Ian King at FLO

[FLO]

Ian King is joining FLO 🙂

Through his business 'Ian King Imaging' Ian has done more to promote and support astrophotography in the UK than any other person. Many of you reading this will have purchased an imaging camera, mount or accessory from Ian and benefitted from his advice and support. 

Owning and running a business is hard work emotionally, physically and mentally! Ian has run Ian King Imaging successfully for fifteen years but has reached the point where he wants more time for his family and for his remote telescope hosting operation ICastronomy in Spain. With this in mind he has decided to close Ian King Imaging then work at FLO. 

At FLO he will continue promoting and supporting high end brands including Takahashi, QSI, Paramount & 10Micron while FLO handles logistics (i.e. order handling, stock control, packing, dispatch and delivery). 

Having Ian onboard will enable us to grow further into the high-end astronomy market and handle larger projects, like new observatory installations. We are excited at the opportunity and potential! 

We hope you agree this is a good move that benefits Ian, FLO and the UK astronomy community. 

Regards, 

Steve & the FLO team. 

[FLO]

Over the coming weeks FLO will work with Ian to clear his remaining stock as he wraps up IKI.

If you are an IKI customer and require warranty assistance please contact Ian direct via his usual IKI email address. 

[souls33k3r]

The best just got better! 

Good luck to Ian and FLO

[Chris]

Wow! Massive news! I'm sure it will be a great move for both FLO and Ian! Congratulations The FLO empire continues to expand  

[John]

I've met and spoken with Ian a couple of times - he is a very helpful and knowledgeable chap. I bought my Tak FC-100DL from IKI and was very pleased with their service 

I'm sure the IK - FLO partnership will be very successful.

[Gina]

Brilliant!    Here's hoping the merger goes well. 

[knobby]

FLOIKI ... has a nice ring to it 🙂 good luck all !

[Stu]

Wow indeed, that's a great move and will really strengthen and grow FLO in the higher end. Great stuff! Welcome Ian!

[souls33k3r]

5 hours ago, knobby said:

FLOIKI ... has a nice ring to it 🙂 good luck all !

Swap some characters around and you get FI-LOKI

always loved that character

Edited June 20, 2019 by souls33k3r

[johninderby]

Dealt with Ian quite a few times and have allways been impressed with his depth of knowledge. Great move. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Edited June 20, 2019 by johninderby

[Mark at Beaufort]

Really pleased for both FLO and Ian. I have also met Ian on a number of occasions - really nice, knowledgeable person. Steve I wish you and your team every success moving forward.

[barkis]

Sought Ian's advice only a couple of times in the past, but I found him to be  an incredibly helpful guy, and 
his pleasant persona will fit very  well into the Flo. Team.
Best Wishes Mr King.
Ron.

Edited June 20, 2019 by barkis

[jock1958]

Had a lot of good advice from Ian King before I bought my Tak FC-100DL off him. Needless to say I’ve been very happy with my purchase.

Good luck to you both I’m sure it will be an excellent partnership!

[geordie85]

Great news. 

Does this mean FLO will stock the same products that is currently available at iankingimaging? 

[FLO]

1 minute ago, geordie85 said:

Great news. 

Does this mean FLO will stock the same products that is currently available at iankingimaging? 

Yes. That’s the plan 🙂

Steve 

[carastro]

Ian is a great Astro Retailer and I have done a fair amount of purchasing from him in the past.  He is also an excellent source of advice and a very fair person.   He allowed me to try something out to see if it would work, and either return it or pay for it -  (it was a spacer I think I recall), how many retailers will send you something without having to pay for it first.

Also I was talking to Ian about buying my first Atik Mono camera some years ago, and before I had made a decision, a few days later he e mailed me to tip me off that Atik were doing a really cheap deal on the camera at Astrofest - thus doing himself out of a sale - again how many retailers would do that.

Ian, FLO and Modern Astronomy are always my first choice of retailers, so I will only have to decide between two in the future.

Ian will be a great asset to FLO, it sounds like a great amalgamation.  

Is Ian moving house, or working on-line from home, as he currently lives in Kent?

Carole 

Edited June 20, 2019 by carastro

[RobertI]

Exciting news, congratulations, I’ve bought a number of imaging items from Ian and attended one of his imaging workshops, top fellow (and a fellow Rush fan 😎). Sounds like a very sensible and beneficial move all round.

I just hope you don’t get referred to the monopolies and mergers commission! 😉

Edited June 20, 2019 by RobertI

[tomato]

Congratulations to both parties, M & MC jests aside, if I may voice one small regret it is that the number of top notch UK Astro retailers has gone down by one.

[ollypenrice]

I owe Ian King an enormous debt in terms of the sound advice he offered me when I decided to embark on DS imaging, advice I often pass on to this day with its source acknowledged. It can only be a good thing that two completely reliable and expert astronomy retailers are merging like this because your overlapping specialities and areas of expertise seem to mesh so well.

I can only wish you well for the future and do so with both my head and my heart.

Olly

[Skipper Billy]

Bravo to both parties - sensible and mutually beneficial. I will toast your continued success with a dram and my wallet !

[Star101]

Congratulations to both Ian and FLO.

I bought all my Astrodon filters from IKI. Not all at once, maybe three orders over 18 months, Ha, LRGB then the OIII & SII. Each time, it was a pleasure to deal with Ian. Always pleasant and fast delivery. Great service.

[Tom OD]

Best of Luck Ian and FLO. I have bought items from Ian in the past, and attended one of his workshops years ago.

I always liked his honesty about a product.

I notice his ICAstronomy has found a new location near Oria in Spain. That's about 15Km where I re-located to for 3 years to image. I think he'll enjoy it there. It is Europe's only desert. Or at least was.

Pretty dark there too.

Tom.

[DaveS]

IKI were a regular stand at Astrofest, so I'm wondering if FLO will pick it up?

[Daniel-K]

4 hours ago, knobby said:

FLOIKI ... has a nice ring to it 🙂 good luck all !

Wasn't he in Vikings??

[FLO]

Thank-you for your kind comments 🙂 

3 hours ago, carastro said:

Is Ian moving house, or working on-line from home, as he currently lives in Kent?

Ian will continue working online from home. That won't change. (Same as Grant, he is also a remote worker). Modern Chat, real-time Video communication and web based applications have made this possible. 

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

IKI were a regular stand at Astrofest, so I'm wondering if FLO will pick it up?

Not sure about Astrofest but we are currently in discussion with the organisers of the International Astronomy Show. Ian will of course be with us at events. 

We will post details of events we are attending here at SGL. 

Thanks for asking, 

Steve