Posts Made By: Kevin Conville

Or at least enough of them are to swing elections.

Here we go again, the old smear and fear. Be afraid, be VERY afraid!!

Racists. Socialists. Communists! Baby killers. Wimps. Taxers. Heathens. Arabs. Un-Americans. Terrorists. Big City Cocktail Drinkers.

It's worked before, they're hoping it works again. McCain's a classy guy to sign off on the same scumbag tactics used against him. Talk about Un-American.

That's what I'm doing now. After struggling w/ numerous short FL eyepieces and the large increments of magnification they produce in my TV 102 I'm now using a 5x powermate with TV 15 Plossl, 18 Celestron Ultima, TV 20 Plossl, and Edmund 21.5 RKE. I like this setup alot. Very comfortable with excellent eye relief and no kidney beaning. I now get usable increments of magnification that eluded me with the short eyepieces. The 5x has threads for filters- very handy! I've also owned a 2.5 P'mate and I'm quite a fan of both. Amazing optical integrity. I can't give you any feeback as to how they compare to barlows however as I've had limited experience w/ them but I hardily endorse the powermates.

I made this of a good quality plastic toolbox. The eyepieces are located with 1 1/4" and 2" holes drilled in a 1/2" plywood base that is suspended 1 1/2" from the bottom of the box. I laminated 1/8" neoprene to the plywood before using the hole saw and made very clean holes. The base is held in place with small cleats that are hot glued to the gussets of the toolbox. There are also 1/8" shock cord hold downs for each eyepiece, powermate, etc. for use when traveling. Everything works great. I like this vs. foam as it allows air to circulate better and lets the silica gel do it's thing better I believe. Corgi is optional.

Kevin Conville:
"Paul, Tom-
Then, taking this from the reverse direction based on your premises...

Since the Pentax XWs and XOs sell for the same price and what dictates that price is the level of polish, coatings, precision, etc. than one can/should conclude that the XWs are of inferior build quality to the XOs.

This is accounting for the extra, larger elements, and polishing and coating them.
If they are built to the same price point than apparently the larger eyepiece is dumbed down.

I don't think this is the case, and I don't think this has much to do with it at all. It's marketing and market share.

In the case of TMB one can probably make an argument for them being boutique, with a garage band budget as compared to a giant like Pentax.
Same with AP.
These companies make and sell boutique scopes and really have no other choice but to sell boutique eyepieces at boutique prices if they make them at all. After all they're TMB and AP, not Celestron or Meade.

Understand that I'm not questioning the quality of these eyepieces or even if they're worth it. That's up to you to decide. I'm pointing out that these cost as much or more (in some cases) than larger, more complex designs of very high repute and that it may be primarily market driven."
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I'll bet if you were to take a Monocentric, change the cosmetics a bit and re-badge it, then sell it for $400. there would be people who would buy it and convince themselves and others it is superior.
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I once had a friend who had a business re-lining brake shoes for vintage/collectable motorcycles. He was lamenting to me his mediocre sales and so-so profit.
I told him to double his prices.
The logic being that people who collect expensive motorcycles WANT to pay more as this means it is of better quality.
It took a bit of convincing but he did it.
His sales grew dramatically and the company expanded.

Same materials, same process, different perceptions.

Hear, Hear!

That shows alot of class doesn't it? Our military has quite a reputation of demanding loyalty and sacrifice from the troops and in return they'll do things like not give them body armor or, as importantly, armor for the light trucks.

Remember these are the same folks who marched troops over ground zero in New Mexico, rained Agent Orange on our boys in Vietnam then denied any problems with it, denied the existence of Gulf War Syndrome, just to name a few.

We'll pour BILLIONS into Iraq's infrastructure, offer Turkey $30 billion to stage our troops, piss away a huge surplus to ease the burden of the wealthiest Americans, but we won't sufficiently fund our own homeland security or even give our loyal troops the materials they need for their own safety.

This makes me sick.

Hey Jim!!

Two words: Vince Foster

Jim,

When your in that picket line try goose-stepping. It'll draw even more attention.

It's no surprise Bush said that. You know where Cheney's hand is, after all Bush IS Cheney's hand puppet.

I just did a search for Tom and Jaroslav, topic: Jews and Israel.

First, very few references to Jews specifically- it's Israel that's the topic.

Second, I see nothing anti semitic in any of the posts I've read.

The posts, by and large, include Israel into the matrix of countries and issues when discussing war and peace in the mideast. OH MY GOD!

Israel is a political entity. Our relationship with Israel is a political one. So, any criticism of Israel or our policies toward Israel constitutes anti-semitism?

Whoever the mystery poster is, I suggest he get a life. Oh, and by the way, I'm offended by HIS post.