Errr? Ok, these certainly ain't cheap!

[Mr Spock]

Bad news - end caps are extra...

[jabeoo1]

Shipping inclusive 

[alan potts]

Dont' you just feel that he could have gone that extra mile and asked the additional 99 eruo, it would have made it look cheaper.

All joking aside, they may well be the best when it comes to orthoscopics but even Zeiss never managed to increase eye relief on these optics, it is the one thing I tire of when using them and would opt for my 4mm Radian any day.

Alan

[spaceboy]

I personally feel you would have to be out of your mind in the first place to buy them. Lets be honest we are not talking an antique or block of gold here. They are eyepieces at the end of the day and already at a handicap due to astronomy being largely a niche hobby. If I had £9,900 EURO with the intension to invest I'd buy a block of gold as there is more chance the value is going to go up plus there is a far grater market for it. This guy is going to break even at best and at almost 10k your going to be waiting a long time for someone to come along with pockets deep enough to be able to justify such a purchase. I'm pretty sure they will sell as those chaps in the U.S. sure do love their eyepieces and lets be honest probably have weather more suited to using them.

[John]

I think buying them as an investment at that price would be silly although the seller has at least doubled his investment since they were last available new. Astro gear is made to be used though IMHO.

If you want the finest optical performance from eyepieces possible and you have the money then why not ?. £8K sounds a lot to most of us but there are quite a few folks around to whom this is a bit of minor spending so they will sell, eventually. Having watched the programme on TV recently about the auctioneers Christies I've realised that some people are happy and relaxed about spending high sums (to me) relatively casually. The costs of the most expensive astro equipment is very modest in comparison.

Spaceboy mentions the weather and that is a valid point. When I was comparing a TMB Supermonocentric eyepiece (similar league to the ZAO II's) to a University Optics HD ortho a while back I noticed that it was only on the best nights that any performance differences were noticable. On that basis I guess the ZAO II's are worth more in Arizona than thay are in the UK perhaps !

 

[rl]

I assumed it was a typo and offered £99.00....

[Chris]

I't's bad I know, but I kind of hope no one buys them. Buying EP's purely to make money and not to use seems a bit daft to me!

 

[John]

26 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

I't's bad I know, but I kind of hope no one buys them. Buying EP's purely to make money and not to use seems a bit daft to me!

 

So if I decide to buy them, I daren't mention it on here then ?

[Timebandit]

19 minutes ago, John said:

So if I decide to buy them, I daren't mention it on here then ?

 

I think John must of been a very good boy this year and has these in mind for his Christmas present?

If you do buy them John , any chance to loan these ZAO  eyepieces please. This way I can see if the £9900 you spent was worth the money ☺

[Roy Challen]

29 minutes ago, John said:

So if I decide to buy them, I daren't mention it on here then ?

Ah, but then you would use them and their value would drop by at least €5000, making them only doubly overpriced

[Chris]

3 hours ago, John said:

So if I decide to buy them, I daren't mention it on here then ?

Ah I know you're only joking...right?...right

They've become unusable by their sheer unused value...a catch 22 for the super rich!

Oh, and don't forget the Paypal fee you must pay..what would that be 400 quid? I could buy a full set of good quality Ortho's for the price of the Paypal fee !

Sorry, I do get annoyed at things that I see as injustices...Victor Meldrew in training 

[John]

Having had a trawl through the UKAB&S archives I can see a set of ZAO II's was advertised back in 2015 for "offers over £1500". With the barlow that works out at around £300 apiece which, though still very expensive, is more understandable for these. The seller of these latest ones is asking way, way more than the market value IMHO. I won't be investing as they say in the Dragons Den

[John]

Interestingly, over on the CN forum they don't seem to think that these are really overpriced

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/560487-zao-ii-double-set-priced-sky-high/#entry7602247

[Chris]

1 hour ago, John said:

Interestingly, over on the CN forum they don't seem to think that these are really overpriced

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/560487-zao-ii-double-set-priced-sky-high/#entry7602247

That is interesting, maybe the seller set the price based on the US market? Like you I thought they would be worth 250-300 a piece, so sub 3K for the double set.

[spaceboy]

I think it's more interesting the talk that "There should be new production of ZAO IIs, but it delayed so far." I wonder if the seller is aware of this and this is why they are now up for sale. If a new production was to hit the market they can kiss good bye to any chance of getting £9,900 EURO for them.

[jabeoo1]

1 hour ago, spaceboy said:

I think it's more interesting the talk that "There should be new production of ZAO IIs, but it delayed so far." I wonder if the seller is aware of this and this is why they are now up for sale. If a new production was to hit the market they can kiss good bye to any chance of getting £9,900 EURO for them.

I imagine when said E.P company sees this kind of malarky going on it becomes a no brainer to do a product re-run.  Clearly the market is far from saturated.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I would guess the manufacturer is well aware of this. I do wonder what the costs of setting up a production run and the necessary QC (for which Zeiss is justly famous) would make it worth their while. Baader apparently made a deal with Zeiss for the ZAO-II production run, and stated there was no hope for a second run. This may have been a marketing ploy, but I have some doubts about it. Zeiss clearly has little time for astronomy at this stage. After all, they could easily use their huge name to enter into the fray and give Tele-Vue, Pentax, Nikon, and Leica a serious run for their money, but evidently they choose not to, focusing on other optics such as microscopes, binoculars, etc

[niallk]

Kinda puts the 'are Tele Vue's worth it?' endless debate into perspective 

[Dave Lloyd]

At what point does performance exceed our ability to use it. It seems to me like the £10,000 hi fi system that 99% of people probably couldn't tell was any different to a £500 one. Or a 1500 bhp road car.

[John]

Astronomy is pretty exacting on observer and equipment and gets more so as you push the performance boundaries. We can't control the seeing conditions but we can hone our skills and use the best quality gear we can get our hands on for when seeing conditions are good. I think this is why there will always be a market for very high quality and very high priced equipment.

There are plenty of folks on here who use eyepieces that cost £500+ apiece and scopes, mounts and cameras that cost £thousands. There are also plenty that use much less expensive equipment and get a great deal of enjoyment from that too. Room for all I reckon and a market to serve all needs and budgets 

[faulksy]

On 21/12/2016 at 13:51, Timebandit said:

Hello very very nice , but £9,900. Not that nice 

My Baader Genuine Ortho (nearly completed set) are great and a fraction of the price, could also afford to get myself a complete set of pentax XW also. And with the change left over a decent secondhand Takahashi and a nice second hand 20" 1/10pv dob.

Now let me think would I have the Zeiss or my above list. I would go for the above list anyday I am afraid and have no regrets☺

you would be lucky simon , i wont tell you how much mine cost then

[Timebandit]

34 minutes ago, faulksy said:

you would be lucky simon , i wont tell you how much mine cost then

 

Hi Mike. Now that has me worried about going up in aperture ?. I have wondered during the build after reading the Faulksy Dob build and more recently estwing (with Moonshane ) how much a proper big dob costs to put together. Is it really around 10k mark?. I know quality costs but had not realised  it would be that much . Need to do a bit more research then I think before I bite the bullet ,or learn how to grind a mirror. But somehow after reading mapstar experience then I do not think I will have the time or patience to grind a quality mirror, especially if I want one of quality at around 1/10 pv, probably be lucky to get one of 1/2pv with my grinding skill?

[Moonshane]

you can put together a 20" dob with bought optics and accessories for maybe £3k if you make the wooden structure etc yourself.

[faulksy]

27 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

Hi Mike. Now that has me worried about going up in aperture ?. I have wondered during the build after reading the Faulksy Dob build and more recently estwing (with Moonshane ) how much a proper big dob costs to put together. Is it really around 10k mark?. I know quality costs but had not realised  it would be that much . Need to do a bit more research then I think before I bite the bullet ,or learn how to grind a mirror. But somehow after reading mapstar experience then I do not think I will have the time or patience to grind a quality mirror, especially if I want one of quality at around 1/10 pv, probably be lucky to get one of 1/2pv with my grinding skill?

closer there, but remember it's all bespoke and hand made. to buy webster,teeter e.t.c. your looking around 15k so a good saving

5k + for the mirror

[faulksy]

sorry chris, bit off topic there