expiriences with astronomy ireland scope shop

fguihen

ive been talking to astronomy ireland,with regards to buying a scope, and they seem very good, but i would like some customers expiriences. for someone in ireland, are they as good a scope shop as their is? how are their prices and service level?

Redshift

You would do well to shop around if you look through this forum you will find lots of links to places that sell scopes for much cheaper than AI

fguihen

ive checked out a few and although they are cheaper, once you pay shipping and import tax it doesent seem all that much of a saving. correct me if im wrong

Seanie M

Well, as you saw on the irishastronomy.org forums, Astronomy & Space Ltd have had a bad rep for selling stuff in the past. Me? I'd go for North Down Telescopes (Andy McCrea). Andy will do al he can to get you the scope you want. Worked for me. I wouldn't give Moore my pennies as he has the unknwing public think he is the only 'club' that sells scopes in the republic.

Saying that, you simply have to shop around. There are pros and cons for every scope manufacturer out there. A&S deal exclusively with Celestron.

redman

For good advice and GOOD VALUE
Definately, go for North Down Telescopes - Andy McCrea

geodesic

Largely negative experience I'm afraid ...

Very difficult to get a straight answer from them on price, practically everything on their website required that you ring, and then its all "well the list price is XXX" (a least twice what it should be) "but we can give a special reduction just for you" ... the type of hard-sell that really insulted even my puny intelligence

I don't think they realize that people have access to the internet/magazines etc. and can check out prices in the UK to work out in what ballpark they should be paying (accounting for VAT, shipping etc.)

They also lay on the "every-one in Ireland uses Celestron" myth ... when I asked if they could order a Meade scope for me they came out with "well there been's loads of quality problem with Meade" which was obviously bull.

Then to cap it all, they make out like they're some sort of altruistic non-profit, when clearly they're just out to turn a buck (which is fine, we all gotta turn a buck, I just whis they'd be more staright-forward about it ...)

In the end, I stopped rinnging them they annoyed me so much ... instead I picked up an excellent value scope (2nd hand Meade LX-90) in the UK when I was over for a friends wedding, and brought it back as excess baggage (Ryanair only charged me 35 quid for the priviledge, but my heart was in mouth when I unpacked it .

Seanie M

I wasn't going to say what geodesic said in fear it it starting a flame war, but yes, I agree with him fully.

shaptakster

When i was looking for a telescope a couple of years ago i checked with astronomy ireland. They gave me outrageous prices which they said were cheaper than i would get anywhere else.
I ended up ordering from the uk for half the price for the same model.

I really feel like they tried to rip me off.
Meant to find their shop and walk in with the uk price list and produce it after they gave me the bs, but never got round to it.

fguihen

i was chatting to Dave Moore from Astronomy Ireland, and he says if i can find a telescope cheaper than the price he quotes, he'l match the price. sounds fair enough!

Seanie M

fguihen wrote:

i was chatting to Dave Moore from Astronomy Ireland, and he says if i can find a telescope cheaper than the price he quotes, he'l match the price. sounds fair enough!

Don't forget, he only says that because the only main competitor against him for telescopes IN IRELAND is Argos... and they only ever had 2 Celestrons in their catalogue! Your average chemist out there that would also sell telescopes are going to have Tasco or something else.
So it's not fair! No one will go to him for the small scopes if they are smart enough to check Argos first! Therefore, if you really wanted a bigger Celestron, you can only really have Astronomy & Space as an option.

By the way, Astronomy Ireland does not exist. Check out the CRO website. Hasn't existed for a couple of years at least.

Seanie.

Orion

Another vote for Andy McCrea here. Got my 8" Reflector on EQ5 off him and a couple of accessories at another time. He's a very friendly and helpful guy to deal with and the prices are excellent. As is the service and delivery.

I got the Meade are poor quality story from AI on the one occasion I visited their shop. Even I knew that was complete crap.

Flukey

AI: Good telescopes, bad prices.

Wasn't there some guy in Dublin, around Ranelagh or somewhere that did them?

fguihen

can someone shed light on the suppliers in ranelagh? i can find none. im currently checking out prices and what not.

fguihen

does anyone know the guys who sell in Ranelagh? ive been looking around but cant find anyone

murphyme

Are you thinking of andromeda optics?

their phone number is 01-496 6866.

Michael.

Red 1.

Hi ...I have a Telescope for sale...as new ,unwanted gift...
its a TASCO Luminova...complete with tripod stand and all lenses... €200
contact::- 087 +++++++

Mod: Please read the charter, which states that equipment may not be sold on this forum, Post an Ad on Adverts.ie which you may link to on this forum if you wish.

Flukey

A TASCO? No thanks.

Surion

Hi all,
I got a startersceope (80?) for Xmas last year. My mate bought it for me from the UK, at about 1/3 off the original AI price.

However - the difficulty with it was, celestron wouldn't accept his Irish credit card due to agreements between sellers. He had to get someone with a UK card (or cash obviously) to buy it with a UK adress. I believe its the same in the USA. Otherwise I would have bought the BIGGEST one I could get (to see the hand of god LOL) at a FRACTION of the irish cost in the states.

We truely are a rip-off republic.

redman

It's very obvious the hugh unexplainable difference when you look at this months Sky at Night mag and see the advertised UK prices for the Celestron scopes and make a simple comparison to the latest issue of AI.
It used to be like this in the IT industry.