Orion Optics UK - disheartening "story"

[faulksy]

i have owned 2 orion telescopes. a 14 dob with 1/10 mirror which was excellent. then i made my own dob and bought the 20" mirror which is 1/10.

they did take there time producing my 20" which some will remember but it was well worth it. they couldbe a lot better if they tried but there mirrors do speak for them

would i buy off them again. you bet

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, faulksy said:

i have owned 2 orion telescopes. a 14 dob with 1/10 mirror which was excellent. then i made my own dob and bought the 20" mirror which is 1/10.

they did take there time producing my 20" which some will remember but it was well worth it. they couldbe a lot better if they tried but there mirrors do speak for them

would i buy off them again. you bet

Hi Mike!

Why does your signature say Antares 1/30 secondary?😀

[mikeDnight]

On 01/02/2021 at 22:59, Peter Drew said:

But what if you want a decent size telescope?       🤣

Ask the Great T and cross his Palm with silver!

[Peter Drew]

I thought I said "decent size" that's only a 16", can't Takahashi make big telescopes?      😀

[Rusted]

8 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I thought I said "decent size" that's only a 16", can't Takahashi make big telescopes?      😀

Nobody could afford a "real" one.

After 60 years of telescope making I'm still puzzled by my handmade to measure, OO "band" tube rings with their curved bases. 

Is there a commercial mounting somewhere with a matching curve machined on the dovetail? 

I just use them as "stop rings" to ensure instant OTA balance when I refit the 'scope. 

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

Hi Mike!

Why does your signature say Antares 1/30 secondary?😀

🤣 brilliant gerry

to be honest, my old secondary was spot on. i only sold it because my astro systems holder was imperial. my 00 was 100mm and the antares was 4" it fits better

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, Peter Drew said:

I thought I said "decent size" that's only a 16", can't Takahashi make big telescopes?      😀

they make good finders though pete

[estwing]

My mirror of choice is plain to see.

[mapstar]

On 08/02/2021 at 12:15, estwing said:

My mirror of choice is plain to see.

Mine is too 😉

I've only had a couple of dealings with Orion when I got my mirror coated and bought a secondary from them.

Overall it was o.k. and the secondary was fine but I did get it tested independently just to make sure. 

But.......

The comment made to me about larger mirrors being easy to make and 'you should've just done it this way and you'd have had it done in half the time' was quite disrespectful. Especially when it had taken them 20+ weeks to grind a 20" mirror for someone I used to observe with. 

If you want a reflector there are other manufacturers out there with great customer service, or just make your own which is much more satisfying 🙂.

I have a couple more in the pipeline which will eventually grace the pages of SGL. 

[faulksy]

On 20/02/2021 at 06:05, mapstar said:

Mine is too 😉

I've only had a couple of dealings with Orion when I got my mirror coated and bought a secondary from them.

Overall it was o.k. and the secondary was fine but I did get it tested independently just to make sure. 

But.......

The comment made to me about larger mirrors being easy to make and 'you should've just done it this way and you'd have had it done in half the time' was quite disrespectful. Especially when it had taken them 20+ weeks to grind a 20" mirror for someone I used to observe with. 

If you want a reflector there are other manufacturers out there with great customer service, or just make your own which is much more satisfying 🙂.

I have a couple more in the pipeline which will eventually grace the pages of SGL. 

probably close to 40 weeks damo

[CedricTheBrave]

Well

picked up my VX14 a few weeks back

not had much chance to test it out until recently, so had it on the mount and balanced it then pointed it at the moon first and then took a few shots of M51

well the half of the viewfinder that was not obscured looked really good but oh my the collmination was out!

anyway bit of history in that I had asked them to fit my own supplied steeltrack focuser because i didnt like the SW one they supplied as standard. they asked me what backfocus i required which I told them (they got that bit right) when I collected I asked about the price difference being reduced because of the focuser emmision and was informed that the extra time taken to make a jig to fit the focuser used up any spare. Ok I thought at least it will be setup correctly! how wrong I was!

I have spent the day today going through collmination, as you can see from the image of M51 its pretty awful the dark shadow at the bottom is where the secondary chopped due to it being out of line with the focus tube. I have had to move the secondary about 15mm down to get it aligned and filling the tube correctly.

to say I am unhappy is an understatement. It took 5 months to get the scope and they added an extra 2 weeks to fit my focuser. I wish I had done it myself now!

hopefully its now all straight and collminated but I shouldn't have to go through this

I await a response from OOUK after the bank hols I guess!

[John]

Sad to hear of yet another poor customer experience with this company

[cuivenion]

On 02/02/2021 at 01:31, Jiggy 67 said:

I would never go back to OO after they allegedly serviced my SW reflector, I’m convinced they never touched it......oh and his parting words when I picked it up....”maybe we’ll see you again with a real scope “....

Said something similer to me when I made an inquiry about my 130p reflector too. Can't comment on the quality of their products as I've never used them.

[TSRobot]

I bought an aluminium alt az mount and tripod from oouk a few years ago for travel. They sent me a steel alt az mount and tripod then made ME pay the £21 to return it insisting it was me who had an issue and not them. Buy there stuff 2nd hand and you know what you are getting. Buy new and take your chances. 

[CedricTheBrave]

OK so OOUK have apologised! and admitted a mistake on reasembly before despatch after a few swapping of emails and sending of pictures.

A replacment secondary is on its way so i will fit that and see how we get on.

think they need to reassess their QC though!

[NGC 1502]

I think OO UK are capable of making good mirrors......however I do question their mirror optical grading.

I’ve always been pleased with my 15 year old OO 10”Dob, it’s engraved 1/4 wave on the back of the primary.  3 years ago I was offered an OO 8” f6 Dob 1/10 wave at a great bargain price from the widow of a deceased local club member so I bought it. I thought it would be an excellent planetary and double star scope. It had hardly seen any use, the deceased member had been a beginner and had fallen into poor health shortly after purchasing the scope.

However when I tried it I was disappointed. I made sure the primary wasn’t pinched in its cell, carefully collimated, fully cooled before use.....    Of course the issue could have been a duff secondary.  

One of my local club members has an optical workshop and has made mirrors up to 24” for well known UK astronomers, he really does know his stuff. I removed the 8” primary for testing.  My club friend said it was dreadful and on my behalf contacted OO about the problem.  To their credit, taking into consideration it was a second hand scope, OO agreed to check the mirror if I returned it.  They returned the mirror to me within 2 weeks at no charge  saying it had been “reworked” and of course recoated.

The reworked 8” 1/10 wave mirror  is better than it was originally, but my 10” 1/4 wave tests as good!

There is more to this saga but I’ll leave it there. My intention is not to slam OO but just to point out my own experience. I’m still very pleased indeed with my 10”, it’s an excellent lightweight very portable scope that transports easily to my club’s dark site, holds collimation very well and gives fine views. And the 8” is still a nice scope, especially considering the bargain price.

A request to all. Please don’t use the above and turn this into discrediting OO, if you do that, then the mods may possibly find it necessary to lock this thread, preventing any further discussion.

Ed.

[Stu]

Thanks @NGC 1502 for the thoughtful and considered post. Factual accounts of experiences helps others make informed decisions, so yes, let’s keep things on the level so the thread can continue.

[great_bear]

On 31/01/2021 at 23:54, johninderby said:

I had a 6” f/8 1/12PV that was exceptional. I was an idiot for selling it. Also an 8” and a 14” 1/10PV that I couldn’t fault.

 

Was it this one, John?

[johninderby]

18 minutes ago, great_bear said:

 

Was it this one, John?

Yes that was the one. SW 150PL with the OO mirrors fitted. 

[mdstuart]

Another. I wish I had not sold post. Perhaps we need an organisation to buy kit from us when we have to sell it to be allowed another telescope and then held in case we want it back a while down the line

Mark 

[great_bear]

38 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Yes that was the one. SW 150PL with the OO mirrors fitted. 

Oh... I am genuinely sorry to hear that you are missing it.

If it's any consolation it is much-loved and is the most-used scope I have, due to requiring near-zero cool-down time (I never used that fan, ever).

I ordered it a present today - a Berlebach Planet tripod.

Overkill, no doubt - but the AZ4 makes it dance around for about ten seconds every time I touch the focuser which is maddening - even when I owned (and later sold) one of those heavy duty T-mounts similar to the Sky-Tee. I considered turning it into a dob, but I have high fences, so it's better at home to have it mounted high on a tripod.

The only thing I'm not keen on is the Finder arrangement, which has never worked well for me. I'm considering moving the finder back to its original position, and replacing the Telrad (which was always too much in-my-face for my liking) with the more compact Rigel one, so the Finder arrangement would then be as per my 8" Dob (which I bought for use at the Baker Street Irregular Astronomer's meets at Regent's Park in London)

So it would be something like my dob above, anyway - not definite yet, I might need to experiment.

Anyway John, I'm sure that I mentioned this at the time, but if I ever consider selling that 6"/F8, you can be sure that I would certainly offer you first refusal on it.

Rgds, Jeremy.

Edited June 6, 2022 by great_bear

[VNA]

Orion Optics UK - disheartening "story"

Hello, so sorry to read that, but I have nothing good to say about Orion, for one thing they don't manufacture anything--they are simply a reseller.

Orion moved to Canada from Northern California, not sure why?

[johninderby]

16 minutes ago, VNA said:

Orion Optics UK - disheartening "story"

Hello, so sorry to read that, but I have nothing good to say about Orion, for one thing they don't manufacture anything--they are simply a reseller.

Orion moved to Canada from Northern California, not sure why?

Wrong

Orion Optics Uk has a UK based factory where they manufacture all their own scopes including the optics.Not to be confused with Orion Optics US that is a totally seperate American company.

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/about-us/

Edited June 6, 2022 by johninderby

[Captain Scarlet]

55 minutes ago, mdstuart said:

Another. I wish I had not sold post. Perhaps we need an organisation to buy kit from us when we have to sell it to be allowed another telescope and then held in case we want it back a while down the line

Mark 

I think it’s called a pawn shop. Rates might not be so good though…

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Wrong

Orion Optics Uk has a UK based factory where they manufacture all their own scopes including the optics.Not to be confused with Orion Optics US that is a totally seperate American company.

https://www.orionoptics.co.uk/about-us/

Aren’t the US company called Orion Telescopes, not Orion Optics US?