Increased demand = lower quality?

[RobertI]

I hesitate to pose this question, but I’ve been wondering whether the huge increase in demand for astronomy gear over the last few months will lead to certain manufacturers cutting corners on quality control. Remember the slew of poor quality Celestron C8’s (and probably others) arising from Halley Hysteria of 1986? I placed an order for a new Skywatcher ED100 a month or so ago but now wondering whether it’s such a good idea at the moment......

Edited July 28, 2020 by RobertI

[johninderby]

Overall quality control has improved recently. The current crop of Skywatcher refractors are better than they have ever been. Not perfect but more consistant now.

Edited July 28, 2020 by johninderby

[John]

I think the Halley mania was a one-off (at least I hope so). I believe Meade and Celestron relaxed their quality standards to meet demand. Not sure about other manufacturers though.

It will be the dealers that get it in the neck if standards are relaxed though. Our consumer rights are quite a lot better today than they were in 1986, especially if buying online.

 

[RobertI]

Thanks for your thoughts, good to hear. I’ll stop worrying!

[Paz]

It would be hard to know until some time has passed and enough feedback has accumulated.

The increase in demand is very apparent though. I haven't bought any big stuff recently but quite a few little things have taken a long time to deliver due to demand. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

I think reputable companies will/are maintaining the same quality control.

I can understand your point though.

[John]

Back in the 1980's forums did not exist so rumours of a drop in quality took a long time to percolate though the astro community. Also many who bought scopes had little or no experience of them so simply did not realise that their optics were not as good as they might be.

With forums such as SGL and Cloudynights I think the astro consumer is much better informed and information circulates really fast. I don't think a manufacturer would risk dropping their standards today. They would never recover their reputation.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Back in the 1980's forums did not exist so rumours of a drop in quality took a long time to percolate though the astro community. Also many who bought scopes had little or no experience of them so simply did not realise that their optics were not as good as they might be.

With forums such as SGL and Cloudynights I think the astro consumer is much better informed and information circulates really fast. I don't think a manufacturer would risk dropping their standards today. They would never recover their reputation.

 

I've tried Cloudy Nights, and all they seem to be interested in is who has the biggest/most expensive gear.

It's not for me.

SGL is upfront honest experience/advice.

Edited July 28, 2020 by LukeSkywatcher

[Tenor Viol]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Back in the 1980's forums did not exist so rumours of a drop in quality took a long time to percolate though the astro community. Also many who bought scopes had little or no experience of them so simply did not realise that their optics were not as good as they might be.

With forums such as SGL and Cloudynights I think the astro consumer is much better informed and information circulates really fast. I don't think a manufacturer would risk dropping their standards today. They would never recover their reputation.

 

I agree - they'd get trashed very quickly. 

My APO is on order from FLO and the indicative date I was given a couple of months ago now was 'end of July'... but I suspect that is optimistic...

[Tenor Viol]

2 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I've tried Cloudy Nights, and all they seem to be interested in is who has the biggest/most expensive gear.

It's not for me.

SGL is upfront honest experience/advice.

... and fights seem to break out too... very odd. Then there was the guy with the 10" Zeiss refractor... (normally you'd only see one of those in the observatory of a well-heeled university)

[johninderby]

18 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I've tried Cloudy Nights, and all they seem to be interested in is who has the biggest/most expensive gear.

It's not for me.

SGL is upfront honest experience/advice.

I go back on Cloudy Nights from time to time but then soon get fed up the pompous know it alls and “experts” who have never had their hands on a piece of kit that they are criticising and the outright nastiness of some that keeps happening drives me away again. Pity as there are many very nice and helpful and knowledgeable people on there.😢

A bit of proper moderating would help no end. 🤔

SGL is a much nicer place to waste (err spend) a few hours on. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Edited July 28, 2020 by johninderby

[John]

Isn't this thread about quality standards of equipment rather than a discussion of forums

 

[RobertI]

Thanks for the further thoughts.

On 28/07/2020 at 23:21, John said:

Back in the 1980's forums did not exist so rumours of a drop in quality took a long time to percolate though the astro community. Also many who bought scopes had little or no experience of them so simply did not realise that their optics were not as good as they might be.

With forums such as SGL and Cloudynights I think the astro consumer is much better informed and information circulates really fast. I don't think a manufacturer would risk dropping their standards today. They would never recover their reputation.

 

That's an excellent point John, and reassuring too.

[Dave Lloyd]

I think the end of the pandemic may see a plethora of second hand equipment on the market. 

[skybadger]

And there was me thinking the pandemic has seen a plethora of second hand kit on the market. Even more at the end !

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 28/07/2020 at 23:47, John said:

Isn't this thread about quality standards of equipment rather than a discussion of forums

 

It is. My apologies. I veered it off course.

 

[jonathan]

For anyone considering buying Celestron or Skywatcher (or others made in the same factories in China), I would say might want to expedite your plans as there could be uncertain times ahead, not only in terms of China's manufacturing (some companies might decide to move elsewhere, maybe not Celestron or Skywatcher but ones that provide small parts) but also exchange rates and inflation, which are likely to go crazy once the dust settles on the pandemic (or before).  If factories or manufacturing moves to a neighbouring country there could be a period where there are delays and quality control issues as things get settled, also the workforce expertise might not be quite up to speed straight away.  There may also be things like higher tariffs or trade embargos.

Just a thought.

Edited August 5, 2020 by jonathan

[Dunk]

I have been trying to buy a new Skywatcher 10" Quattro recently and just keep getting sorry no we can't even  get you a delivery date.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Dunk

[Tenor Viol]

I had an e-mail from FLO earlier and they re-iterated it is really difficult to get meaningful ideas of timelines.

[jonathan]

20 hours ago, Dunk said:

I have been trying to buy a new Skywatcher 10" Quattro recently and just keep getting sorry no we can't even  get you a delivery date.

The factories have probably been closed or running on skeleton staffing for a few months now.  I'm sure if the CCP could then they literally would staff the factories with skeletons!

[messier 111]

On 28/07/2020 at 18:21, John said:

Back in the 1980's forums did not exist so rumours of a drop in quality took a long time to percolate though the astro community. Also many who bought scopes had little or no experience of them so simply did not realise that their optics were not as good as they might be.

With forums such as SGL and Cloudynights I think the astro consumer is much better informed and information circulates really fast. I don't think a manufacturer would risk dropping their standards today. They would never recover their reputation.

 

I totally agree with your comment, we can add all forms of scocial media, fb, redit, etc ...

Edited November 5, 2020 by messier 111

[RobertI]

On 06/08/2020 at 20:08, Dunk said:

I have been trying to buy a new Skywatcher 10" Quattro recently and just keep getting sorry no we can't even  get you a delivery date.

I gave up waiting for my Skywatcher ED100 in the end and bought an Altair Astro 102EDR which was available immediately. The situation has forced me to spend a bit more than I would have, but as a result I got a better quality scope that I would probably not have considered before, so not all bad! 

[Swoop1]

It isn't necessarily the increase in demand that is causing the slow down in availability/ delivery times. It is a logisitcs thing.

I work in the bicycle trade and yes, we have seen an increase in demand but, the main glitch in the matrix is materials.

Customers want bikes. Shops want to supply bikes but bike comapnies haven't got bikes.

Bike companies want to supply bikes but haven't got the bits to build bikes from.

Bike bits companies want to supply bike bits but haven't got the raw materials to make the bike bits from.

Raw materials companies want to supply raw materials but haven't got the staff to extract/ formulate raw materials.

Staff want to make raw materials but various lock downs and social distancing regulations around the world make it difficult to keep up with demand.

In the above scenario, convert bike to astronomy and there you have it. FLO/ Telescope House/ Tring Astro (other suppleirs of Astro bits are available) can't get hold of stuff as readily as they used to.

[Luke]

I've had several Skywatcher telescopes and they have all impressed me with the optics, including the F9 ED100. A shame there are some delays. I was thinking about maybe a new scope and noticed some of them seem to be unavailable in the short term. I guess it makes sense right now that folks are getting into stargazing even more.

My other hobby is boardgames and that's of course difficult for many folks who can't meet up like normal for their gaming sessions, so I guess we are lucky with this hobby that it works very well solo as well!

Edited November 7, 2020 by Luke

[AstroTim]

7 months on from the OP and I’m wondering if there have been any signs of reduced quality in recent batches of equipment? From what I’ve observed on this forum, it seems as though the manufacturers have managed to maintain quality controls, despite the high demand, as I haven’t noticed an increase in issues being reported, but would be interested in what other people think.