@@plane9182 they do how do you think this guy gets all his equipment. This guy makes fake doctored up images and sell them to NASA, so they deceive people with their science fiction.
Oh man so much. I use the money to buy exotic research chemicals then we have group orgies with the lizard people and talk about how we can buy arms and overthrow governments with our complete control of the worlds navigation systems. We thought about inviting you but because you’re onto us we decided the best course of action was to let you just appear crazy because it tends to sort itself out. If that doesn’t work we always have the Jewish space lasers though so keep your eyes on the skies!
@@DylanODonnell come on we both know what you do. You admitted it with your own mouth..Why do you mock me with satirical exaggeration? I was asking a serious question
It's not an easy business . I owned Telescope-Technologies co from 1998 to 2004 .I manafactured eyepiece projection adapters and various other adapters . People liked them , But , Theres not exactly a huge demand for very specific adapters. All my products were made in Nokomus Florida , And anodized in Tampa Florida. It was fun though , I got to meet a lot of people in the business . I sold the company to a competitor that had manufacturing ability in Taiwan. My adapters were known as the Adaptaview direct connection eyepiece projection adapters . They allowed use of all the large element 2'' eyepieces by Televue , Pentax , Meade. Any camera system could be used , c - mount , t thread . Thank you for the bad/good news
I had thought about participating but my heart sank when I saw this video amounting to a big advert. This is now so broadly known that I don't expect any good deals.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I participated in this auction and I think I won a LX90 8". The reason why I say "I think" is because the auction ended abruptly about 3 and a half hours ahead of when it was originally scheduled to end and at one point it was extended two days instead of one. So a rather confusing situation and one I think many people will be confused and upset about because they find the auction over before they had a chance to particpate.
G'day Dylan, I've been dying to tell you this and and I know it's meaningless, but a very happy bloody new year to you and the family. Thank you for making a wiser and happier viewer to your great channel. Cheers cobber and a hooroo for now.
Someone local with the ability to pick up and ship (a big job maybe) could be a big help to the community and make some well deserved fees in the process.
I looked on the site just Be Aware there is a 18% fee on top of the gavel price then add 9.75% sales tax on that. So 50$ is really $64.75. etc.. Don't get to excited to win a bid just to more for the scope than it's worth due to the fees. This is not eBay where auctions are easy.. Everything is ACH or cash only, . The lots for big telescopes are mostly on Pallets so shipping means a truck and forklift to get it off the delivery truck unless you can go there and remove the items from the pallet into your pickup truck. ( if they allow it ) There are some smaller items and open store demos that may not be the case but you have to arrange a pickup time before the 17th of January according to the site. Plus the risk if you get it home and then it is just broken glass you're out of luck and money.. that is the risk. That said since I'm in California I might take a look,
I'm already registered to bid but if it's anything like the OPT auction back in 2023, it won't be fun. Some people paid more than retail for AM5 and CEM mounts. I have a couple of friends who are willing to go in with me, thanks for the tip about the reddit discord, I'm part of it but don't visit it as much as I should. I agree that it's really sad. I wish someone had bought them out wholesale. Merry New Year, Dylan.
Dude, 22 years ago high school me used to go hang out at the Orion store in Cupertino after school to drool over all the cool scopes and eyepieces and Ken along with the other guys who worked there had literally ENDLESS patience with me. I miss that store and that crew so much… I hope they’re all doing alright.
I used to drive 3 hours to get to the Cupertino store. It was worth the drive. Ken was there 3 days per week, then worked in Watsonville the other 2 days. When the Cupertino store closed, he worked from home most days as he lived farther up north. Patrick left a while back. He may have seen the writing on the wall. If I win the lottery, I'm opening up a new telescope and binocular store and appointing Ken as CEO.
Thanks for the heads up on this auction . This is what I do for my business . Can't believe it is 20 minutes from where I live , sort of . Currently about 4 hours drive away and didn't expect to be back for at least a month or 2 . Think maybe a change in plans is in order .
I own a 12" Meade ACF and it's really good ! I tried a few copies of celestron 9.25 and 11 EdgeHD, and my Meade is better ! I'd like to get a 14 or 16 inch ACF from this auction.
Such a bummer. We lost power in Los Angeles, so I found a coffee shop to place some bids, but all lots were closed. I did get a nice cup of coffee at least.
Sad that no one took over the Meade brand😢. My first scope was a Meade 2080 sct. It's still my sharpest telescope. My 12" Lightbridge is my largest instrument.
I'm surprised one of the Chinese companies didn't buy Meade, the market seems to be awash with small to medium size refractors at the moment with a reasonable amount of Newtonians but there seems to be very little in the way of SCTs, Celestron and thats about it, with Skywatcher and a few others selling Maks. Anyway happy New Year Dylan to you and your family.
I am not. Once on a ship, it WILL get mouldy. It's a simple fact of life. Anything that arrives in one pieces, likely all, will require a deep clean and steaming to create a benchmark. Then further cleaning. That doesn't mean it will be crap, no at all. But it does mean that it will require some effort.
Really I think this just helps show that there is an overabundance of telescopes and astronomy equipment, to the point where we probably dont even need companies making anywhere near as many as they do. I think its very similar to paper clips, and how there are trillions of them yet we still never seem to have many. I've got a 12" Celestron StarHopper that I bought for 200 bucks because the particle board stand had disintegrated from water damage (I built a new base out of old plywood that looks and feels miles better than the original for no cost other than sweat and time), and I have a 4.5" Meade that a distant family member used once before letting it rust in the attic of another family members farmhouse. I also have a friend who knows someone with a perfectly good 14" that they just dont want anymore but still cant get rid of (he's tried to give this thing to several schools for no cost, our astronomy club even was going to subsidize the installation of an observing shed and everything, but none of them wanted it). This has become a topic within my local astronomy club and some of us are wanting to start a "telescope foster care" program of sorts, where we take in old scopes, fix them up, and give them away.
Where are you located? I know an educational non-profit which might have an interest in acquiring that 14" scope you mention. My email address is on my channel page about me. Thanks in advance.
Thanks Dylan! I am a CA resident, I will check out the auction, and see if there is anything useful for me, or maybe as resale. I told myself..."self, you are not going to buy anymore astro stuff till you get the full function out of the gear you got". I went back on that a few weeks ago, when I saw a 60mm Asahi Pentax scope with everything plus extras, in near perfect condition. It is a nice scope, and great for a collector...but I am not a collector. Anyways, this is just another reason to spend some money on astro thingys.
Wow. I was going to be bidding on several of these pallets with a business partner and the entire auction just got cancelled. Evedentally someone bought the entire auction lot. All lots are closed. BOOM! That sucks. They will not give any info. on who bought it out so who knows what is going to happen with all this stuff now. Maybe another auction at some time with some other company. Does anyone else know anything???
Rebranding and resale is most likely the case here. They also get intellectual property rights from the purchase. Chances are they are planning on using the company as a startup or something along those lines.
Shipito They can purchase on your behalf and freight it anywhere in the world. Used them a bunch of times to get US discounts for ski goggles at 10% of AU prices. Freight can be a bit costly, but moving something fragile over a long distance? You absolutely want Freight Forwarders handling this job.
The big 16" SCT is an awesome machine if you have a mount good enough for it. It is much superior to the 10" in terms of field flatness and image quality across a full frame sensor and has almost no vignetting because it has a substantially larger central opening than the smaller scopes.
They finally went supernova💥 sry, jkjk 😂 Earlier this year I had gotten a used Orion XT8 for the eclipse. Upgrading and making a custom (lighter, smoother) mount for it rn. Sad to see them go. Btw happy new year! Orange chaos is about to begin. 😂
Gday Dylan i was hoping you can use your sphere of influence to find out what happened! I was in 3day auction, org closed it off half way in saying one mysterious bidder put a bit towards the whole thing ( this happened few weeks prior) and they accepted!! Some big cheese out there has not only the scopes but the whole workshop hardware utilized in assembly and test, calibrate. could we expect a rebrand and relaunch!? Can you find out plz 🤜🏼
Auction wasn't cancelled. They led everyone on to register and prepare for an auction and then negotiated a bulk sale at the expense of everyone who spent time registering and bidding on items. What a farce!
I think many have lost orders that were paid for and never delivered due to the collapse. There are also many who have had scopes in for repair that are now tied up in this liquidation. I really feel for them and hope they may be compensated. Be great for all to pick up a bargain but sad to see those who have lost a lot to this corporate collapse.
That’s awful. Hopefully they are the partial benefactors of the liquidation funds. I thought it was crazy how long the website was live and taking orders for after the building was literally abandoned.
@ I thought the same Dylan. I believe there are quite a few that have been caught up in this terrible situation. Definitely hope they can get some recovery from their loss
Hopefully they bought using credit card so they should be covered for any losses? Although obviously wouldn’t help if you just had a scope in waiting for repair
I saw Lots with a dozen or so unboxed scopes on shelves. They looked like they might be in for repair. I think people might have to register with the authorities overseeing the Chapter 7 in order to get their money back. Unfortunately, they would likely get paid after the employees, creditors, and suppliers. In the Lots above #600- there are quite a few Lots with 20-30 boxes labeled as returns. They were all shapes and sizes. I own a Meade 12". It is sad to see it come to this.
Wow..... This is a goldmine LOT 353 (16" F/8 SCT OTA with LX600 fork mount) LOT 422 (16" F/10 SCT OTA with LX200 fork mount) LOT 359 (lot of 5 ED Triplet refractors, EON115 and EON130) Many many lots of 8", 10", 12", and 14" SCT OTAs, not to mention the lots of Coronado Solarmax III 90 solar scopes..... Hmmm... Wouldn't hurt to at least sign up for the auction, see how things go... 😈
@superIuminaI it's the shipping that will be the killer. Like Dylan said if people in Aus are serious about purchasing they should at least go together on a sea container from USA to Aus.
Or even better figure out which lots are of interest and figure out if you can not bid against each other. Particularly where you have 10,20, of the same telescopes in one lot.
@@WilliamBlakers yeah, and how are you going to get it to the pier in the first place???? That's gonna cost you some $$$$ to. I've dealt with international shipping - air and sea. Then when it hits where ever, you need a broker to clear customs, you have to pay duties, then get it from THAT pier to your location. 40 years of logistics here, retired now. This auction is hardly for some consumer.
The reality is people with a bit of disposable income and the fairly nerdy interest in astronomy broadly live in extremely light polluted cities and suburbs. Even a 10” scope under Bortle 8 skies shows relatively little of interest as compared to a 2” EAA smart scope. The SeeStar also fits in a backpack if desired. The future was never a 12” dob, it was a 12 pound smart scope all along.
Happy New Year to you and your family, mate!!😊😊 Would love to get a big Meade, but it's getting it out here that's the problem. Might have to do some inquiries.
I had a look , they have optical testing equipment up for auction, alot of 8" acf, seen a 14" acf combo with a solar scope, there is a lot of 20x 8" cassegrains
The terms and conditions usually specify any restrictions, but this one doesn’t say anything about how you can remove the items. Might be worth a call to the auctioneer to see if they will let you bring your own removal equipment. I usually bid on machinery auctions, and those require a rigger to move anything that can’t be hand carried.
You need remove it or hire a rigger to remove it pack and ship or transport for you by private arrangement. It's unclear if you will need equipment to remove from an upper pallet rack, you can get calling the info number about that, but the fact that they mention upper rack in the pallet location implies that it may be up to you or a company you hire to bring it down.
UPDATE: The auction was closed by an undisclosed third party that essentially purchased all of the inventory. So individual sales were outbid by this. Hopefully this group will reorganize and reauction the inventory in the near future.
I emailed the dude. Apparently they are able to box stuff up and drop at courier if it's less than 50lbs. obviously, it would be nicer if they just did an eBay thing and included shipping instead of having to jump through hoops
@DylanODonnell sorry. Bad wording on my part. I meant were the liquidators honouring orders that had been placed and paid for? I suppose sales of the telescope will go to paying corporate debtors before individuals.
Well, I am on the same continent but not in the same country. Hmmm, I wonder if that makes me in-continent?? By the time I add the taxes and buyer premium, exchange rate, packing and shipping fees, customs broker fees, duty and taxes, it starts to look less and less like a deal. Somebody is going to get some great deals, and I sincerely hope that local astronomers can grab some good stuff.
Dylan, you mentioned a group buy, you then mentioned purchasing some 16 inch scopes this way, after looking through the listings I find no 16 inch scopes, the biggest I find is the 10 Inch scopes: and I believe those are just one to the lot. Am I missing something????
I may be mistaken, but take a look at Lot# 422. There are three 16" LX200s. I think it's just the scope, not the mount or tripods. Those are in different lots. Lot# 466 had one 16" LX200, with fork arms, but no tripod. There was another Lot further down the line that had a 16" LX200 later on, with forks, and an LX850 tripod. It was bundled with some other Cornado scopes and equipment. It seemed like they had twice as many forks and tripods for the 16" than they had scopes. That's for sure. I probably counted 16 14" Meade LX200 scopes. Most were in palettes of 4. I think I saw one Orion 14" scope bundled with other scopes. I counted dozens of LX90 and LX200 12" Meade scopes, as well as half a dozen LX600 12" scopes. The problem is they come in Lots of 4 to 12 scopes, and you have to bid on the entire lot.
@@louiemccrady1960yep, and 3 Coronado DS70 double stack BF30s retail at over $33k. This stuff is in inventory for a reason. Very few get sold in a year. Whoever wins these, it will tie up their cash for a very long time. They'll have to carefully match up lots with tripods and forks to OTAs when bidding, (which everyone being in the same boat seems to work itself out at auction) in order to sell the units complete. When they do resell them they'll have to be at big discounts because of the support and warranty issues. The auction is definitely NOT going to maximize the value to Optronic.
Hence why I had to snap up a bargain lx850 10inch f8 SCT from First Light Optics as I knew it would be probably my last chance to obtain a high quality OTA from the brand Meade before they dissappear forever... My first goto was a the LS"6 but unfortunately the software kept bricking itself during alignment, so became a expensive paperweight for 12 months until I removed the ota and custom adapted a losmandy dovetail to carry the ota... I've never been able to fault the optical quality of meades OTAs...
Unless one lives out there, this auction is MOOT. Transportation to/from unless you live out there? Collaborate with someone out in CA? Less than 3 weeks until the deadline to have it picked up. Coordinating with others (aka "you guys""? I'm retired here after over 40 years in logistics. You're sort of dreaming.
Entire lot bought out. The lady told me that they had information on the site for the entire lot buy, but I never saw that. I think what they did is illegal!
anyone has suggestions on how to get that stuff to you if you're not in the states/california. I'd be interested in some of it.. but, no point in bidding if there is no easy way to get it..
@PilotPhteven, I’ve purchased items online at an auction somewhat similar to this before. Buyer beware. I’ve shown up to claim my items only to be handed something else which looked very similar. Had I not opened the box to inspect, I’d have found out too late. When calling them out (the auctioneer), I was blamed. These events cater to those logistically able to take advantage of them such as other astronomy retailers and “locals” who have nothing else to loose. My 45+ year experience in this hobby is that a good amount of the high-end equipment is purchased by folks who simply don’t know what to do with their money next. You might buy $40K worth of telescopes for under $5K to later discover they’re seriously flawed or missing proprietary parts. These companies went out of business for a reason. Meade built some good stuff at one time. At one time…
Going to end up like the OPT sale, most good items going for more than retail once you add the fees, then CN and AM flooded with resellers ads of what they scored.
Bro, what have you done with the intro? There are numbers, science and stuff... Way too serious. I never thought I'd say this, but put the builders crack back in! Please let me know if you buy a pallet of Meade 16". I'd love one. I'm just across the pond. For real (not the pond, the part about being serious).
Well maybe Coronado/Meade wil still rise from the ashes of this... when the auction got cancelled I emailed them to ask what was up, and got this response below. Someone who they'd been discussing a purchase of IP before the auction stepped up at the last minute and is buying everything plus the IP. Wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting to gauge interest, saw tons of salmon like myself swimming upriver for the Solarmaxes and the SCTs, and decided "heck yeah let's go ahead and do it!" Which makes a lot of sense - aside from Lunt there's really no competition on solar scopes ... and nobody's making large SCTs "Thank you for your interest in this auction. Under its authority and discretion, the Assignee has accepted and closed a funded offer for the bulk purchase all inventory lots and certain intellectual property from a bidder with whom the Assignee has been negotiating since prior to the pre-bid deadline. As a result, we are closing this auction. The Assignee may, at its election, conduct another auction for the remaining assets of the ABC at a future point in time. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you again."
Finally someone who gets it! We're all just ants on a hill soon to be replaced with another, and the process continues on and on. Nothing really matters and we will all die as everything in life has an expiration day. But this does beg the question of the state of humanity? Do the qualities that make us human in a current state matter? If not to ourselves then what about others? Does mankind wish for a more pleasant and desirable experience to live a fuller life? Would it hurt to strive to make the planet a better place for the next generation and practice compassion and benevolence as we near death for the sake of creating positivity, love, and creation? Good on ya brother!
anyone knows , what is best for beginner telescope /binoculars? for viewing saturn and jupiter? and canb e use to photograph saturn and jupiter? can a table top star blaster a good bet? do one need a f/5? 8" with star shoot mini color? , and a 10 x 50 with a phone adapter do the work? can the software be downloaded free online for starshoot?
Find a local astronomy club, and go to one of their star party events. You'll get to sample a lot of different scopes and set your expectations correctly. I think beginners should consider buying a used 8" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT), because it's usually smaller and easier to work with. You can see most of the planets and their moons just fine if you have clear dark skies. It should also have a GoTo computer in it to point the scope for you. Phones can be used to capture images, but they are extremely difficult to work with a telescope. Better to find a cheap Sony DSLR on ebay for less than $100 until you figure out if you really want to go down this road. Another thing you can do, is just buy a tripod to hold your phone, and use your phone's zoom to take pictures. Your phone should have manual settings to set the shutter speed for 10-15 seconds. Use the delayed snapshot feature to avoid jittery images. Have fun!
What a shame - Meade used to be a go-to brand and I'm faving a great time with my second hand Coronado PST. Though it looks like Skywatcher is going to fill that space (hope so)
This takes me back to the video of types of astronomy people "The classifieds arbitrage dude" remember that shit I got from that deceased estate.....RIP Orion, Meade & Coronado gone but never forgotten.
I saw plenty of the telescopes at the OPT auction almost going at MSRP. Tack on auction fees and the logistic fees for picking up and shipping out of CA, and there almost no good deals.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
How much does NASA pay you for one of those edited layered images that you create?
They dont
Man I wish they paid for my images, that’d be sweet, maybe I could even buy a new telescope
@@plane9182 they do how do you think this guy gets all his equipment. This guy makes fake doctored up images and sell them to NASA, so they deceive people with their science fiction.
Oh man so much. I use the money to buy exotic research chemicals then we have group orgies with the lizard people and talk about how we can buy arms and overthrow governments with our complete control of the worlds navigation systems. We thought about inviting you but because you’re onto us we decided the best course of action was to let you just appear crazy because it tends to sort itself out. If that doesn’t work we always have the Jewish space lasers though so keep your eyes on the skies!
@@DylanODonnell come on we both know what you do. You admitted it with your own mouth..Why do you mock me with satirical exaggeration?
I was asking a serious question
It's not an easy business . I owned Telescope-Technologies co from 1998 to 2004 .I manafactured eyepiece projection adapters and various other adapters . People liked them , But , Theres not exactly a huge demand for very specific adapters.
All my products were made in Nokomus Florida , And anodized in Tampa Florida. It was fun though , I got to meet a lot of people in the business . I sold the company to a competitor that had manufacturing ability in Taiwan. My adapters were known
as the Adaptaview direct connection eyepiece projection adapters . They allowed use of all the large element 2'' eyepieces by Televue , Pentax , Meade. Any camera system could be used , c - mount , t thread . Thank you for the bad/good news
Bought (and still have) my Celestron C-8 in 1978 from Orion. Things come and go but when an era ends it is a bit sad.
I had thought about participating but my heart sank when I saw this video amounting to a big advert. This is now so broadly known that I don't expect any good deals.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I participated in this auction and I think I won a LX90 8". The reason why I say "I think" is because the auction ended abruptly about 3 and a half hours ahead of when it was originally scheduled to end and at one point it was extended two days instead of one. So a rather confusing situation and one I think many people will be confused and upset about because they find the auction over before they had a chance to particpate.
G'day Dylan,
I've been dying to tell you this and and I know it's meaningless, but a very happy bloody new year to you and the family. Thank you for making a wiser and happier viewer to your great channel.
Cheers cobber and a hooroo for now.
Bloody ripper thanks mate you too :)
Big props to find this and put it out there...
I live ~45min from that location, DM if you need a pickup
Sign me up!
Someone local with the ability to pick up and ship (a big job maybe) could be a big help to the community and make some well deserved fees in the process.
Are you on the discord or reddit forums
@@NM-ql9er not yet, but will be this week
i want one .., please help
I looked on the site just Be Aware there is a 18% fee on top of the gavel price then add 9.75% sales tax on that. So 50$ is really $64.75. etc.. Don't get to excited to win a bid just to more for the scope than it's worth due to the fees. This is not eBay where auctions are easy.. Everything is ACH or cash only, . The lots for big telescopes are mostly on Pallets so shipping means a truck and forklift to get it off the delivery truck unless you can go there and remove the items from the pallet into your pickup truck. ( if they allow it ) There are some smaller items and open store demos that may not be the case but you have to arrange a pickup time before the 17th of January according to the site. Plus the risk if you get it home and then it is just broken glass you're out of luck and money.. that is the risk. That said since I'm in California I might take a look,
Nothing is being shipped. It is pickup only.
@@ian408 If that's the case then offer your services to re-send. I would be more than happy to pay you to re-send to me in Oz.
nice trick! lol
Dylan, thank you for the "heads up" on this event.
I'm already registered to bid but if it's anything like the OPT auction back in 2023, it won't be fun. Some people paid more than retail for AM5 and CEM mounts. I have a couple of friends who are willing to go in with me, thanks for the tip about the reddit discord, I'm part of it but don't visit it as much as I should.
I agree that it's really sad. I wish someone had bought them out wholesale.
Merry New Year, Dylan.
You are so cool. I’ve been wanting a Coronado forever. And a trip outside of Monterrey aquarium.😊 thanks Dylan .
I just hope Ken from Orion is doing okay.
yea seriously, he seemed like a nice guy. Hope he's ok!
Dude, 22 years ago high school me used to go hang out at the Orion store in Cupertino after school to drool over all the cool scopes and eyepieces and Ken along with the other guys who worked there had literally ENDLESS patience with me.
I miss that store and that crew so much… I hope they’re all doing alright.
Yep. Watched many product videos by Ken. Miss him too!
I used to drive 3 hours to get to the Cupertino store. It was worth the drive. Ken was there 3 days per week, then worked in Watsonville the other 2 days. When the Cupertino store closed, he worked from home most days as he lived farther up north. Patrick left a while back. He may have seen the writing on the wall. If I win the lottery, I'm opening up a new telescope and binocular store and appointing Ken as CEO.
Yes, Ken is doing alright, why do I know this? Because, Ken knew the Muffin Man... ;) ;) ;) The real question is, do you know the Muffin Man...
Thanks for the heads up on this auction . This is what I do for my business . Can't believe it is 20 minutes from where I live , sort of . Currently about 4 hours drive away and didn't expect to be back for at least a month or 2 . Think maybe a change in plans is in order .
I own a 12" Meade ACF and it's really good ! I tried a few copies of celestron 9.25 and 11 EdgeHD, and my Meade is better ! I'd like to get a 14 or 16 inch ACF from this auction.
Such a bummer. We lost power in Los Angeles, so I found a coffee shop to place some bids, but all lots were closed. I did get a nice cup of coffee at least.
Sweet, I live 45 minutes away! Thanks for the heads up.
Same, in San Jose
Sad that no one took over the Meade brand😢. My first scope was a Meade 2080 sct. It's still my sharpest telescope. My 12" Lightbridge is my largest instrument.
It depends how many the brand costs! Maybe in a few years someone will get the brand quite cheap and then the name cames back…
The popular items have a 100 or more watchers. The price will be fairly high in quality stuff. And, it's pickup only.
Orion was my favorite telescope seller, RIP. I hope Ken is doing alright.
I'm surprised one of the Chinese companies didn't buy Meade, the market seems to be awash with small to medium size refractors at the moment with a reasonable amount of Newtonians but there seems to be very little in the way of SCTs, Celestron and thats about it, with Skywatcher and a few others selling Maks.
Anyway happy New Year Dylan to you and your family.
I am not. Once on a ship, it WILL get mouldy. It's a simple fact of life. Anything that arrives in one pieces, likely all, will require a deep clean and steaming to create a benchmark.
Then further cleaning.
That doesn't mean it will be crap, no at all. But it does mean that it will require some effort.
Really I think this just helps show that there is an overabundance of telescopes and astronomy equipment, to the point where we probably dont even need companies making anywhere near as many as they do. I think its very similar to paper clips, and how there are trillions of them yet we still never seem to have many. I've got a 12" Celestron StarHopper that I bought for 200 bucks because the particle board stand had disintegrated from water damage (I built a new base out of old plywood that looks and feels miles better than the original for no cost other than sweat and time), and I have a 4.5" Meade that a distant family member used once before letting it rust in the attic of another family members farmhouse. I also have a friend who knows someone with a perfectly good 14" that they just dont want anymore but still cant get rid of (he's tried to give this thing to several schools for no cost, our astronomy club even was going to subsidize the installation of an observing shed and everything, but none of them wanted it). This has become a topic within my local astronomy club and some of us are wanting to start a "telescope foster care" program of sorts, where we take in old scopes, fix them up, and give them away.
Where are you located? I know an educational non-profit which might have an interest in acquiring that 14" scope you mention. My email address is on my channel page about me. Thanks in advance.
Thanks Dylan! I am a CA resident, I will check out the auction, and see if there is anything useful for me, or maybe as resale. I told myself..."self, you are not going to buy anymore astro stuff till you get the full function out of the gear you got". I went back on that a few weeks ago, when I saw a 60mm Asahi Pentax scope with everything plus extras, in near perfect condition. It is a nice scope, and great for a collector...but I am not a collector. Anyways, this is just another reason to spend some money on astro thingys.
Wow. I was going to be bidding on several of these pallets with a business partner and the entire auction just got cancelled. Evedentally someone bought the entire auction lot. All lots are closed. BOOM! That sucks. They will not give any info. on who bought it out so who knows what is going to happen with all this stuff now. Maybe another auction at some time with some other company. Does anyone else know anything???
Rebranding and resale is most likely the case here. They also get intellectual property rights from the purchase. Chances are they are planning on using the company as a startup or something along those lines.
All those defective returns are now for sale 😔
Shipito
They can purchase on your behalf and freight it anywhere in the world. Used them a bunch of times to get US discounts for ski goggles at 10% of AU prices. Freight can be a bit costly, but moving something fragile over a long distance? You absolutely want Freight Forwarders handling this job.
They don't participate to ebay auctions apparently so I it's probably the same for online auctions in general.
Pirateship is a good alternative
Happy new year my fellow nerds 🎉
🎉
The auction was closed prematurely. Someone bought the company in entirety and they were court ordered to shut down the auction.
i certainly hope that those who had sent in their gear to Orion for repair just before the shutdown are not seeing their kit in those auction images.
The big 16" SCT is an awesome machine if you have a mount good enough for it. It is much superior to the 10" in terms of field flatness and image quality across a full frame sensor and has almost no vignetting because it has a substantially larger central opening than the smaller scopes.
Will they also be auctioning customer scopes i hear were sent in for repair but were "lost" and never returned?
Now celestron is a true monopoly on the SCT design
Yeh.. which is weird since Orion won the case arguing that. A pyrrhic victory.
@@DylanODonnell any idea if making of SCTs involves any proprietary IP? I have always wondered why they are not made by others
Looks like I’m driving back up to the Watsonville in a few weeks lets go! Sad to see it but what a gold mine
Cheers Dylan.... Here's to great skies in 2025! Thanks for all your videos :D
Thanks for sharing the auction information. This is right up our alley!
i wonder how many customer repairs are going to get auctioned off. what a sad situation.
They finally went supernova💥 sry, jkjk 😂
Earlier this year I had gotten a used Orion XT8 for the eclipse. Upgrading and making a custom (lighter, smoother) mount for it rn. Sad to see them go.
Btw happy new year! Orange chaos is about to begin. 😂
Gday Dylan i was hoping you can use your sphere of influence to find out what happened! I was in 3day auction, org closed it off half way in saying one mysterious bidder put a bit towards the whole thing ( this happened few weeks prior) and they accepted!! Some big cheese out there has not only the scopes but the whole workshop hardware utilized in assembly and test, calibrate. could we expect a rebrand and relaunch!? Can you find out plz 🤜🏼
Did they change the auction dates? I could have sworn it started today but it looks like the 8th now.
That’s interesting .. maybe something delayed it
Yeah, they did. Earlier, it was 6th Jan for a lot lot.
Auction was cancelled. Per Think Onyx all inventory and select IP has been sold in a short notice sale. January 10th auction was cancelled.
Auction wasn't cancelled. They led everyone on to register and prepare for an auction and then negotiated a bulk sale at the expense of everyone who spent time registering and bidding on items. What a farce!
Thanks Dylan. Happy New Year.
I think many have lost orders that were paid for and never delivered due to the collapse. There are also many who have had scopes in for repair that are now tied up in this liquidation. I really feel for them and hope they may be compensated. Be great for all to pick up a bargain but sad to see those who have lost a lot to this corporate collapse.
That’s awful. Hopefully they are the partial benefactors of the liquidation funds. I thought it was crazy how long the website was live and taking orders for after the building was literally abandoned.
@ I thought the same Dylan. I believe there are quite a few that have been caught up in this terrible situation. Definitely hope they can get some recovery from their loss
Hopefully they bought using credit card so they should be covered for any losses? Although obviously wouldn’t help if you just had a scope in waiting for repair
I saw Lots with a dozen or so unboxed scopes on shelves. They looked like they might be in for repair. I think people might have to register with the authorities overseeing the Chapter 7 in order to get their money back. Unfortunately, they would likely get paid after the employees, creditors, and suppliers. In the Lots above #600- there are quite a few Lots with 20-30 boxes labeled as returns. They were all shapes and sizes. I own a Meade 12". It is sad to see it come to this.
Sooooooo, i would like a coronado scope but at the discord link you provide i don't see the channel you post on the video
GSO is growing incl the rebranded Stellalyra, TS-Optics and Apertura because of their great reflective optics.
Wow..... This is a goldmine
LOT 353 (16" F/8 SCT OTA with LX600 fork mount)
LOT 422 (16" F/10 SCT OTA with LX200 fork mount)
LOT 359 (lot of 5 ED Triplet refractors, EON115 and EON130)
Many many lots of 8", 10", 12", and 14" SCT OTAs, not to mention the lots of Coronado Solarmax III 90 solar scopes.....
Hmmm... Wouldn't hurt to at least sign up for the auction, see how things go... 😈
I know right?!?
@superIuminaI it's the shipping that will be the killer. Like Dylan said if people in Aus are serious about purchasing they should at least go together on a sea container from USA to Aus.
Or even better figure out which lots are of interest and figure out if you can not bid against each other. Particularly where you have 10,20, of the same telescopes in one lot.
@@WilliamBlakers yeah, and how are you going to get it to the pier in the first place???? That's gonna cost you some $$$$ to. I've dealt with international shipping - air and sea. Then when it hits where ever, you need a broker to clear customs, you have to pay duties, then get it from THAT pier to your location. 40 years of logistics here, retired now. This auction is hardly for some consumer.
Shipping gona be like $600 lol ,still worth if you can grab an sct cheap
Qhy Minicam8 review coming?
The auction website says by bidding you are accepting what you get...even if the box is empty or has been mislabeled!
It’s a huge risk! Some of the stuff is from the repair bench.
The reality is people with a bit of disposable income and the fairly nerdy interest in astronomy broadly live in extremely light polluted cities and suburbs. Even a 10” scope under Bortle 8 skies shows relatively little of interest as compared to a 2” EAA smart scope. The SeeStar also fits in a backpack if desired.
The future was never a 12” dob, it was a 12 pound smart scope all along.
Where is the Reddit or discord channel. I’m part of r/astrophatography and don’t see a sub area for this.
I can’t find it either. Does not look like any collaboration is going on there.
You seem to need to pick a region before you see anything
@@OllieCat125 thank you!
Happy New Year to you and your family, mate!!😊😊 Would love to get a big Meade, but it's getting it out here that's the problem. Might have to do some inquiries.
I had a look , they have optical testing equipment up for auction, alot of 8" acf, seen a 14" acf combo with a solar scope, there is a lot of 20x 8" cassegrains
I found it interesting that Orion was using a Celestron C11(or larger?) as a laser collimator for testing telescopes.
How do these things work? Do you have to have your own forklift to load up what you buy?
The terms and conditions usually specify any restrictions, but this one doesn’t say anything about how you can remove the items. Might be worth a call to the auctioneer to see if they will let you bring your own removal equipment. I usually bid on machinery auctions, and those require a rigger to move anything that can’t be hand carried.
You need remove it or hire a rigger to remove it pack and ship or transport for you by private arrangement.
It's unclear if you will need equipment to remove from an upper pallet rack, you can get calling the info number about that, but the fact that they mention upper rack in the pallet location implies that it may be up to you or a company you hire to bring it down.
UPDATE: The auction was closed by an undisclosed third party that essentially purchased all of the inventory. So individual sales were outbid by this. Hopefully this group will reorganize and reauction the inventory in the near future.
My son bought the Meade Telescope from Costco about 20 years ago, we really never figured out how to use it.
They should offer shipping options like ebay else, it should be an in person auction only.
I emailed the dude. Apparently they are able to box stuff up and drop at courier if it's less than 50lbs.
obviously, it would be nicer if they just did an eBay thing and included shipping instead of having to jump through hoops
Ah if I could get any purchases to Las Vegas that would be sweet
Go to Reno and take the train.
Will orders be honoured?.
The auction house is still a real company, it’s Meade/orion who are no more :)
@DylanODonnell sorry. Bad wording on my part. I meant were the liquidators honouring orders that had been placed and paid for? I suppose sales of the telescope will go to paying corporate debtors before individuals.
Ahh yeh I imagine the same.
Would love a large ACF scope myself or a Coronado solar scope, but I am a continent away...
Well, I am on the same continent but not in the same country. Hmmm, I wonder if that makes me in-continent??
By the time I add the taxes and buyer premium, exchange rate, packing and shipping fees, customs broker fees, duty and taxes, it starts to look less and less like a deal. Somebody is going to get some great deals, and I sincerely hope that local astronomers can grab some good stuff.
Dylan, you mentioned a group buy, you then mentioned purchasing some 16 inch scopes this way, after looking through the listings I find no 16 inch scopes, the biggest I find is the 10 Inch scopes: and I believe those are just one to the lot. Am I missing something????
I may be mistaken, but take a look at Lot# 422. There are three 16" LX200s. I think it's just the scope, not the mount or tripods. Those are in different lots. Lot# 466 had one 16" LX200, with fork arms, but no tripod. There was another Lot further down the line that had a 16" LX200 later on, with forks, and an LX850 tripod. It was bundled with some other Cornado scopes and equipment. It seemed like they had twice as many forks and tripods for the 16" than they had scopes. That's for sure. I probably counted 16 14" Meade LX200 scopes. Most were in palettes of 4. I think I saw one Orion 14" scope bundled with other scopes. I counted dozens of LX90 and LX200 12" Meade scopes, as well as half a dozen LX600 12" scopes. The problem is they come in Lots of 4 to 12 scopes, and you have to bid on the entire lot.
@@louiemccrady1960 Thanks, totally missed that...
@@louiemccrady1960yep, and 3 Coronado DS70 double stack BF30s retail at over $33k.
This stuff is in inventory for a reason. Very few get sold in a year.
Whoever wins these, it will tie up their cash for a very long time. They'll have to carefully match up lots with tripods and forks to OTAs when bidding, (which everyone being in the same boat seems to work itself out at auction) in order to sell the units complete. When they do resell them they'll have to be at big discounts because of the support and warranty issues.
The auction is definitely NOT going to maximize the value to Optronic.
Geeee.. the Bottom fell out of the Toy Telescope Market.
NO surprise there .
Festive Greetings from Scotland!
Another Mcweirdo up at the crack of dawn
I cant seem to find the sub thread on the discord
It’s under solar system
Hence why I had to snap up a bargain lx850 10inch f8 SCT from First Light Optics as I knew it would be probably my last chance to obtain a high quality OTA from the brand Meade before they dissappear forever... My first goto was a the LS"6 but unfortunately the software kept bricking itself during alignment, so became a expensive paperweight for 12 months until I removed the ota and custom adapted a losmandy dovetail to carry the ota... I've never been able to fault the optical quality of meades OTAs...
How the hell did these little companies manage to get into antitrust trouble but Microsoft, Sony, and Google are just fine
2 words: Better lawyers.
Damn I wish I could get images as good as yours but I'm stuck on an alt az mount but anyways happy new year Dylan may it be a good one
Cheers you too!
Anybody know what happened to the auction it was up less than 24hrs.
Latest video !
Although a 14 inch would be nice to use it would have to come with a dark area home.
Great info mate! Always to the point and useful 👍
Man I had a semi lined up for pallets of about 20 SCT and more..
Ha ha i was too .. big cheese got in first
Unless one lives out there, this auction is MOOT. Transportation to/from unless you live out there? Collaborate with someone out in CA? Less than 3 weeks until the deadline to have it picked up. Coordinating with others (aka "you guys""? I'm retired here after over 40 years in logistics. You're sort of dreaming.
Hehe you are probably right
Just hire a taskrabbit to pickup and drop off at UPS.
Imagine the shipping to Australia
Dylan would you like a 16” upgrade? Happy to hold this for you, lmk
date=1/9/25 they stopped the auction, any incite why.
Entire lot bought out. The lady told me that they had information on the site for the entire lot buy, but I never saw that. I think what they did is illegal!
Oh my... I wouldn't mind to have a Mak or 120mm apo for cheap.
Very far away I am, too bad...
anyone has suggestions on how to get that stuff to you if you're not in the states/california.
I'd be interested in some of it.. but, no point in bidding if there is no easy way to get it..
You have to hire a local rigger.. a moving company or pack and ship company to do this for you plus pay the shipping costs.
@PilotPhteven, I’ve purchased items online at an auction somewhat similar to this before. Buyer beware. I’ve shown up to claim my items only to be handed something else which looked very similar. Had I not opened the box to inspect, I’d have found out too late. When calling them out (the auctioneer), I was blamed. These events cater to those logistically able to take advantage of them such as other astronomy retailers and “locals” who have nothing else to loose. My 45+ year experience in this hobby is that a good amount of the high-end equipment is purchased by folks who simply don’t know what to do with their money next. You might buy $40K worth of telescopes for under $5K to later discover they’re seriously flawed or missing proprietary parts. These companies went out of business for a reason. Meade built some good stuff at one time. At one time…
I love how these opportunities come along when I am broke. What if I sell a kidney?
Just spent all my savings on a defective Takahashi I can’t get a refund on! Really excited to not buy any of these though!
Don't feel bad, I've got the money but not a person in LA at the moment or ever for that matter. Talk about depressing
@ oh wait, you have to be in LA? I thought shipping was an option… guess it was never meant to be 🥲
I got a friend looking, how much🤣
LOL!!! Story of my life too. But for once I have a few dollars. Hopefully, it won't get outrageous and I can afford something out of it.
The buyers premium and the sales tax there is going to take any of the bargains away.
Knock down prices on quality gear. Well, that is one way to get people into the hobby.
Of course it’s in CA. We over here in the east done ever get things like this come up.
Going to end up like the OPT sale, most good items going for more than retail once you add the fees, then CN and AM flooded with resellers ads of what they scored.
Bro, what have you done with the intro? There are numbers, science and stuff... Way too serious. I never thought I'd say this, but put the builders crack back in!
Please let me know if you buy a pallet of Meade 16". I'd love one. I'm just across the pond. For real (not the pond, the part about being serious).
HHahaha
Good luck. Even if you win one, someone who wins a bunch over rides your win. It’s going to be a few companies buying it all up
So glad the 6" scope I bought at an auction was a Celestron... So unfair to all you Meade, Orion & Coranado owners, hope you can get some good deals🌟
Well maybe Coronado/Meade wil still rise from the ashes of this... when the auction got cancelled I emailed them to ask what was up, and got this response below. Someone who they'd been discussing a purchase of IP before the auction stepped up at the last minute and is buying everything plus the IP. Wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting to gauge interest, saw tons of salmon like myself swimming upriver for the Solarmaxes and the SCTs, and decided "heck yeah let's go ahead and do it!" Which makes a lot of sense - aside from Lunt there's really no competition on solar scopes ... and nobody's making large SCTs
"Thank you for your interest in this auction. Under its authority and discretion, the Assignee has accepted and closed a funded offer for the bulk purchase all inventory lots and certain intellectual property from a bidder with whom the Assignee has been negotiating since prior to the pre-bid deadline. As a result, we are closing this auction. The Assignee may, at its election, conduct another auction for the remaining assets of the ABC at a future point in time. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you again."
Finally someone who gets it! We're all just ants on a hill soon to be replaced with another, and the process continues on and on. Nothing really matters and we will all die as everything in life has an expiration day. But this does beg the question of the state of humanity? Do the qualities that make us human in a current state matter? If not to ourselves then what about others? Does mankind wish for a more pleasant and desirable experience to live a fuller life? Would it hurt to strive to make the planet a better place for the next generation and practice compassion and benevolence as we near death for the sake of creating positivity, love, and creation? Good on ya brother!
Nice optimism.
Don't read Schopenhauer.
@@joeshmoe7899 Nah. I like Plato, Aristotle, and Watts much better. ;-)
Mannnnn wish they shipped :(. That 90mm coronado is REALLY interesting to me.
anyone knows , what is best for beginner telescope /binoculars? for viewing saturn and jupiter? and canb e use to photograph saturn and jupiter? can a table top star blaster a good bet? do one need a f/5? 8" with star shoot mini color? , and a 10 x 50 with a phone adapter do the work? can the software be downloaded free online for starshoot?
Find a local astronomy club, and go to one of their star party events. You'll get to sample a lot of different scopes and set your expectations correctly. I think beginners should consider buying a used 8" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT), because it's usually smaller and easier to work with. You can see most of the planets and their moons just fine if you have clear dark skies. It should also have a GoTo computer in it to point the scope for you. Phones can be used to capture images, but they are extremely difficult to work with a telescope. Better to find a cheap Sony DSLR on ebay for less than $100 until you figure out if you really want to go down this road. Another thing you can do, is just buy a tripod to hold your phone, and use your phone's zoom to take pictures. Your phone should have manual settings to set the shutter speed for 10-15 seconds. Use the delayed snapshot feature to avoid jittery images. Have fun!
Happy New Year….as a Meade Telescope Guy all of this is depressing, just an old amateur astronomy guy…. Take Care Dillion
watch out for that 18% buyer's premium! whoaz!
nah. No warranty. No spare parts. No repairs. There's a reason why a company or companies go bust.
What a shame - Meade used to be a go-to brand and I'm faving a great time with my second hand Coronado PST. Though it looks like Skywatcher is going to fill that space (hope so)
I was hoping it was going to be Australia 😢
This takes me back to the video of types of astronomy people "The classifieds arbitrage dude" remember that shit I got from that deceased estate.....RIP Orion, Meade & Coronado gone but never forgotten.
Anything in UK?
You can bid from uk .. you just have to somehow pick it up.
Classic case of Orion penny pinched and missed the big dollars
Like when OPT went under. Seemed like some great deals but never talked to anyone that snagged any.
That’s because Woodland Hills telescopes took over everything from opt , wasn’t really any “going out of business” deals to be had.
I saw plenty of the telescopes at the OPT auction almost going at MSRP. Tack on auction fees and the logistic fees for picking up and shipping out of CA, and there almost no good deals.
I certainly hope this does not happen to Celestron…
I was also told all the intellectual property was also bought. Sounds like some investor is going to relaunch the company if I were to wager.
And watch the price of Celestron SCT's hiked
Wow Meade was at the top when I bought my first telescope it was there bad management
thanks for spreading the word!