How do we see the refractor market today?
We believe, that currently there are two types (and their variants) of APO refractors/lenses available for amateur astronomers:
- Low or middle quality products from the Far East (e.g. some Chinese products marketed under different brand names). These products are cheap and readily available, but usually they are very far behind today’s technology and/or do not meet our quality requirements. Many times they represent outdated design principles and technologies, and in many cases, even the most basic expectations of customers are not satisfied. For example many similar products have zero (or nearly zero) unvignetted field sizes, in some cases the internal baffles and/or the focuser are so badly designed, that they cut down part of the light cone, thus effectively decreasing the scope’s aperture. In other cases the optical surfaces are not polished to the required tolerances, and optical performance is not optimal
- High-end products from much more professional companies. These are produced with excellent quality and quality control, but an average astronomer has to break the bank and/or wait for years to buy them.
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Both above mentioned product categories have found their places on the market, but in our opinion there is a too wide gap between these categories. The really high quality APO for a reasonable price is still missing from the market.
Some of the companies in the USA are trying to fill this gap by manufacturing better designed optics and trying to force their sub-contractors at the Far East to apply somehow tighter quality control. These companies sell these products under their own logo in the USA and Europe. We believe this is still not the optimal way! How could we expect a worker to do his/her best if he or she lives in a country with political system that does not financially motivate the workers personally to work with full enthusiasm? We represent a completely different approach: we consider every satisfied customer as a personal success and every dissatisfied customer would be our personal failure in every respect.
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