Sky-Watcher Price Increases

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 hours ago, IB20 said:

Hope there’s not too much Astro kit tied up in the Suez Canal currently. 😁

Well the good news is OVL must have recently received a shipment of stuff. A UHC filter ordered on 5th January has just been dispatched. 🙄

[Space Hopper]

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

[Deeko]

9 hours ago, IB20 said:

Hope there’s not too much Astro kit tied up in the Suez Canal currently. 😁

You may not be far from the truth there, imagine there it will create a backlog that will last weeks 😕

[wongataa]

On 25/03/2021 at 08:58, IB20 said:

Hope there’s not too much Astro kit tied up in the Suez Canal currently. 😁

I suspect the stuff I am waiting for will be delayed by this incident, at least by the backlog if it is cleared soonish.

[Shimrod]

On 25/03/2021 at 15:25, Space Hopper said:

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

It looks like an odd price increase, as the advanced vx + Edge 8" is only £2249, making the AVX mount a bargain in that package (£1749 + £899 if bought separately).

[MiladyB]

On 25/03/2021 at 08:58, IB20 said:

Hope there’s not too much Astro kit tied up in the Suez Canal currently. 😁

My heart sank when I saw the news 😆

I'm looking at it with the attitude that it's a hobby that requires a lot of patience and fortitude, so the wait for any of my wishlist items to be in stock is good practice for when I actually get them! 😂

[MiladyB]

On 25/03/2021 at 15:25, Space Hopper said:

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

I know what you mean. I'm weighing up the pros and cons of the Skyliner 200p dob vs the 250px flextube. I'd really like the 10", but the price difference for the extra aperture and compact design is huge. Tough to know what to do.

Incidentally, does anyone know why the 200px flextube is only available as a goto and not a manual version? (Apologies if this has been asked before)

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, MiladyB said:

My heart sank when I saw the news

Hopefully not many imports to the US go through there.  Most Far East imports to the US just come straight across the Pacific to west coast ports.

[Stardaze]

Haven’t read all of this thread but I was quite shocked recently having noted the £100 increase (19%) on the 127 mak bundle that I had my eye on last summer. The OTA has also gone up similarly. You do have to wonder whether it’s nothing more than demand outstripping supply and not covering additional costs right now.

[AstroNebulee]

23 hours ago, MiladyB said:

My heart sank when I saw the news 😆

I'm looking at it with the attitude that it's a hobby that requires a lot of patience and fortitude, so the wait for any of my wishlist items to be in stock is good practice for when I actually get them! 😂

They better be careful pushing and pulling that ship, my new star adventurer 2i wifi pro could be on there 😉😁 

BBC News - Suez Canal: Fresh effort to refloat wedged container ship
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56550350

[Moodtastic]

On 25/03/2021 at 15:25, Space Hopper said:

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

That is a big price increase. I was considering getting one at the end of summer but may not now.

[AstroNebulee]

Woohoo 😁

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-middle-east-56559904

[Louis D]

On 25/03/2021 at 10:25, Space Hopper said:

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

That, and their current scarcity, might explain why I see used EdgeHD scopes going for close to the old list prices on CN classifieds recently.

[Luke]

On 25/03/2021 at 15:25, Space Hopper said:

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

Yikes, that's awful. I don't want to be tempted to sell my sweet little Edge 8! I wouldn't have minded the 9.25 at the time, but the price difference was so much. As it turns out, I love the compact, light weight of the 8.

One cool thing about astro gear though is that most of it seems to last for ages. I have stuff about a decade old that still looks pretty much new!

I hope the folks at FLO are doing fine and that we all get back to more normal times soon.

[Cozzy]

The UK second hand market must have kit stuck on that ship as well judging by some of the price rises this last few months.

[Neil27]

On 25/03/2021 at 15:25, Space Hopper said:

Just seen the new prices on Celestron Edge HD scopes.

Open mouthed...........the 8" has gone up by a over third !!  

It was always priced very temptingly compared to its bigger 9.25 brother.

I can't see the economic sense by such a large price rise. Its certainly put me off considering one.

 

This is why I’m buying second hand, some good deals out there 😊

[Chris]

Imagine having the resources and skills to start mass producing telescopes and mounts in the UK. In the current climate it might actually have a fighting chance..

**Stares wishfully at his half finished telescope mirror project** 

 

[iapa]

12 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Imagine having the resources and skills to start mass producing telescopes and mounts in the UK. In the current climate it might actually have a fighting chance..

**Stares wishfully at his half finished telescope mirror project** 

 

I’d say that there people who can do the design work, and manufacturing facilities that can be adapted.

All we are talking about is precise optics and mechanics.

The general reputation of the UK failing engineering projects is mostly because we were innovating, so others benefitted from our experimentation. Let’s ignore car manufacture which was driven by designed obsolescent practices in the 1960s/70s

[Louis D]

28 minutes ago, iapa said:

I’d say that there people who can do the design work, and manufacturing facilities that can be adapted.

All we are talking about is precise optics and mechanics.

The general reputation of the UK failing engineering projects is mostly because we were innovating, so others benefitted from our experimentation. Let’s ignore car manufacture which was driven by designed obsolescent practices in the 1960s/70s

Only seems viable at the highest end of the consumer market and in governmental/industrial contracting for either the UK or US.

[Chris]

38 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Only seems viable at the highest end of the consumer market and in governmental/industrial contracting for either the UK or US.

Yeah it's a shame but In recent years I can only think of a handful of niche successes like Moonraker and Skylight (for a few years at least). I guess Orion UK is the closest we've got to mass production (in the past it was probably Beacon Hill) You have to admire factories like the Synta factory in China despite the questionable price hikes. I learnt very fast how incredible a feat it is to supply such affordable telescopes when attempting to grind polish and figure my own 8" mirror. I very quickly surpassed the costs of a Synta Sky-watcher 8" Dob in costs alone, even before taking wages into account. I don't know how they've supplied such affordable telescopes up until now, and as far as I'm aware they have pretty much all been diffraction limited. Synta really do have things down to a fine art!

China have the market cornered really. It's a shame the US and UK can't compete anymore. We just have our fingers in different pies. 

 

[malc-c]

Chris,  Possibly the reason Synta (or Chinese manufacturing in general) manage this is due to cheap materials and up until recently, cheap labor.  For years the quality of chinese motorcycles has been questioned, with screws so soft they need replacing as the first time they are undone the heads are chewed up.  Not saying that Synta products are of the same standard, but I bet the steel and ali used is not as high a quality of something that used to be produced in Sheffield.  On a slightly different tangent, I like designing and building electronics projects.  The first time I needed a PCB made I contacted a local company that is a large producer in the UK.  The quote that came back for the tooling, let alone the single board was over £500.  I then discovered companies like PCBWay and JLBPCB in China, and had five boards made to the same standard for less than £50 delivered via DHL.  Not sure what part of that £500 were for materials and the rest for "time" of the various technicians or managers, but it certainly makes UK companies uncompetitive.  

If Synta can make finished mirrors for less than you can buy a glass blank here, even at "trade" prices, then how could any UK company compete, especially as whilst Synta scopes are not perfect, they do perform well at their intended market level.  But even when you look at the high end, made to order "connosure" market, companies like SuperScopes that were based in Bedford didn't last long.  The costs of buying or making parts, either in their own workshop or subcontracted made these scopes so expensive there was no market for them, and their reputation was such that they couldn't buy cheap optics from China as they only used the best David Hinds optics.

I think you are correct.  Synta have cornered the market, especially if you work things back.  I know retailers portray a poor sob story about margins being so small, but I would hedge a bet that the net material cost to Synta for say a 200P is around 30% the retail cost in the UK.  The rest is Synta's profit margin, distribution costs, sole agent wholesalers profit, and then the retailers markup, with various taxes and duties added in.

[Chris]

At first glance, the cost of living and wage differences alone appear to be massive between the UK and China E.g. 4 or 5x more in the UK in some instances!  

https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/China/United-Kingdom/Cost-of-living

 

[Louis D]

Don't forget that the Chinese government also designates certain products and sectors to be strategic and receive generous (often indirect via governmental purchasing) subsidies, such as metals production and solar panel production.  There are always disputes being filed in the WTO courts about this.  I doubt amateur telescopes fall into this category, but if these same manufacturers receive generous government orders for optics, it can help cover low margin consumer production.

China also has very lax labor, consumer protection, and environmental laws as well that help to keep costs down.  Remember the whole tainted Chinese baby formula episode a while back?  The US has also seen tainted dog treats coming from China.  They're at a similar industrial laws point that the US was at around 1900.

[fozzybear]

55 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Remember the whole tainted Chinese baby formula episode a while back?

A plant was built over here and to this day remains non operational as a supply chain for that. funded by the Chinese. Another white Elephant 

[fozzybear]

give it 6-12 months and things will get back on track and hopefully prices will be back as they used to be hopefully