Where are Baader Morpheus Made?

[Alan White]

Just seen an advert for Baader Morpheus as Made in Germany..... is that correct.
I presumed designed in Germany made in Far East or am I wrong?

 

[Solar B]

I’ve a full set but I’ve no idea where 

they are actually manufactured ?

There are no marking of origin on the EP

that I can see either !

Brian 

[John]

I'm pretty sure they are manufactured in China.

Along with many other excellent eyepieces

[Louis D]

More interestingly, where was the optical design done?  Germany?  China?  Other?

[Solar B]

My guess for the design would be Deutschland as is impressive 

8 lenses in 5 groups ... with 3 ED & 1 Lanthan lens.

Brian 

 

 

[John]

1 ED and 2 Lanthanum elements according to the Baader specs:

https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/downloads/dl/file/id/431/product/2855/morpheus_information_and_applications.pdf

 

[Alan White]

So clearly it’s not an instant answer then.

@FLO is the place of manufacture known?

[Ruud]

Baader seemed completely in the dark about when the 17.5 mm would become available. And when it did, and the eye cup had been changed, they could deliver the new eye cup as a retrofit to older Morphs (at cost), but a new dust cap to fit the new eye cup they could not get their hands on.

My guess is that the eyepiece is Chinese, except maybe for the designs of the waffle grip and barrel kerfs, and the pouches (which look suspiciously smart on lederhosen).

I got angry with them, btw, when they notified me that they could not "deliver the new dust caps to [my] country". I'm in the country next door to them!

They couldn't say of course that only the manufacturer had access to the dust caps.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Ruud

[John]

2 minutes ago, Alan White said:

So clearly it’s not an instant answer then.

@FLO is the place of manufacture known?

Manufacture = China. I'm pretty sure of that Alan. Design, specs, QA - don't know.

 

[x6gas]

If they say they are manufactured in Germany then doesn't EU law state that's where they have to be made or at least assembled?

My guess - if they are indeed labelled as made in Germany - is that the parts are supplied form China but they are assembled in Deutschland.

[Don Pensack]

They are made in China.  They might have been designed in Germany, however.

I don't know the factory name, but I bet there are many in the business that do--especially those who import directly.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Don Pensack

[Solar B]

20 minutes ago, John said:

1 ED and 2 Lanthanum elements according to the Baader specs:

https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/downloads/dl/file/id/431/product/2855/morpheus_information_and_applications.pdf

 

Check this out & yes they nor I 

can spell Lanthanum..a la Vixen 🧐

[John]

3 minutes ago, Solar B said:

Check this out & yes they nor I 

can spell Lanthanum..a la Vixen 🧐

The one I linked to says 1 ED and 2 Lanthanum. Obviously keeping the real design a secret to confuse the competition

 

 

[Solar B]

2 minutes ago, John said:

The one I linked to says 1 ED and 2 Lanthanum. Obviously keeping the real design a secret to confuse the competition

 

 

Lol 😂 ... I know ... this states for the 17.5mm could that much anticipated EP 

(not by me) be of different design to the others ? I guess we'll never know 🌞

Brian 

 

[Don Pensack]

The 17.5mm may be different internally--it has a different placement of the field stop inside the eyepiece than the others, and it is the lightest of all of them.

[Solar B]

I don’t know if it’s actually lighter 

but is wider certainly than the 4.5mm eg 

& could well be of a different design 🤔

Brian 

[F15Rules]

Wherever they are made, they are wonderful eyepieces!🤗👍

Dave

[John]

Made at the North Pole by Santa's elves during their "off" season, like all really good eyepieces

[Alan White]

The advertisement I saw was from a supplier in the uk, the advert states Made in Germany.

To be clear it’s not Baader starting this, but a supplier, sounds like its wrong.

I note the Manufacturer sheet has a 🇬🇧 printed on it, hmmmm.

[Alan White]

It’s a bit like some of the  APM eyepieces marked as APM Germany, now if that’s not trying to look German made.....

The APM ones are I am sure made in China.

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Alan White

[John]

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

The APM ones are I am sure made in China.

 

That's my understanding about those as well.

 

 

[Don Pensack]

APM XWAs and UFFs are made in China by KunMing United Optics (KUO)

KUO has made eyepieces for Meade, Celestron, William Optics, Stellarvue, APM, Telescope Service, and many others

[Louis D]

21 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

APM XWAs and UFFs are made in China by KunMing United Optics (KUO)

KUO has made eyepieces for Meade, Celestron, William Optics, Stellarvue, APM, Telescope Service, and many others

And by all accounts, they are very well made and fairly innovative.  It's a bit of a shame Chinese manufacturers haven't branded their own optics and sold them as such.  As a result, there's a lot of confusion in the marketplace about house brands versus clones versus competitive designs.  When you put your company brand on something, there's a much higher sense of pride and desire to avoid selling sub-par goods.

It kind of reminds me of Japanese optical houses in the post-WWII period when many of them sold their goods in the US under various house brands such as Sears, Wards, Penney, Vivitar, Soligor, Spiratone, Kalimar, Cambron, Quantaray, Phoenix, etc.  No one in the US really knew who was making what, and it was a total quality crap-shoot.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Louis D

[Merlin66]

I had a Meade Series 5000 x3 Tele-extender and then acquired an Explorer Scientific x3 Tele-extender. There were identical. Same physical size, finish and with the same optical elements. Definitely came out of the same Chinese factory.

 

[Don Pensack]

1 hour ago, Merlin66 said:

I had a Meade Series 5000 x3 Tele-extender and then acquired an Explorer Scientific x3 Tele-extender. There were identical. Same physical size, finish and with the same optical elements. Definitely came out of the same Chinese factory.

 

Meade got their Chinese goods from Jing Hua Optical from the mid '90s till 2011.

Also the ETX scopes and LXD mounts.

Jing-Hua Optical (JOC) is the owner/maker of Explore Scientific.

So if your Series 5000 TeleXtender was from that era, it is, indeed, the same as the ES Focal Extender.

Since 2011, Meade has gotten products from KunMing United Optics (KUO), but kept the name Series 5000, causing confusion.