Help required Orion Optics UK VX12

[Commanderfish]

Just going back to EP choices for the VX12 F4; I've been using my OOUK VX10 F4.8, with the same 1200mm FL as yours, and a Paracorr giving F5.6 and 1380mm FL.

 

I have found that my most used EPs are (just bear in mind your exit pupils are about 10% larger than this):  

41mm Panoptic: x 34 Mag, 7.4mm Exit Pupil and 2 degrees true field  - wide field sweeping

(13mm Ethos:  x106, 2.4mm Exit Pupil, 0.84 degrees true field - great for framing some open clusters like M35 - 38)

10mm Ethos: x138, 1.8mm Exit Pupil, 0.72 degrees true field - galaxies (and planets during poor seeing)

8mm Ethos: x172, 1.5mm Exit Pupil, 0.58 degrees true field - planets.

 

The 13mm gets used the least at the moment because M35-38 aren't up at the moment.

The 41mm would give you too large an Exit Pupil in your scope at F4, so I'd go for an Explore Scientific 30mm 82 degree or Nagler T5 31mm.  

In your scope, the 30mm would be the eyepiece I would start off with each time, then moving to a 10mm, then an 8mm if the seeing is good enough.  So I would recommend that the first thing you buy would be a 30mm for wide field.  There's actually an Explore Scientific 30mm 82 degree for sale on here for £199, can't go wrong buying used as you can always sell it on for the same price (maybe more if the pound drops again - the new price will go up, pushing up the used price too).  I bought one over a year ago with a view to testing out the focal length before changing to the more expensive 31mm Nagler T5, but I like the ES30mm so much that I can't see me changing it to the 31mm T5.

Next I would go for an 8mm Ethos in your scope as this gives you a very useful 1.7mm exit pupil (with Paracorr).  It gives you x173 mag, but if this is too much for the seeing conditions (i.e. on low planets), you can pull the Paracorr out (coma is less of a issue at higher magnification anyway) thereby reducing the mag to x150, which the seeing conditions ought to be good enough for most of the time.

 

So if you are only buying the Paracorr and 2 eyepieces, for about £1230 (assuming you buy a used ES30mm and the others new), you could get the Paracorr type 2, ES 30mm and an Ethos 8mm, effectively giving you three EPS:

30mm with Paracorr:     x46, 1.78 degree TFOV, 6.5mm EP

8mm without Paracorr: x150, 0.67 degree TFOV, 2mm EP

8mm with Paracorr:     x173, 0.58 degree TFOV, 1.7mm EP

[guillaume320]

Just a quick update on my adventure with this scope....

Well, basically, I'm still waiting for it.  OOUK told me around mid-August the scope was ready (as they had promised!).  I knew they delivered free of cost in the UK. So I decided to have it delivered to a good friend of mine, and I was planning on picking it up on a later occasion on one of my regular trips to the UK...

The scope was sent by UKMail, however it was never delivered... They said a delivery attempt was made, but my friend (who was home that day) saw no-one.  When trying to reschedule the delivery, it became clear UKMail didn't know where the box was (they couldn't find it in their warehouse anymore)... 

When trying to get more information from them, UKMail didn't want to deal with me because I was nor the shipper, nor the receiver of the package. I'm just a third party!!!

So OOUK has started some kind of procedure with UKMail to try and find back the package, however we are several months (!) down the road and I'm still waiting.

I'm quite patient by nature, but this is beginning to stretch it, even for me!

I guess the vast majority of people on this forum is from the UK.  Any advise you could give on how to deal with this situation is greatly appreciated...

 

Best regards,

 

Guillaume

[Stu]

That sounds pretty rough Guillame  

I'm not totally sure of the legal position, but would expect that the dispute between OO and UKMail is nothing you should be involved in. OO chose the courier and have not delivered the goods to you so you should be entitled to a replacement or refund. That is certainly what I would be pushing for now, how long to the expect you to wait until they declare the scope lost?

Start pushing for an answer, you've been patient enough.

[John]

I'm sorry to hear this.

You do need to press Orion Optics hard though. You have probably gathered that they do have a rather uneven track record in terms of meeting delivery agreements etc.

As Stu says, they are responsble for getting the product that you ordered to you in good shape. It is not your responsbility to do the running around , it is theirs.

 

[nicoscy]

At this point, after a certain reasonable time period (let's call it two weeks max) if the scope is not delivered, OO must refund you completely and then they will need to claim insurance from UKMail. Do NOT make it your problem. I've had mixed luck with Barry and John as well and when things get bad with these two, they really get ugly.

At this point, if you made a payment via PayPal you can easily open a case and get this sorted out. If payment was made via bank transfer, consumer rights are well protected in the UK and you can file a claim and they will "force" the seller to take care of the issue "or else".

 

[DavidJM]

I had a delivery lost by UK mail, supplier refunded in 24hours and gave me a complementary voucher to go to next order, this is totally unacceptable customer service and not your issue, take the advice above about payments and get tough with them 

[Paul73]

It is such a shame. Their scopes are good. I've got one that I bought second hand.

What a way to run a business. There seems to be a gap in the market for a mid range manufacturer who care about their customers.

Good luck. The scope will be good. You try a letter from your legal representative, demanding a refund plus damages (or, alternatively, a nice new scope as ordered). Small businesses get very uneasy ? when court action is on the horizon ££££!

Paul

[guillaume320]

Thanks everyone for the replies...

I sent an email to OOUK this morning, and they replied: "From putting the claim in it can take up to 3 months. We should hear back soon"

Let's wait and see what happens over the coming days...

G

[nicoscy]

Ah, but the 3 month wait is OO UK's problem to sort out with UKMail. You should be refunded if no scope is delivered within a reasonable time period (hence the 2 weeks I recommended).

[guillaume320]

2 hours ago, nicoscy said:

Ah, but the 3 month wait is OO UK's problem to sort out with UKMail. You should be refunded if no scope is delivered within a reasonable time period (hence the 2 weeks I recommended).

I sent OOUK another email letting them know I want to be refunded if the scope hasn't been found by the end of the month... I'm being generous, maybe too much so...

[25585]

On 18 June 2017 at 13:16, Joseki said:

Im suprised noone has questioned whether getting a 12" f4 scope is a good first scope - a 8" f6 dob costs peanuts and is easy on the eps and will show you plenty and could save you a lot of cash.

I would go for a VX12L if the extra length is not too much a hindrance. 

Otherwise if you want shorter fl & can spend more there are the OO carbon fibre tube models. 

[guillaume320]

4 hours ago, 25585 said:

I would go for a VX12L if the extra length is not too much a hindrance.  

Length is indeed an issue...hence I went for the shorter VX12

[Stu]

22 hours ago, guillaume320 said:

Thanks everyone for the replies...

I sent an email to OOUK this morning, and they replied: "From putting the claim in it can take up to 3 months. We should hear back soon"

Let's wait and see what happens over the coming days...

G

Not good enough Guillaume. They have your money and chose the method of shipping to you, which has failed.

They owe you an immediate refund or replacement. You are a customer who has paid a lot of money! It is unacceptable.

[guillaume320]

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not good enough Guillaume. They have your money and chose the method of shipping to you, which has failed.

They owe you an immediate refund or replacement. You are a customer who has paid a lot of money! It is unacceptable.

I just received another email from OOUK... They are working on a replacement scope right away, and once it's ready, I will be picking it up personally.

I hope my patience will be rewarded!! 

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, guillaume320 said:

I just received another email from OOUK... They are working on a replacement scope right away, and once it's ready, I will be picking it up personally.

I hope my patience will be rewarded!! 

Excellent. Quite right too