Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

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DeepSolar64
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Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I just stumbled across a news flash stating that Orion Telescopes and Binoculars has bought Meade Instruments last June after Meade filed bankruptcy due to being sued by Orion for price fixing against the American market. Orion is an American owned company though they sell mostly imported products from Synta Optics of Taiwan.

Now what does that mean for us observers, especially us solar observers? Coronado is a Meade product. Could it lead to better quality? Better etalons? Better customer service? Synta, the parent company of Celestron and Sky-Watcher in my opinion puts out better quality optics than Ningbo Sunny, Meade's former parent company does. If Orion has Synta to start producing optics then quality may improve. It would be nice to see Orion move Coronado back to the US side of the border. They of course could also move it to Taiwan or China for production or leave it where it is in Mexico.

Do you think the Orion purchase of Meade Instruments will make a positive difference in Coronado products?


https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... ses-meade/

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by Montana »

Another thread here James :)
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=32102

Alexandra


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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks Montana. Somehow I missed this post. I just hope Orion does something to better Meade and Coronado. Some don't like Orion but I have never had an issue with them and have two of their scopes. A Short Tube 90 and my 70mm WL solar telescope. I also have a couple of Orion eyepieces. One on the other post doubted their customer service. I have always thought theirs was decent. Meade always has has customer service issues. Lunt and Celestron/Skywatcher have been good for me so far I have used Skywatcher's twice!

Best luck to Orion/Meade! Move forward and make good products! Make Coronado comparable to Lunt again!!

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Thanks James for the reminder about the Orion/Meade scenario.

As said in my previous reply in the June'21 post, it remains to be seen if products and service will improve to the point where customer-satisfaction is guaranteed, which sadly has been lacking over the last two or three years - or so...

COVID will still dictate to a large extent, as to the availability and prices from not just the above-mentioned companies, but many other firms too and for how long any delays in supplying whatever - is simply unknown at present...

Terry


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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Fingers crossed, Terry. This potentially improve Meade. Even though they are not American owned I feel that Meade almost certainly would fare better if Synta/Celestron/Sky-Watcher would have bought them.

I wish Celestron would come out with a solar line of scopes to compete with Lunt and Coronado. Meade has Coronado only because they bought David Lunt's existing company.

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by RKBerta »

I have been an old Orion and Celestron fan for years...actually did some beta testing for Celestron early Fastar setups and the Celestron GPS SCT fork mount scopes. Not a fan of Meade due to their poor customer support and questionable business practices (which now came back to haunt them).
Synta owns Celestron and SkyWatcher and is a Chinese company. When I was involved with Celestron it was when it was still an American company.
Bottom line....I hope this works out as a benefit for the owners with better products and customer support. Will see where this goes. I am not happy with further dilution of American technology to China though.


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Re: Orion Telescopes buys Meade Instruments!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I am not happy with further dilution of American technology to China though._RKBerta.
Ditto!! And this certainly includes far more than optical technology!

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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