Telescopesplus feedback

[rocdoc]

Hi everyone,
I was all excited about getting an Apertura AD8 from High Point, and just learned that they are out of stock. I see that Telescopes Plus sells them. Does anyone have any feedback or advice on them? I have never shopped there. Thank you

[bladekeeper]

Good vendor. I've bought a few things from them.

And considering that they are selling High Point accessories, and they are both offering GSO dobsonians, I'm thinking "Hmmmm..."

Buy with confidence. Going for the Zhumell?

[Prowler75]

I bought my Z12 from them, no complaints at all.

[Ozman13]

I've bought a few things from them with no problems.

[Bigzmey]

Bought couple of EPs from them and some filters, no problems.

[Don Alvarez]

I've bought some filters from them, no issues.

BUT

If you preorder Orion's SkyLine 8 (same telescope, same price) they throw in a dob cover for free.

I'm all about free stuff.

[rocdoc]

Thanks everyone!
Don, I'm intrigued - I saw your pointer to Orion in the other thread as well. They look identical mechanically. Are the optics the same too? I though Orion was making getting Synta stuff and the Apertura/Zhumell were GSO, which have a slightly better reputation. Any thoughts on this?
Otherwise it looks like this could solve my problem - it's exactly what I was looking for. Where did you get the info that they start shipping Fri?

[bladekeeper]

Thanks everyone!
Don, I'm intrigued - I saw your pointer to Orion in the other thread as well. They look identical mechanically. Are the optics the same too? I though Orion was making getting Synta stuff and the Apertura/Zhumell were GSO, which have a slightly better reputation. Any thoughts on this?
Otherwise it looks like this could solve my problem - it's exactly what I was looking for. Where did you get the info that they start shipping Fri?

The Skyline is the same GSO scope. It should perform the same, optically and mechanically, as the Apertura and Zhumell.

Typically Orion is proud of their name and these are priced higher. It sounds like they are being competitive with these scopes now.

[Don Alvarez]

Thanks everyone!
Don, I'm intrigued - I saw your pointer to Orion in the other thread as well. They look identical mechanically. Are the optics the same too? I though Orion was making getting Synta stuff and the Apertura/Zhumell were GSO, which have a slightly better reputation. Any thoughts on this?
Otherwise it looks like this could solve my problem - it's exactly what I was looking for. Where did you get the info that they start shipping Fri?

Like Bryan said, The Apertura AD's, Zhumell Zxx and Skylines all come from the same factory - GSO. They are essentially identical. For some reason, every once in a while Orion re-releases these to keep their bases covered I guess.

I saw they were shipping Friday on their page, if you open the page for one of the SkyLines, its in little letters underneath the "add to cart" button. Says "expected ship date: 2/16/18". The preorder freebies are nice too.

Don't know much about reputation - Synta vs. GSO. The GSO bundles though all seem to have the same sought after accessories that make it a better package - laser collimator, RACI, better eyepieces, better bearings. I imagine the XT Classics and XT PLUS lines that Orion has would be just as good if they had similar parts and were priced competitively. As it stands, I'd wager the SkyLines outstrip similar XT's in sales while Orion has them around.

[helicon64]

I got my Z10 from telescopesplus when it was owned by e-commerce company Hayneedle (five + years ago). I received it in good order in three days by Fed Ex ground. Everything was in perfect condition. The only issue was no manual included in the box. (minor nit). I just downloaded it from the Zhumell website.