Discovery Telescopes

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Discovery Telescopes
Some items on backorder, but the service was good and the owners answer the telephone. They are quick to rectify problems.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45813

Discovery Telescopes
Service was excellent. Fast shipping. 8"Dob was better than advertised.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45814

Discovery Telescopes
No problems at all. They have a very fast, friendly service, and they know what they're talking about. Plus, the 8" Dob is an outstanding telescope for the $$$.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45815

Discovery Telescopes
Best Newtonian optics I've ever seen. Best prices on truss tube scopes. Great service.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45817

Discovery Telescopes
Purchased a 10" Dob. Owners were knowledgeble, friendly, & honest. The scope arrived safely and the quality of the tube, base, mirrors, etc. were very good. Collimation is easy. This scope has great optics, it is a winner.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45818

Discovery Telescopes
purchased 6 inch dob in nov.'99. was satisfied, get alot for the money such as two eyepieces and a finder 6x30. optics first-rate, anybody who buys will probably feel they got a best buy

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45819

Discovery Telescopes
Great service. I talked to the president of the company through email. the only problem i had is they upgraded the package for the same money one week after i recieved mine. Harumph.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45820

Discovery Telescopes
I purchased a scope from them in August and they shipped to the wrong address.

I have been tring since then to get a refund and they have ignored my email and phone messages.

Very poor customer service.

Overall Rating: 0
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45821

Discovery Telescopes
I ordered Discovery's 10" Dob with upgraded finder (Telrad) and cover. I received the scope within 10 days (not too bad considering I live in Maine and they're in So. Cal.). The Telrad was back ordered, so they shipped my scope with a 6x30 finder (no cost to me) and promised to ship the Telrad when they get them in. The cover was the wrong size; I sent it back and they shipped the correct one right out. I called to order an additional eyepiece, and even though they had increased the price from $45 to $55, they gave it to me for $45 because they hadn't updated the web site yet. Overall I'm very happy with both the quality/value of their products and their service as well.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45822

Discovery Telescopes
Bought an 8" Dob last year. I was shopping around and the owner talked to me on the telephone about various options. I special ordered an upgraded mirror. The whole thing took about a month. They make their own mirrors at their California plant and do not buy them from overseas factories. They claim to test each mirror and I have no cause to doubt it. It assembled easily and was not hard to collimnate. The mirror comes with a collimnation "donut", so when I eventually got a laser collimnator I did not need to go through the aggravation of marking the center. The cell is aluminum and supports the mirror with three blobs of glue without clips. Very solid and well vented. The finish on the tube is paint, not "wrap." It has a 4-vane spider, not a single stalk like a lot of Celestrons. The focuser is cast aluminum. The tube is Sonotube (rolled and glued paper), not steel like Orion. I specifically looked for a Sonotube scope since steel conducts heat, expands and contracts with temperture, dents easily and eventually rusts. It came with two Brand-X Plossls and a green moon filter. A Dob is probably not the ideal planet scope, but I get a lot of details.

All in all, it was a superior product at a below average price. I thought the service was more like a general store, rather than Sears.

Made in the USA! Get one!

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45823

Discovery Telescopes
I ordered the 8" EQ ($668.00 total) on February 14th. Bill Larsen stated it would ship out that Friday (16th). He stated they would email me with the tracking number as soon as it shipped. I waited until the morning of the 19th & no email. So I called & the person I spoke with took my number & stated he would have someone call me back. I waited 7 hours & called again & was told the customer service rep I spoke to left for the day. I had to explain myself all over again & was placed on hold. After about 15 minutes, I was told that they were waiting for some secondaries to be completed as they were out. I was quoted another two days (21st) before the scope would ship. I called on the 22nd & was again told they still did not have any secondaries & the scope would not ship until Monday, 2/26/2001 & I would get the tracking number via email.

On Monday, I still had no email, so I called again & was told they would call me back. They called me on Tuesday morning & gave me the tracking numbers.

I finally received everything on the 5th of March. That night while attempting to laser collimate the mirrors, the secondary holder fell off of its mount as soon as I turned one of the spider collimation screws. Luckily, it did not make contact with the primary. After recovering the secondary mirror from within the tube, I discovered the threaded eyelet on the mounting base had become separated from it. I was able to rig it with a washer & a thin nut placed on the inside of the mount. I called them the next morning and am now waiting for a replacement secondary holder. I can used the scope until then.... Whew... What a mess!

Discovery's customer service needs a little tweaking to say the least. I like the scope however, but I am a newbie so I really can't offer a respectable review yet as I have only used the scope one time. I got respectable views of Jupiter, Saturn & Pleiades, but I now see a flaw in the focuser. When I turn the knob a small amount, the tube shifts about an 8th of an inch which makes for an aggrivating viewing session & even though the collimation checks out, I cannot achieve a crisp focus. Even though I probably should return the scope & get my money back, I like the scope & have ordered a Crayford from another supplier & will swap that out as soon as I get the chance. Right now, I cannot rate Discovery's service any better that a 5

Overall Rating: 5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45824

Discovery Telescopes
Excellent products but they tend to dramatically understate the time it will take to actually manufacture the products if they don't have them in stock. I bought a 6" reflector (a Web special with a fantastic low price) but it was delayed moderately. Early last fall, I bought a 10" mirror which took nearly 12 weeks ultimately instead of the stated 4-5 weeks. I have to add that the folks at Discovery are very helpful and courteous and appear consciencious when you speak to them but they are very poor at realistically estimating manufacturing/shipping times. But, they products are excellent and I have no regrets and intend to buy from them again -- another larger mirror.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45825

Discovery Telescopes
Bought an 8" EQ. They missed the ship date by 3 weeks, all along saying "any day now." It finally arrived and the primary mirror had severe astigmatism because of the way it was mounted, and the tube had some geometry problems. Mirror was sent back, and they took care of the problem. Geometry problems were caused by tube being too short. Their answer for this was that that was the size tube they could import. Came with 2 inch focuser, and an adapter for 1.25 that's about 2 inches tall. When the adapter is removed, the focuser is far too short for a 2 inch EP to focus. (High profile focuser needs to be racked out to w/in 1/4 inch of full out to focus at all, even with tall adapter). Distance from primary to secondary is 29". From secondary to EP is 11. (VERY tall focuser). With a 1.83 secondary, it sees about 6.4 inches of the 8 inch primary. Screws provided were too short to position the secondary under the focuser. Had to get longer ones from hardware store. I had a proper length tube made by Hastings Pipe Company in Hastings NE. Works great now.

Overall Rating: 4
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45826

Discovery Telescopes
Talk about a run around. They must be the busiest people on earth
with very good liars. I must of been just as stupid to believe them
and actually waited 2 months for my shipment since they led me to
believe it was on the boat to Hawaii everytime we called.
Remember one week to them is like, one light year. If, you are from
HAWAII GOOD LUCK. NEVER RECIEVED MY ORDER AND CANCELLED IT.

Maui Boys

Overall Rating: 0
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45827

Discovery Telescopes
It has finally arrived.

What I ordered 09/05/2000 was a 12.5" Premium DHQ with a 2" Crawford focuser, 7x50 finder and Telrad.
On their web site they show 60 to 90 days for delivery.

I had received the invoice conforming order 2 days after the initial phone contact.
1st invoice with a scheduled ship date of Dec 5, 2000 (90 days after order was placed)

1st Call Dec 6, 2000 for order status. I was told the mirror was being coated.

2nd Call Jan 5, 2001 for order status. The scope still was not ready. I was told the delays are due to new CNC equipment and there should be a shipment schedule for batch of 12" ers due end of this month.
Now at 120 day wait.

The end of January came an still I had no scope. Now at 150 day wait.
I received a email from Discovery apologizing it would not ship till end of Feb.

4th Call March 1, 2001. I was told the scope should be shipped in the middle of month.
I have now been waiting almost 180 days.

5th notification.
I received a email from Discovery saying "The scope should ship by the 15th".

I called March 15th for a order status, an was told that it will ship the following week.

On March 19 2001 (Now at 195 days) the scope got shipped. Consolidated Freightways was the carrier.

The shipment arrived by train in Cleveland Ohio the 26th. The package was available for pickup the 27th.
Total number of days waiting from the time the order was placed to receiving it has been 203 agonizing days.

Every thing I ordered had arrived. All boxes were in good shape, and no damaged goods. It took about 1 hour to unpack everything and to assemble the scope.

The customer service people seem very polite. Unfortunately they were not much help in this situation. Customer service said that they would send a Discovery hat, and a couple of extra eyepieces for my inconvenience. Unfortunately none of this was received.

This rating has nothing to do with the scope quality. When I get a chance I will give that a rating. So far this scope seems pretty awesome.

Overall Rating: 2
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45828

Discovery Telescopes
After reading these reviews on delivery problems and lies from the company, anyone that buys from this company is nuts.

Overall Rating: 0
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45829

Discovery Telescopes
Ouch! I have bought from Discovery repeatedly and I am pretty sure that I am not "nuts" as the previous writer indicated. They do have a propensity to be overly optimistic about delivery times. I do not call it "lies" because sometimes good faith time estimates can be delayed due to supply problems or heavier than expected volume. Small companies are always susceptible to such things. Last year I bought an 8" DHQ (Dobson) with the Pyrex upgrade. It took about 50% longer than the 20 day estimate to arrive because the mirror was delayed in arriving from the coating contractor. That did not bother me. I would rather have it done right than done quickly. Discovery responded to my questions with useful information. When responding by email, it sometimes took two business days. I do not check my own email every day, so I do not complain. Six months later, I bought their 90mm RFT package as a portable alternative to the 8" Dob. It arrived in 6 days and was actually better than they claimed. Three months ago I bought a 4.5" parabolic f7.9 mirror from them. It had a chip on the edge. It was replaced without protest. Discovery gave me very useful information on installation of the primary and secondary into a homemade scope. I ought to point out that most optical companies do not even make 4.5" mirrors because they are more trouble to make and sell than they are worth. (Edmund and U.O. have them. Both are more expensive than than Discovery. Orion and Celestron each have Chinese, spherical versions of that mirror.)

I do not know the specifics of ome of the complaints on this page, but I have had no problems.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45830

Discovery Telescopes
Attempted to purchase a 12.5 dob and was advised of a 45 day wait.........5 months later and repeated "next week" emails prompted order cancellation..........no thanks

Overall Rating: 0
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45831

Discovery Telescopes
For the positive aspects:
1. The 12.5 PDHQ I ordered has very good optics.
2. The price for this quality of optics is good.
For negative aspects :
1. The rocker box is not the best example of woodworking; Altitude movement is not good at all.
2. I was told 2 months for delivery and it required 4. I was continually given a canned answer of "It will ship in about 2 more weeks".
3. Discovery could not tell me the exact amount of freight charges. They quoted "not to exceed $120", but CF wanted $174. Discovery did NOTHING to solve this difference.

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45832

Discovery Telescopes
These comments relate only to Discovery's customer service, not the quality of their telescopes. Thus far i am happy with my 17.5TD, although i have had little chance to use it, thanks to Seattle's dreary climate.

1) I ordered my scope on Jan 8 2001, and it was delivered mid-May - a little over 4 months. Not an unreasonable delay, but I was surprised (and a little embarrassed) to hear that others who had placed earlier orders for the same type of scope still had not received them many weeks later. This leads me to suspect that Discovery may not have a formal manufacturing procedure in place. There are so few options available on the TD scopes that i doubt the extra delay was due to some of these scopes needing special parts - (i could be wrong here).

2) Discovery has a reputation, consistent with my own experience, for not shipping all the parts. Mine was missing its cooling fan, yet when i called Discovery about this, the reaction of the man i spoke to was like "hmmm... well i think we have some here... i'll get one in the mail to you". ie, he was cooperative and helpful, dispatched the fan immediately, but did not seem to know that my fan had not shipped. However he was did not act *surprised* that it did not ship. I took this as another sign that they do not have computer records of their orders and shipments, and are operating in some degree of chaos.

So... to summarize, these seem like nice helpful cooperative folks, but in severe need of formalizing and discipling their operation. Furthermore, I get the feeling that, unlike some other companies in the amateur astronomy field (example Starmaster, Zambuto, Anacortes) they are not involved with internet discussion groups, and therefore have no clue what their customer base is saying about them.

The moral of the story... if you are considering buying a scope from Discovery, especially one of their larger models, be prepared for a wait, and be prepared to be given many misleading delivery estimates.

Bob Bennett, Maple Valley, WA

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45833

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