Stellarvue Telescopes

[starfield]

that bad news for tak lovers

[Tachyon]

Don't intend to own one... so no impact on me... with the current weakness in the USD, I think it would be better to buy US products (of course, made in Taiwan, China or Russia).

[vhuang168]

I use the term 2nd tier on Stellarvue very loosely. To me, they are right up there if not just below AP and TAK. Definitely right along side TEC and TMB SS.

This is quoted completely from a post Vic made on the Stellarvue yahoo group.

Sorry, but no.

People were wrong when they stated our 80ED is the same as the
Williams and Astrotec. They use different tubes, different rotating
collet and most importantly, different lenses. I posted the qc
process here including lenses as we evaluated several types. We
selected the 80mm f-7 lens not the Long Perng 80mm f-6.9 lens used in
these telescopes. No criticsm of the LP lens but ours is different.
The lens we selected fro the current NHNGF was actually was the last
one developed.

Competitors and those who are employed by competitors must be careful
in making blanket statements without really knowing the facts. Also,
you will notice a trend on unmoderated sites to take certain
statements I have said and ignore others in jumping to conclusions. I
have stated many times that we are using more than one polishing
source for all of our new lenses (except the LZOS lenses). That is
one of several facts frequently ignored.

Now in defense of Tom Trusock, Mike pointed out here that Tom is paid
by Astronomics and Astronomics owns Cloudynights. Astronomics is not
a Stellarvue dealer. Tom has to be careful when discussing
Stellarvue. So do not expect too much of Tom in this regard. It is
easy to demand more specifics but until you walk a mile in another
man's shoes, you really cannot appreciate how delicate this issue is.
And Tom certainly does not know our process and sources.

Now lets talk about the word "proprietary." When we state that a lens
of ours is proprietary, some people have stated that I mean it is
a "magic design". Give me a break. This is a great example of jumping
to conclusions. What I mean by this statement is simple. We start
with our own design (lots of people can design a lens using Zemax),
pay for the test plates, make a lens in house and contract with one
or two of seven different optical firms to have the lens made. This
is different than the Long Perng telescopes sold to many resellers
under various labels and all using the same lens made in Taiwan. So
our 80mm f-7 lens is different than the AT and WO 80mm f-6.9 lens.
Again, no criticism of the LP lens, but ours is different. That is
all I am saying. To say they are the same is just simply wrong.

BUT WAIT! We are missing the important part just as the cherry
pickers miss the complete story.

1. We contract with those who polish our lenses and demand
exclusivity.
2. We pay for test plates and own the design
3. We set a very high optical accuracy spec and include the
requirement for hand figuring to an optical null
4. We set a high standard for full multi-coating or have them
supplied without coating and use our coater in California
5. We test lenses using advanced test equipment. We have a Zygo Mark
IV here
6. We bench test each lens.
7. We use either powdercoating (from our powdercoater in Grass Valley)
or contract out to include automotive grade paint
8. Once the telescope bench tests perfect, I star test it.
9. Any lenses that do not pass all the tests are either destroyed or
returned for additional figuring.

That is the big difference between Stellarvue and many inexpensive
telescopes out there. Nay sayers have this far not included this
information in their postings. Most of these people do not own a
Stellarvue and many criticize SV members here for being given
inaccurate information. Wrong. I try to be as accurate as possible
and make corrections when something I say is taken to mean something
else. Communication is an ongoing process.

I always request samples of telescopes from various manufacturers for
evaluation and I am open minded when it comes to using imported
products and components. I sold the Long Perng 66 for a while in fact
since I felt these were well made, once we added our adjustable cell.
So I do not want anyone to interpret what I am saying as a criticism
of any import product. I am only clarifying that when people say our
telescopes are one and the same they are dead wrong.

I can contract with China to make a clone scope in short order. But
there are problems with this. One problem is what I predict you will
see over the next year. Since these telescopes are offered to any
reseller, the price will drop. The sample I received from China was
really inexpensive. You will not see Stellarvue carrying this product
but others will. I predict the price will drop. Our price and our QC
will be maintained.

I stated many times that we could have imported a clone of the
Nighthawk from Taiwan for less money than we pay for our NH lens
alone. The clone comes from Taiwan complete with case. It is pretty.
I have seen many of these achromats. Not one I have tested including
those that I have purchased from manufacturers and resellers come
close to the consistent performance of the Nighthawk. The Nighthawk
lens is proprietary. We own it. Period.

People have choices. They can chose to save a couple hundred bucks
and buy a non Stellarvue product. Since we are at capacity right now
I encourage them to do so if money is the primary factor in making a
decision. We will maintain the highest QC we can as we always have
and offer an exclusive alternative to what is available on the
market. Further, I wish the very best to all of my dealers and all of
my competitors. We are all here to stay. I hope that we can all treat
each other with honor and respect. We need to remember that we are
astronomers first. This is supposed to be an uplifting hobby.

I will keep selling our products based on their own eclusive merits.
Our products will not be the cheapest and over the next year you will
see many inexpensive alternatives continue to flood the market. You
all have choices. That is good.

Vic Maris

Hope this sheds some light on the differences between say SV and AT who both have a 102 ED doublet telescope that look very similar.

Vincent

[Tachyon]

It's good to hear that some vendors still do not compromise on quality in these days of low-cost scopes...

[mrngbss]

No wonder vhuang168 is so supportive of Stellarvue scopes. Thanks vincent!

[rcj]

not all products from Takahashi are experiencing the price increase. The mewlons are one exception. One of the reasons cited for price increase is due to the increase cost of production and raw materials. I do agree with Tachyon as well that now is a great time to buy American products based on the low USD. If I was to buy the G11 now instead, I would have saved a few hundred dollars!

[Robin Lee]

Hmm.. now a SV refractor sounds cool.

[dalejr]

i have 2 sv scopes and i am very pleased with them the arco really surprised me with the views it puts up its a keeper.and my 115 is one of the best of this size i have looked through.jet black back ground with pin point stars.i think sv makes some of the best archo and apo scopes made.and you cant beat some of there prices.in some cases my 115 does much better than the wo 110 and not just because the 115 is a tab bigger.color correction in the 115 is amazing.i would put the sv 115 just a bit better than the wo 110.but both are keepers and dont regret buying either.