/Jesper

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

Hmzz enough to think about. I'm not going to get it from Alibaba or ebay, but from a local dealer or the USA friend. Thanks for saving me a good 300 pounds

[baggywrinkle]

Celestron and Skywatcher get their optics manufactured in China.

Having lived 10 years there ,1998-2008, I would say that the Ningbo Barride Optics are OK, they are known manufacturers of microscopes etc, so they must be doing something right.

So their branded products should be OK.

On a recent visit to Thailand I went down to the street market in Bangkon on the Sukhumvit Road towards the Nana Plaze end. Many stall carried spotter scopes and bino's with some well know trade names, a quick look was all that was needed to see these were shoddy copies and despite their low cost compared to the reak thing were useless.