Rother Valley Optics

[Chris M48]

I have a Celestron CG-5 Advanced GT Mount  that I bought second hand last year and have grown to love it.

Alas, it is beginning to fail me by switching itself off whenever it fancies. The fault seems to point toward the power board but when I made enquiries was told that the mount has been discontinued and the mount and accessories are no longer available.

Come to the rescue Rother Valley Optics who are sourcing the board for me at the normal price. I’ve used them before and certainly will again. Not only that but they said that in the unlikely event of the board not fixing the problem they will be happy to look at the mount for me with a view to finding the problem and rectifying it. Happy with that service.

Credit where it’s due I say. Thanks again RVO.

 

[fwm891]

Disgusting delivery charges.

Just bought a finder/guider adapter (Flo don't stock the Celestron 1mm threaded ones) £7.50 for delivery outrageous.

[johnturley]

I have bought a number of items from Rother Valley Optics, who are my local supplier being situated just 15 miles (30 mins drive) away, these include two telescopes, a number of eyepieces, filters, and several other items, coming to around £5,000 in total. I have always selected the option to 'collect goods from shop' as this saves on shipping charges, plus I can inspect the goods before taking them away.

I have generally found them to be very helpful and have offered good advice, but I was a bit disappointed with them when it came to obtaining a Seymour Solar Filter to fit my Skywatcher Esprit Refractor. According to their website they stock Seymour Solar Filters in a large number of sizes, but not apparently the correct one to fit my Esprit 150 (which appears to be the SF 8376). However when I asked them about obtaining one for me, they were not willing to do a special order, and informed me that I would need to order it myself direct from Seymour in the USA which will involve additional shipping charges, plus probably also import duty and customs clearance charges.

Bearing in mind the amount I have spent with over the years, I really thought that they could have been more helpful.

John 

Edited September 30, 2019 by johnturley

[David Smith]

Emailed a stock enquiry on Sunday, received a response Monday morning and the item confirmed as in stock. Order placed late Monday, despatched Tuesday and delivered Wednesday morning! Good job, one happy customer who will have no concerns using this supplier again.

[Planitair]

Thank you to Adam at RVO for doing a quick & excellent repair job for me on my SW az/eq5 Mount Dec Board.

Eric

[Sangon]

I just want to share my experience after buying at RVO, (rothervalleyoptics.co.uk).

I wanted a generic focal reducer, one that doesn't perform any optic corrections, just to be able to use it with different scopes. After discarding the GSO 0.5x, I decided to buy one somewhat better, the Antares 0.7x 2".

Unfortunatelly I could not find it in stock in Spain so I ordered at Rother Valley Optics from UK.

When I noticed that the shipping cost were so high (around 50€ plus import taxes, 30€ more... 80€ in total... almost 5 times more than other sellers from Germany for example... I still don't understand it...), I also added an IR fiiter to my order just to compensate a bit more the shipping costs.

I performed the order on 3rd March, and it arrived to customs at 16th. After paying the mentioned taxes the same day, I had to wait 3 months, until 3rd June, because there was some documentation pending from RVO to be sent to customs. It took me 3 months to figure out the problem and to mediate between RVO and the customs office to get it sorted out. I think that it shouldn't have been my concern, even more after paying such amount of cash for the shipment... But OK.

When I opened the box, three surprises:
- The focal reducer wasn't the one that appears in the RVO website picture. It was another Antares 0.7x designed for SCT... But OK, perhaps the difference is not so huge. I can live with that.

- Usually these lens comes with two plastic caps to protect it. In this case there was only one (another one missing). But OK, I think it is not a big deal... probably...

- However, when I open the filter's box... It was empty!! Well... I paid for it... that is clearly not OK...
I sent a couple of mails asking for it. I'm still waiting... Actually I have no hope to receive it.

Probably my case is something odd and RVO provides a great service, but I don't know why in my case such a simple buy was so frustrating and disappointing, and frankly, I could not recommend it.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Sangon

[david_taurus83]

I had a bit of a mishap at the weekend with some blown fuses. Luckily no damage to any equipment but its made me look at a Pegasus Powerbox to safely control power to my kit. Emailed RVO on Sunday about stock. Adam responded Monday morning to say they had stock. Order placed. Parcel arrived well packaged on Tuesday. Can't ask for better service than that. Thanks RVO!

[BobInYorkshire]

I purchased a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT Mount from RVO last September.

After a couple of months it developed a small fault, it wouldn’t work with my Synscan adaptor so I reached out to Adam at RVO.

I won’t bore you with the details but Adam went out of his way to sort this out for me, making me a very happy man.

[dannybgoode]

I am fortunate that RVO is local to me so have used them for a good while now.  I have just encountered my first issue with something I had bought from them though (a Pocket Powerbox Advanced) and I am pleased to say they sorted it out as I expected / hoped they would without any fuss at all.

It is often said that you only really know how good a company is once you've had them resolve an issue and based on my experience both with their sales support and now their aftersales I can highly recommend them.

[Stephenstargazer]

I have used RVO for around 15 years, from when they were at Killamarsh. I have found Ian, Adam and other staff helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Whilst they may be known by some for internet sales they still run a shop that you can visit, offering both advice and services for astronomy and other optics. They will try to obtain items not in stock too. I recommend them and wish them success in the future.

 

[Stuart1971]

Bought a new scope and after having issues with another well known dealer, I bought from RVO and also had the Zygo test done on my new scope, superb service and first class attention to detail, scope arrived in fully unmarked condition and packed like it had not had been handled since manufacture, yet it had been taken out of the case, the optics cell removed for the Zygo test…not even a speck of dust on the lens cell….

Great results on the test and am very happy with the new scope, also did not have to pay a penny till after the Zygo test was completed and the results passed on to me…

highly recommended…..