You can’t spend a lot of time scouring the telescope want ads without coming away with some opinion about the marketplace serving the hobby of amateur astronomy. There is a sense of fraternity among the ranks of amateur astronomers and that fellowship appears to extend to vendors as well. I have had occasion to call vendors regarding products, including JMI, Orion, Optcorp, and Televue, and in all cases I found the person I spoke with to be helpful and courteous. I think this goes beyond just customer service, as this is a niche market and most vendors are also actively involved in the hobby/field. (It’s hard to call this a hobby when many amateur astronomers make important contributions to the professional aspect of the field.)
As regards the marketplace, this is clearly the ”best of times and the (but not too) worst of times.” I doubt that there has been any other time in which there have been so many products available to the amateur astronomer. From good quality entry-level telescopes to high-end CCD imaging and spectrographic hardware, our ability to make use of this equipment is limited only by our pocketbooks. I am probably like a lot of contributors to this forum who dream about a high end Astrophysics or Takahashi telescope, a Coronado Max Scope, or an SBIG color CCD camera. But even if I cannot currently afford these items, I do have a broad choice of telescopes and accessories that will be in my price range.
I am troubled by the cost of some of this equipment. I realize that we form a limited marketplace, although on a worldwide basis we are talking about hundreds of thousands of potential customers. By marketing to the worldwide audience, I would think that many vendors could reduce their prices. For example, I think its time for Meade and Celestron to stop this silly “limited time only” sale of their SCT’s. (By the way, Meade has AGAIN extended their rebate offer.) If sales are up it should tell them something. The real winner will be the company that acknowledges the success of their rebate offer and announces that henceforth, this reduced price will be the retail price for their equipment. I would also encourage them to offer extra values, such as free shipping or an extra eyepiece of two. This type of marketing (lower prices, more features, and special deals) apparently works for Dell and Gateway computers and should work in the telescope marketplace as well.
As regards the marketplace, this is clearly the ”best of times and the (but not too) worst of times.” I doubt that there has been any other time in which there have been so many products available to the amateur astronomer. From good quality entry-level telescopes to high-end CCD imaging and spectrographic hardware, our ability to make use of this equipment is limited only by our pocketbooks. I am probably like a lot of contributors to this forum who dream about a high end Astrophysics or Takahashi telescope, a Coronado Max Scope, or an SBIG color CCD camera. But even if I cannot currently afford these items, I do have a broad choice of telescopes and accessories that will be in my price range.
I am troubled by the cost of some of this equipment. I realize that we form a limited marketplace, although on a worldwide basis we are talking about hundreds of thousands of potential customers. By marketing to the worldwide audience, I would think that many vendors could reduce their prices. For example, I think its time for Meade and Celestron to stop this silly “limited time only” sale of their SCT’s. (By the way, Meade has AGAIN extended their rebate offer.) If sales are up it should tell them something. The real winner will be the company that acknowledges the success of their rebate offer and announces that henceforth, this reduced price will be the retail price for their equipment. I would also encourage them to offer extra values, such as free shipping or an extra eyepiece of two. This type of marketing (lower prices, more features, and special deals) apparently works for Dell and Gateway computers and should work in the telescope marketplace as well.
