Orion vs SkyWatcher

[recceranger]

I was just reading the latest edition of S@N magazine and it contains an Orion Optics supplement.  In the scopes section it advertises the Orion MAK 180 Pro with a price tag of £1000 (approx).  I know that the SW MAK 180 Pro is around £740

I assumed both OTAs were the same (colour excluding), so why the hefty jump in cost? Does the Orion have better quality?

 

[John]

Is that Orion Optics (UK)  or Orion (USA) ?. Orion Optics (UK) do 140mm and 200mm versions of their OMC maksutov-cassegrain but, as far as I know, not a 180mm

The Orion Optics OMC 200 is around £6K I think.

The Orion (USA) mak-cassegrains are the same as the Skywatcher ones but with a different colour scheme. With that branding the instruments always seem to cost a bit more the the Skywatcher equivalent in the UK. I'm not sure why that is

 

[Cornelius Varley]

I think the cost difference is because the Orion branded Synta products are imported from the US, already incurring import duties in the US, whereas the Skywatcher products come direct from China.

[Dave In Vermont]

By and large - in the USA I've noted that shortcomings of telescopes & other optics where both Orion-USA and Skywatcher are concerned, Skywatcher seems to listen to their customers and fix little problems quite quickly. Orion likely will get around to it - sometime. One example was the threading of the visual-back on these Maks. They needed another adapter to fit other components. Skywatcher, I'm guessing, told Synta to please make these changes to the Maks you send us. And Synta did so. Orion seems to drag it's feet.

But optically speaking, the Orion and Skywatcher Maks are the same animal - as John pointed out above. On a personal note - these Maks have very good optics! I went for a 150mm SW. And it's given me excellent performance. It arrived collimated out-of-box. And remains so - even after it having had a drop to a wooden floor from several feet above. My laser's all agreed on this. Noted for their use on Soviet battle-tanks during WWII, I can see why the Maksutov-design was selected for such duty.

I bought mine as my dedicated local solar-system scope, where their rather narrow FOV and loving to pour-on magnification are assets - imho.

Enjoy the view -

Dave

 

 

Soviet-era Maks

 

[recceranger]

Yes Dave I have the 150 myself and love it.  On the point regarding Orion vs SW, it's seems that the Orion UK business model is nuts! Why pay £250 more for a different colour? Lol?

[rocket9244]

I had the Orion 10 inch dob and it gave great views and it was built good.

now I have a 16 inch sky watcher and its built good. I haven't looked thru it as they sent the wrong OTA and now i have to go thru the hurry up and wait for the new OTA to arrive. .

but, the mirror is celestron.. and it is a conical mirror, it is used in all 16" models. These mirrors are self-supporting, cool faster and do not require mirror clips.