Meade shutting Coronado plant

www.azstarnet.com/business/139733
Transferring manufacturing to their main Irvine plant.

That's a bit of a bummer for the folks losing their jobs. I know business is business but I think some amateurs will find this leaving a bit of a sour taste. It does for me.

Perhaps it'll be a good business move and customers will benefit though.

Dave

Personally, I have my doubts. If I were looking to buy a PST, I'd buy one now before Meade's so-called Qualtiy Control kicks in.

A comment on Thursday on the Meade DSI group:

"BTW things are going to get even better with Meade customer service very shortly. I don't know if the info has been released yet and I don't know if I should give the details, but I can say people will be getting even faster and more reliable CS in the near future."

I dunno what is going to happen but it seems positive.

Still, I'd think along the same lines of buying one now. Changing the manufacturing location, as well as possibly resulting in quality issues, may also lead to lengthy delays - unless they stockpile a load of PST's before the move...

Cheers

Dave

I've been following the LX200R and RCX400 yahoo groups. As a result, I decided NOT to buy a LX200R and got a LX200 instead. Too much inconsistency at the mo for my liking.

As for the RCK400, you don't want to know! The problems there are too many to mention. What surprised and disappointed me was the S&T review of the RCX scopes. It completely glossed over all the problems people are having with this scope. However, I guess that's the power of major sponsors/advertisers. I can't help but feel that Meade have bitten off more than they can chew.

Like yourself Michael, I've also been watching the RCX yahoo group and it has its problems, the optics are excellent but the mount for the bigger OTAs is a real disaster for imaging.
If meade could sell the RCX as an OTA option, they'd be onto a real winner (with a few small mods), but lack of design foresight prevented that.

As for the LX200R, they seem to be very sensitive to collimation issues, I'd agree that you made the right choice regarding the LX200 OTA. The S&T review read like an advert, not all their reviews do so, but this one did.

It could be a real disaster having them move to Irvine. If the guys in the original plant are smart, they'll start up their own h-alpha company.

Quality assurance issues in a h-alpha scope could mean serious trouble !! :shock: and lawsuits.