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IAS 2018

heliumstar

By heliumstar
in Star Parties & Astro Events

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John

John

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Tim said:

Ah, if I had known you were there today John I might have made the effort to drive around the corner and go. We umm'd and arrrr'd about setting off for Lucksall until midday, then decided it was too windy for towing the caravan. Probably just drive down for the day tomorrow I think.

What price was the Esprit? 

Listed at £2900 I think Tim but there seemed to be room to flex on that. I think I could have got it for around £2.5K which I thought would be a good price for a quality 6" triplet.

 

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Ouroboros

Ouroboros

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, obrazell said:

I suspect if they are to keep it going they are going to have to make it a one day event rather than a two day event.

 

Owen

Or every other year perhaps. 

Can anyone suggest which companies weren't there?  A lot of the main ones were there.  

I always think it's a pity that FLO don't go because it would be nice to meet the people from whom a lot of us buy kit. But then I can understand why they don't if it's not economic to do so. 

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TSRobot

TSRobot

Posted
Posted

Opticron and Astromedia weren't there. I was going to get a few kids pressies from Astromedia as they sell great educational science projects that can get kids exited and involved in. Never mind eh. Got the filter I wanted, the astronomik UHC E 1.25. 

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John

John

Posted
Posted

Telescope House were not there. They usually have a large stand.

Some of the other stands were smaller than I remember from last year and seemed to have a narrower range of goodies on display.

 

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Tim

Tim

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, John said:

Listed at £2900 I think Tim but there seemed to be room to flex on that. I think I could have got it for around £2.5K which I thought would be a good price for a quality 6" triplet.

 

Really????? Was it a used one John? Worth every single penny of that and more!

We camped next to Es and his friend at Kelling this year. Regarding the Esprits, Es' comment was "optically as good as a Takahashi, and in some cases better"

Mine is my favourite scope, for both photography and visual.

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geordie85

geordie85

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, Tim said:

Really????? Was it a used one John? Worth every single penny of that and more!

We camped next to Es and his friend at Kelling this year. Regarding the Esprits, Es' comment was "optically as good as a Takahashi, and in some cases better"

Mine is my favourite scope, for both photography and visual.

I think it was an ex demo. If I'd have had the money I'd have brought it home with me. A true thing of beauty. 

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John

John

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, geordie85 said:

I think it was an ex demo. If I'd have had the money I'd have brought it home with me. A true thing of beauty. 

Thats my understanding as well. It was in good condition I thought - little sign of use. Difficult to smuggle into the house unnoticed though !

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geordie85

geordie85

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, John said:

Thats my understanding as well. It was in good condition I thought - little sign of use. Difficult to smuggle into the house unnoticed though !

My wife was at Bristol zoo when I got home so it would have been easy. 

45 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

To those who went today .... did you think the show was well attended?  

Not as well as last year, both vendors and customers 

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knightware2

knightware2

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

To those who went today .... did you think the show was well attended?  

I was there both days, but I haven't attended in the past. Saturday was busier than Friday. The crowd grew noticeably when a talk was over. My stand stayed busy Saturday afternoon and intermittently on Friday and on Saturday morning.

Some vendors I spoke to said that business was not good, but others were happy.

One thing for sure - the gentlemen running the show are delightful to work with and really want the show to succeed.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience even with the plane fare from America.

- Phyllis

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Tim

Tim

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, knightware2 said:

One thing for sure - the gentlemen running the show are delightful to work with and really want the show to succeed

Totally. Graham and Martin work very hard to promote and organise the show.

One potential issue I see is that whenever I go, it is normally the same old faces. There is a ton of interest in astronomy from people casually interested though. If it were my show, I would deliberately target new and younger astronomers with the majority of the offerings and kit, but keeping the talks and higher end kit too for us seasoned old sausages.

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Whirlwind

Whirlwind

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, knightware2 said:

I was there both days, but I haven't attended in the past. Saturday was busier than Friday. The crowd grew noticeably when a talk was over. My stand stayed busy Saturday afternoon and intermittently on Friday and on Saturday morning.

Some vendors I spoke to said that business was not good, but others were happy.

One thing for sure - the gentlemen running the show are delightful to work with and really want the show to succeed.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience even with the plane fare from America.

- Phyllis

The UK economy is struggling to maintain momentum with everything that is going on.  Most evidence points to people prioritising food over other luxury goods (the store, but non-food, retail sector is in a complete mess).  Hence I am not surprised that there is less attendance.  Additionally things may also be normalising now the BBC no longer promote the previously high profile Stargazers Live series (which did gain peoples interest).

I was intending to go myself on Saturday but other items got in the way.

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Ouroboros

Ouroboros

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, knightware2 said:

I was there both days, but I haven't attended in the past. Saturday was busier than Friday. The crowd grew noticeably when a talk was over. My stand stayed busy Saturday afternoon and intermittently on Friday and on Saturday morning.

Some vendors I spoke to said that business was not good, but others were happy.

One thing for sure - the gentlemen running the show are delightful to work with and really want the show to succeed.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile experience even with the plane fare from America.

- Phyllis

Good to have a perspective over the two days, thanks. I am pleased to hear that it was worthwhile in your view.  I really like it as a trade/special interest show.   We Brits can sound very negative about something when actually we quite like it. Never so happy as when we're moaning etc etc. ? 

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chaxastro

chaxastro

Posted
Posted
On 12/10/2018 at 18:35, Ouroboros said:

"Once again the post code given on the website took my satnav to the wrong place. "

 

I used the one one the website: CV8 2LG.

See under 'Show Location' towards bottom of page, above the Goolge mao of the location.

Took me right to the car park...  ?

 

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Space Hopper

Space Hopper

Posted
Posted
On 12/10/2018 at 19:44, obrazell said:

I thought it was very empty and no chocolate stand ? Fewer vendors and very few people. Many of the vendors seemed to have bought less stuff as well.

 

Owen

 

Yes, much quieter than the last year or two.

It actually felt quite subdued at times. (Friday)

The vendors who were there were great, but there was certainly less kit to look at.

Its a pity there was some notables missing as others have suggested ie FLO, Telescope House, Wex Photo, Astrograph to name a few.

 

I still enjoyed it though, and spent more than i should have done (as always!)

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chaxastro

chaxastro

Posted
Posted
On 12/10/2018 at 17:25, TSRobot said:

"Did anyone notice that the coffee (a latte) tasted a bit off??"

Your not alone, thought it had a somewhat 'industrial' quality about it!  ?

Did you try the 'plastic' Tea?  ? ?

Let's hope the catering improves for 2019.

 

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FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted
On 13/10/2018 at 11:26, Ouroboros said:

I always think it's a pity that FLO don't go because it would be nice to meet the people from whom a lot of us buy kit. 

We were at the SGL Star Party ?

If next year the IAS organisers choose dates that don’t clash with SGL’s SP then we would certainly consider attending. 

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