a question for Altair on the 102ED f11 scope

[notFritzArgelander]

I'm thinking of this interesting scope but I am wondering about the price differences. It looks the same but from the US there are three sources.

https://www.altairastro.com/Starwave-AS ... cuser.html

599 GBP converts to $748.90 at the moment.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... cuser.html

545.38 EUR converts to $612.65 at the moment.

The US distributor has it priced at $775.

https://www.landseaskyco.com/altair-asc ... cuser.html

Does Altair have any additional QA protocols or tweaks? Thanks in advance.

[Voyageur]

It will be interesting to see what information is forthcoming. This looks like a perfect scope for outreach, as my club's outreach events are primarily geared toward solar, lunar, and planetary observation. An f/11 refractor would be excellent for those occasions as well as for my own personal enjoyment...

If you do get one, please share your impressions with us!

[notFritzArgelander]

Certainly will report if it works out.

[altair_astro]

Hi there, yes we do perform QC, centring and collimation, rejects go back to contractors.

The point of this scope is an affordable easy-to-use refractor with geared focuser and a nice relaxed long focal length at a reasonable price. That makes it easy on the eye with longer eye relief eyepieces. I hope less critical eye placement is a plus for outreach. The Altair Ultraflats are just great with this scope. I added a bino extension for solar/bino scope enthusiasts. It's a nice scope for full aperture PST modding with the extension.

OK now for the bad news - these have actually just gone out of stock, so I'd better get more made...!

Since I kicked this off in 2018, we've had price increases, so they will go up a tad in price I'm sorry to say. I will get to this soon as I can but pretty stacked up at the moment with a new 6" model.

Best regards, Nick

[notFritzArgelander]

Thank you very much for your response!