Finalizing on my first scope (a bit nervous)

[BHU1 LORD]

I have finally thought of buying a 150/750 reflector on a basic manual eq mount from Tejraj. I noticed that many people on the BAS forum are critical about Tejraj's services.

I spoke to the guy at Tejraj and informed him that i wanted to buy the skywatcher (which he claims to be his own indian brand ) 150/750 reflector, but then he persuaded me to buy his startracker  branded scope which he claims to be the exact same as the skywatcher one. He frankly told me that the optics for both come from the same factory in China. When I enquired about the slightly lesser price for the same scope under the startracker brand, he told me that people intentionally pay about 3k more for the skywatcher one. Reading other reviews about Tejraj on this forum has made me nervous about spending 25k on a telescope brand on which i cant find an independent review on.

I am trying to go for the above model of telescope because i plan on converting the manual eq mount to a motorized goto eq tracking mount as my college project. But im not dead keen on doing the project as it is just one of my ideas.I don't want to compromise on inferior optics.

I've also seen tejraj selling a GSO 6 inch Dob and many people have given a good opinion about it.So i request anyone to give me an unbiased review on Tejraj's services (you can also suggest alternative authentic dealers) and help me finalize on a good scope.(BTW my budget for a OTA and a mount is 25-30k) 

I would be pleased to know about good telescope dealers in bangalore itself so i can visit them before confirming my purchase

[Shashikiran Kolar]

Hello,

I have had several interactions with Tejraj and have never been left wanting with their service across purchases of a telescope and eyepieces. For example, as part of the deal to purchase my 8" GSO, he assumed responsibility for equipment damaged in transit with the arrangement that he'd replace it provided I shipped it back at my cost. It ended up being packed very well and thus arrived as expected. In a separate transaction, I sent him back a newly purchased eyepiece that did not perform as well as I had hoped it would. He replaced it and refunded the difference. On request, he sent across a few publications and star maps at no charge. Another time, I emailed them for suggestions to balance the telescope, and he got back to me about it. All these were transacted through emails. My GSO OTA has the Startracker sticker pasted onto it.

I have never called them for suggestions or for checking the status of shipments, but I have heard that he'd sometimes gets impatient with customers who do.

Personally, I'm satisfied with his service.

Thanks,

-Shashi

[anuj hissaria]

I have personally bought couple of scopes from Tejraj. In my opinion, (I could be wrong) the lower models are just generic Chinese makes which have been "rebranded" as startracker, however, the eye pieces have been replaced by them and are of top quality - certainly much much better than any generic chinese scope can provide. I also noticed that in 1 particular scope the Chinese suppliers give a useless table top tripod whereas Tejraj gave a reasonable quality full size tripod. 

Their email support is good and prompt. 

Lot of free accessories like star maps etc. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bangalore Astronomical Society" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to b-a-s+un...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to b-...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/b-a-s/9375a4ae-329c-4dcf-a244-43454dbf9c8e%40googlegroups.com.

[tisha joshi]

Hello! I can totally understand your confusion while selecting your first telescope. I had gone through the same dilemma, when I was selecting mine. As I really didn’t have any astronomy background, I had to dig into the web to find a product which is worth of every penny. Tejraj’s Skywatcher is local brand and “Sky-Watcher” is totally different brand.

And I still thought about giving a shot and go through the reviews about the product. But it turned out to be low quality optics and weak physical structure. And also as GSO claimed to have surface accuracy of lambda/12 or above, but I checked with other brands who provides this fine quality optics and this surface quality with that price is not possible (for knowing this I had to study the process of manufacturing). I didn’t want to take risk of wasting my money on something which is not reliable and with false claims. It took me literally two months to decide which one to buy. Finally I  bought Skywatcher’s  8 inch dobsonian telescope. And For last one year I haven’t come across single issue. And even c-sky (I bought telescope from C-sky as they are only authorized Skywatcher’s India distributor) helped me through the initial operations. So I am satisfied with support as well.

But it’s totally up to you what to select, but I would not invest my hard-earned money on false claims and rude behavior if asked for support.  

And one more thing that even after enquiry, if you don’t buy from c-sky, the c-sky people always respect your decision.