Ritchey Chretien Scopes

[Guest]

Looking into this type of telescope I see that FLO sell a brand called StellaLyra. From what I understand these are made in Taiwan by GSO. Orion also sell one which seems to have an identical specification but as I understand it they are made in China. It seems too much of a coincidence that these scopes are so similar in spec even down to the vixen rail at the top and the Losmandy rail at the bottom. I wondered if anyone knew about this.

Cheers

Steve

 

[iapa]

GSO build to a higher standard than the Synta Skywatcher/Celestron etc. builders with better QC.

Orion Telescopes (Optronic Technologies, Inc., ) themselves are a US manufacturer; I think they are the sole remaining manufacture of telescopes in the US. They have a UK site as well. But they also buy from Synta.

Orion Telescope also just bought Meade, another better quality builder.

In the UK we have Orion Optics who manufacture in the UK, but don’t seem to have an RC in the fold.

Confused?

Edited June 6, 2021 by iapa
Noted Optronic have official UK site.

[Guest]

Thanks, I'm only confused as far as Orion and GSO are offering what appear to be identical scopes (apart from the colour of the tube and the logo) so I wondered if there was some kind of tie up.

 

[johninderby]

No difference in QC between GSO and Synta in general. There are a range of qualities made by each varying between so so and excellent. All depends oh which particular product you are talking about.

Taiwan  is actually The Republic of China and mainland China is the People's Republic of China so either could be referred to as China although China usually means mainland China.

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by johninderby

[iapa]

It is confusing, but, generally it’s about build quality.

GSO do also produce for other brands as well, so, that’s logo as the difference.

Some brands may also require build to better tolerances, so, there’s likely price differences.

It’s the same with other reflector types and refractors.

 

[iapa]

17 minutes ago, johninderby said:

No difference in QC between GSO and Synta in general. There are a range of qualities made by each varying between so so and excellent. All depends oh which particular product you are talking about.

Taiwan  is actually The Republic of China and mainland China is the People's Republic of China so either could be referred to as China although China usually means mainland China.

 

O bow to your experience.

I just based view on what people have said about GSO manufacturer kit vs Celestron/Skywatcher et. al.

Not knocking these, I’ve been pleased with the C8 and looking forward to 1st light on my RASA. Similarly with the Skywatcher 8” & 10” Newtonian OTAs, 80mm Equinox Pro and Esprit ED80 Pro.

[johninderby]

Yes I have been impressed by the build quality and optics  of my GSO made CC8”. Better fit and fit and finish than the Skymax180 I used to have. While the Skymax felt like workman like solid scope the CC feels like a precision instrument.

The GSO focuser it came with was usable but not great quality though.  Replacing it with a Baader Steeltrack made a very good scope a great scope. 

Edited June 7, 2021 by johninderby

[DaveS]

3 hours ago, iapa said:

GSO build to a higher standard than the Synta Skywatcher/Celestron etc. builders with better QC.

Orion Telescopes (Optronic Technologies, Inc., ) themselves are a US manufacturer; I think they are the sole remaining manufacture of telescopes in the US. They have a UK site as well. But they also buy from Synta.

Orion Telescope also just bought Meade, another better quality builder.

In the UK we have Orion Optics who manufacture in the UK, but don’t seem to have an RC in the fold.

Confused?

The Orion Optics equivalent is the ODK, a more complex and eye-wateringly expensive line, with a ridiculous lead time.

[iapa]

7 minutes ago, DaveS said:

The Orion Optics equivalent is the ODK, a more complex and eye-wateringly expensive line, with a ridiculous lead time.

Didn’t mention that as Dall-Kirkham is slightly different in design to the Ritchey-Chretien.

Agree on the watery-eye syndrome.

But, hey, would you get one if you just won £100m+ on the lottery?. Only under 30s need apply 

 

[DaveS]

Sorry, yes I know it's not a RC, but it falls into the same general astrograph category.

Have a look at my sig

[Pixies]

4 hours ago, woodblock said:

Looking into this type of telescope I see that FLO sell a brand called StellaLyra. From what I understand these are made in Taiwan by GSO. Orion also sell one which seems to have an identical specification but as I understand it they are made in China. It seems too much of a coincidence that these scopes are so similar in spec even down to the vixen rail at the top and the Losmandy rail at the bottom. I wondered if anyone knew about this.

Cheers

Steve

 

Back to the OP's question. StellaLyra is one of FLO's inhouse brands. They will be buying them from GSO and having the manufacturer put their branding on. Lots of astro equipment is sold this way. 

[iapa]

20 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Sorry, yes I know it's not a RC, but it falls into the same general astrograph category.

Have a look at my sig

Well, yes, it is a two mirror reflector. So is my 10 Quattro CF, but nowhere near the optical quality.

Did I really sat that?

This is where I think it can get complicated. You have your Schmidt-Cassegrains with their corrector plates and incredible focal length but not flat across the field, Rowe Atchinson incredibly fast focal ratio and flat, Ritchie Chretien; flat and chroma free and the Dall-Kirkham; best of all the above and collimation is so much easier with that spherical lens.

Oh, decisions decisions. 

PS wasn’t intending to let everyone know you were an earlier lotto winner 

Some people have more sense than money - I should have put an order for the ODK when I had the money.

Edited June 6, 2021 by iapa

[DaveS]

He he, I ordered mine at Astrofest, at a hefty discount.

But back to the OP's question, I think GSO make telescopes for a number of retailers to put their brand on, TS included.

I was considering the GSO 12" RC vs the CFF 300mm RC, when I saw that OOUK had a discount on the ODK which split the difference, and was a UK company (Nothing jingoistic, just easier to deal with if anything needs fixing).

A GSO RC, under whichever brand you go for, would be a solid choice, though I'd upgrade the focuser, especially if you were thinking of a heavy camera.

[iapa]

Cheat!!

GSO manufacture for quite a few - from what I have read on this site. If FLO are going to use them, guess where I go! I actually ordered an 8” StellalLyra in mid-March.

Re sourcing/ manufacture - my preference is also for UK, unless there is a Scottish alternative. 

 

[Guest]

I completely understand about the possible difference in quality. I was just surprised that two manufacturers would offer apparently identical items. They look exactly the same apart from a difference in livery. As if one manufacturer had copied the design of the other or perhaps that say GSO was making all of them and supplying some to synta with orion livery as well. It seems unlikely since Taiwan and mainland China are not the best of friends.

[johninderby]

GSO isn't supplying Synta. Orion USA is an independent American owned company that buys in scopes from several manufacturers such as GSO and Synta among others. 

[iapa]

I think we also need to highlight that the US Orion Telescope and Binocular company and Orion Optics are not related.

By simply referring to Orion we can allow confusion

[Guest]

Sorry for being dense. From what you say GSO could be supplying the same scope to orion under the orion brand and also to FLO under the StellaLyra brand.

[johninderby]

GSO supplies their RC scopes to Orion, FLO, Telescope Express (TS brand) and Astroshop (Omegon brand).

Edited June 6, 2021 by johninderby

[Deadlake]

GSO has a machine for producing mirrors by which all accounts is very good. They supply mirrors to other vendors such as ASA (very high quality)  and CFF as well.

 

[Guest]

Ok. So the Orion 8inch RC scope is the same scope and made in the same factory as the StellaLyra 8 inch RC scope from FLO except that the Orion scope is £34 cheaper.

 

[johninderby]

As Orion USA doesn’t have a UK distributor most of their scopes have to be imported so check the total price delivered including any import fees or duties.

[iapa]

6 minutes ago, johninderby said:

As Orion USA doesn’t have a UK distributor most of their scopes have to be imported so check the total price delivered including any import fees or duties.

Orion Telescope and Binocular do have an official UK site: https://uk.telescope.com

It implies they have local stock <shrug>.

 

[johninderby]

But it’s not based in the UK despite the misleading name of the website and all stock is held in their warehouse in the Netherlands. They say prices do include import fees but shipping is £29.00 for economy and £45.00 for expedited. Big concern is if you needed to return the scope if defective and what it would cost.

Edited June 6, 2021 by johninderby

[Guest]

I see. The website for uk.telescope.com is offering the orion RC telescope at £966 wherever it's shipped from but I see that the expected deliver date is October 2021. FLO are offering what I think is an identical scope at £999 but is out of stock so probably all this is a bit academic.

I just wanted to establish that it is the same scope made in the same factory so quality should be the same. Basically there would be no point in picking one of them over the other except for reasons of price or delivery.

Thanks everyone. I think we've done that to death now.

Cheers

Steve