Orion has bought Meade/Coronado

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Highbury Mark
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Orion has bought Meade/Coronado

Post by Highbury Mark »

After a protracted legal battle, during which Meade/Coronado filed for bankruptcy, Orion (US company, not the UK manufacturer) has announced it has acquired the company, and the Meade brand will continue. Too early to know what’s going to happen, but looks like good news for Coronado owners, knowing that their products should be supported in the future. And maybe a bit more competition for Lunt, starting with a replacement for the PST?


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Re: Orion has bought Meade/Coronado

Post by thesmiths »

I hadn't really followed this story. It's really quite complex. Orion won an anti-trust lawsuit against Meade's Chinese owners and therefore inherited all of Meade's assets. See part of the story below from astronomy.com:

Then, in 2013, Chinese manufacturing company Ningbo Sunny bought Meade Instruments, outbidding Orion and other competitors. That purchase was also part of Orion's complaint, with the company claiming Ningbo Sunny worked with another major telescope manufacturer to purchase Meade. Orion also said it was charged higher prices than another competitor was charged. The Nov. 26 jury verdict for Orion’s antitrust case against Ningbo Sunny found that the company “engaged in anticompetitive conduct” and “had a specific intent to achieve monopoly power in the telescope manufacturing market.”

“Our manufacturers based in China have been conspiring for years to put us out of business so that their own brands can dominate the market and raise prices,” Orion president Peter Moreo said in a press release in April when a federal court ruled that the case could proceed to trial.


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Re: Orion has bought Meade/Coronado

Post by MalVeauX »

I don't care who owns them. Meade wasn't doing anything good in this market anyways. I have no high regard for Orion either.

But... I would love to see some care go into the Solarmax line. Maybe Orion can hand pick some good Solarmax options and re-brand them as something else? Competition is good for all of us on the consumer end. Right now, Solarmax II & III don't compete with much of anything other than maybe a Quark.

Very best,


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Re: Orion has bought Meade/Coronado

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Very much as Marty has just said, neither Meade or Orion have shown me that they have helped their customers over the last couple of years, from my own personal experience, particularly with Orion where sub-standard design, manufacture and customer-service - have been either poor or non-existent., where I personally know of these comments made by others too...

Whether the name and products of Meade and of course the Solar-side of the name they took-over, remains as a benefit for those who already own such products, as well as the possibility of the supply of spare-parts, is another matter. In any case, it may take a while if the Solar-side resurfaces to the point that the renown SolarMax side is ever reached again, as clearly there could be doubts for possible purchasers - as to whether the brand names are going to be a safe investment for support and warranty purposes...

As far as competition and price-rises are concerned, I would have thought that the current COVID situation is more likely to cause any increases rather than the competition-effects, largely due to shortage and delays in manufacture and delivery, where I have just been informed that my own order for a new scope, from order date to delivery, is likely now to be 1.5 to 2-months, which doesn't surprise me at all and is neither Orion or Meade associated manufacture - luckily...

Terry


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