Chroma price increase

[Ken82]

I’m reading that chroma astro filters are to be increased in price quite considerably soon. ☹️
 

If you are considering buying I’d try to get a set now !  
 

Ken 

[Skipper Billy]

Ooofffttt - I have been toying with a set of 2" Chroma narrowband filters. I have struggled to convince myself to spend that sort of money on 3 bits of glass. If the price is going up quite considerably then I can relax and screw up the wish list.

First world problems eh ? 😉 

[Adam J]

Yeah I know what they are likely going up to from the US prices and I can 100% say that they have officially moved into not worth it territory. 

I recommend they are avoided at the new price. They will only stay at that price if people are willing to pay it. Its already weird that the 5nm is about the same price as the 3nm. 

Get them while you can I guess. 

Adam

[tomato]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

Ooofffttt - I have been toying with a set of 2" Chroma narrowband filters. I have struggled to convince myself to spend that sort of money on 3 bits of glass. If the price is going up quite considerably then I can relax and screw up the wish list.

First world problems eh ? 😉 

Sorry, but just so I am sure, with the looming price increase I take it you are screwing up the wish list and not buying them?

The reason I ask is I use an impending price hike to try and persuade the Financial Director that now is the right time to buy my next item of Astro kit😉

[Starflyer]

I've put it off too, been trying to convince myself for a year that it's worth spending that sort of money on filters.  I'll pass too, stick with Baader and spend my money on something else instead.

[tooth_dr]

The only solace for me is that these super narrowband filters dont work at F2.8 *phew*

[DaveS]

Good job I bought my Chroma filters when I did. Painful, but considering the rest of the kit they joined, not too bad.

Now I'm planning on a QHY 268M to go on the 130 triplet, I will need larger filters, probably get away with 36mm unmounted. Question now is: which?

[Sp@ce_d]

oh great.. been saving too. So are we talking Astrodon matching prices or beyond? I've got 1.25 Astrodons in the QSI that was bad enough when they were even cheaper?.. (err no.. "less expensive" than they are now!) but thinking of a larger sensor at some point & was gonna get the chroma's. In some ways it's almost worth rethinking.  A set of 2" NB's or a CMOS 2600 or equiv with a dual/tri band filter come in around same price now.. Actually less with the xmas sale/promo on. From some of the results I've seen tempting to try that route. Are sales on filters still as high or is the CMOS OSC now threatening to reduce that market. Or is this just a rumour to pull sales in?

[Skipper Billy]

18 hours ago, tomato said:

Sorry, but just so I am sure, with the looming price increase I take it you are screwing up the wish list and not buying them?

The reason I ask is I use an impending price hike to try and persuade the Financial Director that now is the right time to buy my next item of Astro kit😉

Correct - I am NOT buying them. I was finding it hard to justify the cost/benefit to myself never mind my missus.

Given that we are two weeks away from the middle of the imaging season and we have had two clear nights this year I really cant put hand on heart and say its money well spent.

[Sp@ce_d]

4 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

 

 I really cant put hand on heart and say its money well spent.

🤣😂😆 How can you use that turn of phrase in relation to anything Astronomy related under "our" skies 

[Ken82]

12 minutes ago, Sp@ce_d said:

oh great.. been saving too. So are we talking Astrodon matching prices or beyond? I've got 1.25 Astrodons in the QSI that was bad enough when they were even cheaper?.. (err no.. "less expensive" than they are now!) but thinking of a larger sensor at some point & was gonna get the chroma's. In some ways it's almost worth rethinking.  A set of 2" NB's or a CMOS 2600 or equiv with a dual/tri band filter come in around same price now.. Actually less with the xmas sale/promo on. From some of the results I've seen tempting to try that route. Are sales on filters still as high or is the CMOS OSC now threatening to reduce that market. Or is this just a rumour to pull sales in?

From what I am reading on other forums the price has gone beyond that of astrodons ! 
 
It remains to be seen if/when the price increase will be passed onto uk dealers. 
 

Maybe @FLO know a little bit more ?

[Skipper Billy]

10 minutes ago, Sp@ce_d said:

🤣😂😆 How can you use that turn of phrase in relation to anything Astronomy related under "our" skies 

I was happy to pay what I paid for my Mesu mount and my Takahashi scope - there was a clear and obvious advantage and they 'felt' like value for money.

But £2300 for 3 tiny bits of glass ???? 

 

[david_taurus83]

I have no experience but are these really worth the money? Take the 5nm for example. Are they really worth the huge hike in comparison to the 6nm Astronomiks?

[Sp@ce_d]

8 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

I was happy to pay what I paid for my Mesu mount and my Takahashi scope - there was a clear and obvious advantage and they 'felt' like value for money.

But £2300 for 3 tiny bits of glass ???? 

 

Oh yes I do get you. It is very hard to swallow, but the difference between the Baaders (I still have a couple of full sets) & Astrodons were significant (for me anyway).. even if the Baaders are/were better packaged than the Astrodons! So, they do eek out that extra bit, even through the awful skies we seem to constantly have these days. So we're a bit of a captive audience if those are the photons we want to capture. However.. moving up in size & paying those prices even if it is "affordable" has to be conscionable. So if the prices are going up significantly then what is the reason. Manufacturing costs or because there's been a "cheap" supply to get us hooked. If they're going above the Astrodons in price then they loose out because people will buy Astrodons surely if they are in competition. Anyway, it'll all be irrelevant soon if they don't come up with cloud & satellite filters.

[Ken82]

35 minutes ago, Sp@ce_d said:

Oh yes I do get you. It is very hard to swallow, but the difference between the Baaders (I still have a couple of full sets) & Astrodons were significant (for me anyway).. even if the Baaders are/were better packaged than the Astrodons! 

I’ve got to agree on all points!

The chroma filters I bought were a big improvement over my baader. I had halos with all baader filters I’ve used. Incremental increases of course but worth the extra mile when you consider these will be with me for perhaps my lifetime. 
 

The packaging on the chroma filters was very poor for such a high value product and I also had to remove some slight dust particles. But all in all one of the best astro things I’ve purchased. 
 

Ken 

One happy pre price increase customer 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Ken82

[Sp@ce_d]

On 09/12/2020 at 16:57, Skipper Billy said:

I was happy to pay what I paid for my Mesu mount and my Takahashi scope - there was a clear and obvious advantage and they 'felt' like value for money.

But £2300 for 3 tiny bits of glass ???? 

 

OMG!.. I was almost at the point of accepting that 2300 was an investment but it is now a whopping 4300  🤬 ... 🥴 and the Astrodons have also gone up too by the looks of it

[tooth_dr]

25 minutes ago, Sp@ce_d said:

OMG!.. I was almost at the point of accepting that 2300 was an investment but it is now a whopping 4300  🤬 ... 🥴 and the Astrodons have also gone up too by the looks of it

Just looked them up - £1429 for a chroma 2" 3nm filter.  Wow

[groberts]

Just worked out that the 31mm set I purchased in November has now gone up +37% - phew!!!  Whilst they are a highly speficic market which inevitably commands a premium, this is getting silly.

Furthermore, I've just got round to fitting and was surprised by the poor packaging + every one has noticable dust etc. (which can be blown off).  Of course it's the product itself that matters and I have high expectations, but will have to see.  By comparison my cheap ZWO filter set which the Chroma are replacing, are still spotless like tha day they came out of their purpose made made / fitting + well wrapped.

Graham            

Edited December 16, 2020 by groberts

[DaveS]

Yeah, I thought the Chroma packaging was poor, to say the least, especially for such an expensive filter.

Also the cleaning protocol that Chroma lists is finicky to say the least, while Baader and Astronomik damn near say you can use a Brillo pad (Don't, by the way ).

[david_taurus83]

1 hour ago, Sp@ce_d said:

OMG!.. I was almost at the point of accepting that 2300 was an investment but it is now a whopping 4300  🤬 ... 🥴 and the Astrodons have also gone up too by the looks of it

I think I'll be sticking with my "budget" Astronomik 6nm's for the foreseeable future!

[DaveS]

Just seen the new prices on the @FLO site, good job I was sitting down!

Most likely to go with Astronomik if I buy an IMX 571 camera

[Adam J]

On 09/12/2020 at 17:35, david_taurus83 said:

I have no experience but are these really worth the money? Take the 5nm for example. Are they really worth the huge hike in comparison to the 6nm Astronomiks?

It's about the anti reflection properties I love my 5nm ADs but I paid 250 on average per filter when I got them and astronomik was 160 those prices have diverged significantly. I notice a significant difference from my 7nm baader filters that's for sure. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Adam J

[tooth_dr]

Is it the oiii that’s the big difference with regards to haloes? 

[Adam J]

5 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Is it the oiii that’s the big difference with regards to haloes? 

Mainly, basically there are none I can see with my AD filters. SII to a lesser extent and Ha seems to be the easiest and most get it right. I would say contrast is better in comparison to baader too. Which is not to say that baader filters are bad filters. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Adam J

[Adam J]

7 hours ago, DaveS said:

Yeah, I thought the Chroma packaging was poor, to say the least, especially for such an expensive filter.

Also the cleaning protocol that Chroma lists is finicky to say the least, while Baader and Astronomik damn near say you can use a Brillo pad (Don't, by the way ).

Take a look at this: appart from the channel name making me cringe, it will give you bad dreams if you paid for premium filters. Extra points if you can tell me everything he did wrong lol. 

For me the best but is that he has purchased 36mm filters for a scope and camera combo that don't require them and then look how he is attaching the camera to the scope.....

Edited December 17, 2020 by Adam J