Barlow with zoom piece

[Ricochet]

1 hour ago, Mart29 said:

@Ricochet agreed . Going to give the Ultima edge a decent chance ( as i didn't tbh ) 

And this should arrive Tuesday,  between them two should have it covered. 

Nice choice, stick with that then! 🙂 

[Louis D]

20 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

I believe Meade were acquired by Jinghua Optics & Electronics at one time. There is also a Bresser link somewhere.

Meade was acquired by Ningbo Sunny, but after a lawsuit filed by Orion USA was settled, Orion USA was awarded ownership of Meade.

This probably included whatever NA manufacturing capabilities and warehouses remained.  So, Orion USA is partially a manufacturer as well now.

[Zeta Reticulan]

27 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Meade was acquired by Ningbo Sunny, but after a lawsuit filed by Orion USA was settled, Orion USA was awarded ownership of Meade.

This probably included whatever NA manufacturing capabilities and warehouses remained.  So, Orion USA is partially a manufacturer as well now.

I think I've read this somewhere, but to be honest I've kind of lost track. It's a possibility Orion are closing down European distribution because they are planning a new product line, with some of the manufacturing to be in Mexico. It will be interesting to see what happens. It all depends on how they can compete in the global market.

[Don Pensack]

21 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

I believe Meade were acquired by Jinghua Optics & Electronics at one time. There is also a Bresser link somewhere.

JOC was a supplier of Meade from the late '90s to 2011, but they never owned Meade.

Meade was owned by Sunny until the recent lawsuit.  Meade is now owned by Orion in the US.

They do own Explore Scientific, however, and are a supplier for Bresser.

How Bresser and JOC relate in the financial sense other than for purchases, I don't know.

The UK has a couple sellers who import from JOC.

[Don Pensack]

21 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

I'm not totally sure where Orion source from.

Plus some of their products are a tad bespoke. This 90mm Mak' is Synta, but AFAIK no else does a 90mm with a Vixen style dovetail. 

Synta Maksutovs (90mm, 105mm, 127mm, 152mm, 180mm) are sold under many labels in the world.  I have seen the whole line sold under the SkyWatcher brand in many countries.

Most of them have a V-sized dovetail.

[Zeta Reticulan]

Just now, Don Pensack said:

JOC was a supplier of Meade from the late '90s to 2011, but they never owned Meade.

Meade was owned by Sunny until the recent lawsuit.  Meade is now owned by Orion in the US.

They do own Explore Scientific, however, and are a supplier for Bresser.

How Bresser and JOC relate in the financial sense other than for purchases, I don't know.

The UK has a couple sellers who import from JOC.

I read online somewhere that JOC bought Meade at one time, although I don't know the veracity of the claim. I think you're probably right and they were just a supplier. I knew Meade were owned by Ningbo Sunny at one time. I know ES are owned by JOC and I know there's a link with Bresser. After that it's all musical chairs to me. I've had two strokes. I just can't keep up these days lol.

[Zeta Reticulan]

3 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

Synta Maksutovs (90mm, 105mm, 127mm, 152mm, 180mm) are sold under many labels in the world.  I have seen the whole line sold under the SkyWatcher brand in many countries.

Most of them have a V-sized dovetail.

AFAIK 'Sky-Watcher' is Synta's house name. The reason I bought the Orion 90mm Synta Mak was because I prefer Orion colour schemes. Seriously, I bought it because the dovetail was in the correct position for use in an alt-az.

Otherwise I'd have to invest in another Rigel QuickFinder. I think the Rigel is great, it's not too hot for twilight observing though. The LED isn't very bright. It pulses but it was designed for general astronomy rather than daylight use. 

I bought my Sky-Watcher 127mm Mak' bundled with an AZ5 mount deliberately, as I knew I could use it on this Porta II. The AZ5 is used for lighter scopes. 

[Zeta Reticulan]

I'm right about Orion OTA colours though.

Orion powder white versus Sky-Watcher sparkly pants dingbat spotty speckle black.

It's obvious lol.

[Louis D]

I guess color scheme wise, it depends on if you want something that looks like a serious scientific instrument, or one that matches your favorite fingernail polish.

[Zeta Reticulan]

Why not have both?