Is it true? Tak Mewlons are cheaper?

mrngbss · Post by **mrngbss** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:56 am

Hi,

One of the US forum users (Cloudynights) asked me if Tak Mewlons are cheaper over here (or bought into Singapore) than bought in US? Is it true?

Besides AstroScientific and Starmatrix, who else can bring in Mewlons?

How did some of you buy your mewlons?

Why do you think Mewlons are cheaper if we buy (from somewhere) shipped to Singapore than from the shops in US? higher shipping charges (Japan is further from US than Singapore)?

Thanks.

anat · Post by **anat** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:21 am

In Japan, some models of Mewlon cost a half of the US price.

Anat

mrngbss · Post by **mrngbss** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:23 am

Do you have a list of models or price? Or perhaps a link to it? Thks.

anat · Post by **anat** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:46 am

http://www.seihosha.co.jp/takahashi.html

The model that has the largest difference is CN212. The Japanese price is about 40-45% of the US price. Mewlon 180 costs a half in Japan.

Anat

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:18 pm

Btw, you can't buy from Japan distributor online (I tried this a few times). I either have to fly there or get a local friend to buy for me.

kingkong · Post by **kingkong** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 1:41 pm

i believe there's someone in hk who can get tak at near japanese prices...
some people here in singastro probably already know him... no, it's not ge, who has, of course, good price for eq6 ;-)

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:27 pm

I don't have a feel of the prices but have you tried checking with our local vendor Mike Matthews from www.Starmatrix.biz ? They do sell the Mewlon...

mrngbss · Post by **mrngbss** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:32 pm

I'm not buying a Mewlon, just wanted to compare prices only, and the info is for a friend. They may think I'm looking for a Mewlon

But I'm shocked by what Anat has told me abt the cheap Jap prices when compared to US prices. Perhaps shipping costs inflated those US prices.

river · Post by **river** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:26 am

I think it is more about taxes and trade policy, For one, Singapore practices parallel import which encourage prise competition. We enjoy better price at the cost of smaller market size for each vendor.

If price is about the same, better go to those vendor who know the stuff they are selling and can fix the scope locally. What's the point to have warranty but you have to pay high shipping cost to send that scope/mount back to US/Japan for repair??

tphilip · Post by **tphilip** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:40 pm

Pardon me if I am wrong but I dont think any of the local Takahashi vendors can repair the scopes or mounts locally and need to return them to Japan for repair. I don't know if the same holds true for Vixen equipment. It seems that in the US, mount adjustment, collimation and basic cleaning can be done by the local distributor but anything more complex requires a return to Japan - I've read horror stories about Vixen Europe and Vixen USA needing to return equipment to Japan for warranty repairs and taking months to finish them. I don't know if this is normal or just the skewed stories that seem so prevalent on the Internet.

The Takahashi prices are definitely much lower in Japan than in the US but its difficult to buy them unless you are in Japan and shipping isn't much fun - I don't know if the Japanese consumption tax can be claimed on export? Also the prices might not look so bad but once you add in a few accessories they are real expensive - finder, finder bracket, tube clamp, 31.7mm compression ring, diagonal, a couple of extra adapters...