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How do you get Opticron (anything) in North America? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter tilling
- Start date
Curtis Croulet
Well-known member
Isn't it possible that some Opticron gear is available in NA, but just not under that name?
The American Birding Association may still sell some Opticron items, I get the impression they are closing out the line. I believe they were the sole US distributor, which, is a shame since they tend to charge highter prices than alot of the better known sellers.
If Opticron really wanted into the US market they should of realy pushed it about 8-10 years ago. Now, there's a bigger selection of nice quality, mid-price optics.
If Opticron really wanted into the US market they should of realy pushed it about 8-10 years ago. Now, there's a bigger selection of nice quality, mid-price optics.
Curtis Croulet said:
I believe Opticron stuff is often rebadged Vixens from Japan (and other east Asian made brands). Celestron I think use Vixen products..........Celestron Regal bins for example seem to be exactly the same as Vixen Super Apex Pro. I think these might be the same model as Opticron DNB (name?) They get a good review on
www.betterviewdesired.com
I used to think Opticron was good value until I saw how much cheaper the same product was here in Japan (less than half the price!). The stuff available in the UK seems to be a couple of years behind Japan too. Maybe Vixen unload old stock on unknowing British birders?
Optics tend to be much better value in the US/Japan than the UK. I wouldn't bother importing Opticron stuff. Nikon, Pentax etc are great value optics and are reasonably priced in the US.
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Curtis Croulet
Well-known member
Here's a question, Stu: does Vixen make "Vixen" binoculars, or are they also sourced from somewhere else? The Celestron Regals and some other products appear to me to be very similar to Eagle Optics' Ranger Platinum Class, but when I proposed here that EORPC was made by Vixen, the EO rep who visits here emphatically denied it.
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Curtis Croulet said:
Good point Curtis.................I guess there might be factories in Japan or elsewhere in the far east producing very similar (or identical) optics for various companies and you're right I'm sure Vixen is just the same as the others and might not actually make its own products...........
Re the EO rep. It reminds me of when I tried to contact Opticron Customer Services one time. Last year I bought the Vixen Geoma 52-S scope-it looks (and I'm sure is) identical to the Opticron Mighty Midget 2. Opticron's selection of eyepieces for spotting scopes is pretty wide (and better than Vixen in Japan which seems to concentrate more on Astro eyepieces) so I contacted Opticron asking if the scopes were the same and enquiring about mutually compatible eyepieces. They never bothered to e-mail me back despite my several attempts to get a reply (jeez I was going to BUY something from them!). The fact that the Vixen was considerably less than half the price of the equivalent Opticron is a fact they don't want to admit. I think UK birders are being ripped off. S
My original point was that it's possible to buy virtually the same models as Opticron in the USA for much cheaper than Opticron charges in the UK.
Curtis Croulet
Well-known member
stuprice68 said:
That was also my original point, phrased in the form of a question |=)|
I was able to order an Opticron Monocular from the UK very easily. I used East of England Binocular Center, at www.eebc.co.uk.
I found then quick, and affordable.
I found then quick, and affordable.
SHM76 said:
Actually I forgot one thing-if you order from outside the UK you don't pay VAT (sales tax) which is a whopping 17.5% (or around that).
matt green
Norfolkman gone walkabout
despite all the scary's above tilling if by some remote chance you may still be interested in opticron you should visit www.opticron.co.uk and click on the buying outside of the uk link.despite what others may think opticron is a very well respected brand here in the uk and a very popular affordable alternative to leica, swarovski,ziess etc.best of luck.
tilling said:
You'd have problems with the warranty were it to have problems, so I wouldn't bother.
As others have said, Opticron are basically rebadged Japanese kit. I've seen a Mighty Midget lookalike under the Fumoto brand and I think Bresser have some similar items. This has come up before on BF, and the concensus is that some Japanese firms specialise in producing stuff under whatever badge the customer wants with small changes in the cosmetics and coatings to distinguish them. I guess they prefer to build and let others do the selling.
Anyway, the reason why Opticron is liked so much is because the value is good. Clearly importing would offset that advantage. I seem to think that Nikon are remarkably cheap in the US, comparatively speaking, so they might be worth a look.
Leif
baxter wolfe
Member
Thanks for that site. I'd given up on getting Opticron outside the UK. As I've said on another thread, I'm looking at getting monoculars instead of bins because I'm blind in one eye.
For bins I'd go for the 8X42. I imagine the same rules apply for monoculars and that a 10X42 might be hard to manage. Is this the case or could I go for a 10 magnification?
Pinewood
New York correspondent
There are a few lookalike binoculars, the discontinued Eagle Optics Raptor 8x42, the Swift 820 Audubon, Vixen Foresta 8x42 and even RSPB. At one time, I thought that they were identical. Then I thought that some of the details, like quality of coatings might differ. Now I am of the opinion that the bodies are identical because they came from the same supplier. Vixen, and all the manufacurers are not in the business of making every component. Indeed some lookalikes are just differently badged for various markets but identical cases only means that. It would take an effort to sort out all the possible variations of the other components.
In the Swiss watch industry, many brands share the same movements while cases, dials, etc. are manufactured by only a few firms. I think the same common sourcing for some components holds true for binoculars from Japan.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :egghead:
In the Swiss watch industry, many brands share the same movements while cases, dials, etc. are manufactured by only a few firms. I think the same common sourcing for some components holds true for binoculars from Japan.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :egghead:
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ksbird/foxranch
Well-known member
Opticron is made by Vixen
If you go to the Vixen URL link below and you read the "About Vixen" page you'll see that Vixen is a gigantic original equipment optics manufacturer (OEM) and some of the things they do are design binoculars, make binocular bodies and grind lenses. You can email to Vixen about Opticron (Or Celestron) and they can confirm this if you say you have a Celestron Ultima binocular or a high end Opticron binocular and you will be visiting Japan and you wonder if Vixen could fix your binocular if there were problems. Vixen will reply that since they make those binoculars they could certainly fix them. If you click on the Vixen "International Distributors" page, you will find the Vixen UK distributor (Orionoptics.co.uk) and the USA Vixen distributor (Vixenamerica.com). When you check either distributor you'll find they don't sell any of the high quality binocularss Vixen shows on it's binocular link (below). That's because Celestron and Opticron rebrand Vixen binoculars and so they have exclusive agreements with Vixen that prohibit Vixen from selling Vixen's own products in either the UK or USA (obviously huge markets) because that would conflict badly with the resellers who have rebranded Opticron and Celestron selling the same models.
Any USA or UK distributor of Vixen products would probably mark up Vixen binoculars at least 40% before they distributed binoculars to retailers, so Vixen products distributed by local distributors might not be much cheaper than rebranded Vixen products from Celestron and Opticron. But Opticron and Celestron don't EVER want Vixen warranty work to be possible in the USA or UK. If you could get a Vixen binocular or spotting scope with the Vixen brand fixed in the USA or UK, then there would be companies like Adorama in the USA who would go directly to Japan or Hong Kong and buy 10 container loads of Vixen binoculars at direct pricing. Then an aggressive retailer like Adorama (or one of the aggressive London retailers near the Telephone Tower) would discount the Vixen binoculars ferociously and the fat profit margins of Opticron and Celestron would disappear when two birders could compare their identical binoculars (one branded Vixen and the other branded Opticron or Celestron) and then consumers would wonder why the Opticron/Celestrons were double or triple (or 5x) the price of the identical Vixen models.
It's nice that Opticron and Celestron provide education for consumers through advertising amd English translations of user manuals (I really need a binocular user manual???). And maybe Opticron and Celestron donate money to worthy charities like the RSPB and Ornithological Society in the USA. But if you order a Vixen binocular or spotting scope from K.Kasai in Japan or a discount retailer in Hong Kong you will probably pay 50-75% less for the identical product you would buy from Opticron or Celestron. I've seen items made by Vixen and branded with the Meade and Celestron brand badges, selling at 80% price reductions on "Closeout", and neither Meade or Celestron were losing money "at cost" (not counting attributed overhehad charges, like trips by Celestron executives to Hawaii for "seminars"). The mark-ups and profit margins for these rebranded products are absolutely gigantic and they are getting even larger with Chinese produced items. A good rule of thumb is that if something retails for 500 dollars or pounds, the "rebrander" could be buying that item from the original equipment manufacturer for 90-95% less than the consumer retail price.
That's why when a company like NC Star in China starts directly selling retailers their versions of optical products they make for other brands, so it's possible to buy a 30-90x90mm spotter for $150 including shipping.
Vixen Optics homepage in English
If you go to the Vixen URL link below and you read the "About Vixen" page you'll see that Vixen is a gigantic original equipment optics manufacturer (OEM) and some of the things they do are design binoculars, make binocular bodies and grind lenses. You can email to Vixen about Opticron (Or Celestron) and they can confirm this if you say you have a Celestron Ultima binocular or a high end Opticron binocular and you will be visiting Japan and you wonder if Vixen could fix your binocular if there were problems. Vixen will reply that since they make those binoculars they could certainly fix them. If you click on the Vixen "International Distributors" page, you will find the Vixen UK distributor (Orionoptics.co.uk) and the USA Vixen distributor (Vixenamerica.com). When you check either distributor you'll find they don't sell any of the high quality binocularss Vixen shows on it's binocular link (below). That's because Celestron and Opticron rebrand Vixen binoculars and so they have exclusive agreements with Vixen that prohibit Vixen from selling Vixen's own products in either the UK or USA (obviously huge markets) because that would conflict badly with the resellers who have rebranded Opticron and Celestron selling the same models.
Any USA or UK distributor of Vixen products would probably mark up Vixen binoculars at least 40% before they distributed binoculars to retailers, so Vixen products distributed by local distributors might not be much cheaper than rebranded Vixen products from Celestron and Opticron. But Opticron and Celestron don't EVER want Vixen warranty work to be possible in the USA or UK. If you could get a Vixen binocular or spotting scope with the Vixen brand fixed in the USA or UK, then there would be companies like Adorama in the USA who would go directly to Japan or Hong Kong and buy 10 container loads of Vixen binoculars at direct pricing. Then an aggressive retailer like Adorama (or one of the aggressive London retailers near the Telephone Tower) would discount the Vixen binoculars ferociously and the fat profit margins of Opticron and Celestron would disappear when two birders could compare their identical binoculars (one branded Vixen and the other branded Opticron or Celestron) and then consumers would wonder why the Opticron/Celestrons were double or triple (or 5x) the price of the identical Vixen models.
It's nice that Opticron and Celestron provide education for consumers through advertising amd English translations of user manuals (I really need a binocular user manual???). And maybe Opticron and Celestron donate money to worthy charities like the RSPB and Ornithological Society in the USA. But if you order a Vixen binocular or spotting scope from K.Kasai in Japan or a discount retailer in Hong Kong you will probably pay 50-75% less for the identical product you would buy from Opticron or Celestron. I've seen items made by Vixen and branded with the Meade and Celestron brand badges, selling at 80% price reductions on "Closeout", and neither Meade or Celestron were losing money "at cost" (not counting attributed overhehad charges, like trips by Celestron executives to Hawaii for "seminars"). The mark-ups and profit margins for these rebranded products are absolutely gigantic and they are getting even larger with Chinese produced items. A good rule of thumb is that if something retails for 500 dollars or pounds, the "rebrander" could be buying that item from the original equipment manufacturer for 90-95% less than the consumer retail price.
That's why when a company like NC Star in China starts directly selling retailers their versions of optical products they make for other brands, so it's possible to buy a 30-90x90mm spotter for $150 including shipping.
Vixen Optics homepage
http://www.vixen-global.com/
Link to the Vixen web pages mentioned above
http://www.vixen-global.com/MASTHEAD_PAGES/BINCOCULARS/o.htm
Link to the Vixen web pages mentioned above (URL is split to allow on one line)
http://www.vixen-global.com/ MASTHEAD_PAGES/BINCOCULARS/o.htm
If you go to the Vixen URL link below and you read the "About Vixen" page you'll see that Vixen is a gigantic original equipment optics manufacturer (OEM) and some of the things they do are design binoculars, make binocular bodies and grind lenses. You can email to Vixen about Opticron (Or Celestron) and they can confirm this if you say you have a Celestron Ultima binocular or a high end Opticron binocular and you will be visiting Japan and you wonder if Vixen could fix your binocular if there were problems. Vixen will reply that since they make those binoculars they could certainly fix them. If you click on the Vixen "International Distributors" page, you will find the Vixen UK distributor (Orionoptics.co.uk) and the USA Vixen distributor (Vixenamerica.com). When you check either distributor you'll find they don't sell any of the high quality binocularss Vixen shows on it's binocular link (below). That's because Celestron and Opticron rebrand Vixen binoculars and so they have exclusive agreements with Vixen that prohibit Vixen from selling Vixen's own products in either the UK or USA (obviously huge markets) because that would conflict badly with the resellers who have rebranded Opticron and Celestron selling the same models.
Any USA or UK distributor of Vixen products would probably mark up Vixen binoculars at least 40% before they distributed binoculars to retailers, so Vixen products distributed by local distributors might not be much cheaper than rebranded Vixen products from Celestron and Opticron. But Opticron and Celestron don't EVER want Vixen warranty work to be possible in the USA or UK. If you could get a Vixen binocular or spotting scope with the Vixen brand fixed in the USA or UK, then there would be companies like Adorama in the USA who would go directly to Japan or Hong Kong and buy 10 container loads of Vixen binoculars at direct pricing. Then an aggressive retailer like Adorama (or one of the aggressive London retailers near the Telephone Tower) would discount the Vixen binoculars ferociously and the fat profit margins of Opticron and Celestron would disappear when two birders could compare their identical binoculars (one branded Vixen and the other branded Opticron or Celestron) and then consumers would wonder why the Opticron/Celestrons were double or triple (or 5x) the price of the identical Vixen models.
It's nice that Opticron and Celestron provide education for consumers through advertising amd English translations of user manuals (I really need a binocular user manual???). And maybe Opticron and Celestron donate money to worthy charities like the RSPB and Ornithological Society in the USA. But if you order a Vixen binocular or spotting scope from K.Kasai in Japan or a discount retailer in Hong Kong you will probably pay 50-75% less for the identical product you would buy from Opticron or Celestron. I've seen items made by Vixen and branded with the Meade and Celestron brand badges, selling at 80% price reductions on "Closeout", and neither Meade or Celestron were losing money "at cost" (not counting attributed overhehad charges, like trips by Celestron executives to Hawaii for "seminars"). The mark-ups and profit margins for these rebranded products are absolutely gigantic and they are getting even larger with Chinese produced items. A good rule of thumb is that if something retails for 500 dollars or pounds, the "rebrander" could be buying that item from the original equipment manufacturer for 90-95% less than the consumer retail price.
That's why when a company like NC Star in China starts directly selling retailers their versions of optical products they make for other brands, so it's possible to buy a 30-90x90mm spotter for $150 including shipping.
Vixen Optics homepage in English
If you go to the Vixen URL link below and you read the "About Vixen" page you'll see that Vixen is a gigantic original equipment optics manufacturer (OEM) and some of the things they do are design binoculars, make binocular bodies and grind lenses. You can email to Vixen about Opticron (Or Celestron) and they can confirm this if you say you have a Celestron Ultima binocular or a high end Opticron binocular and you will be visiting Japan and you wonder if Vixen could fix your binocular if there were problems. Vixen will reply that since they make those binoculars they could certainly fix them. If you click on the Vixen "International Distributors" page, you will find the Vixen UK distributor (Orionoptics.co.uk) and the USA Vixen distributor (Vixenamerica.com). When you check either distributor you'll find they don't sell any of the high quality binocularss Vixen shows on it's binocular link (below). That's because Celestron and Opticron rebrand Vixen binoculars and so they have exclusive agreements with Vixen that prohibit Vixen from selling Vixen's own products in either the UK or USA (obviously huge markets) because that would conflict badly with the resellers who have rebranded Opticron and Celestron selling the same models.
Any USA or UK distributor of Vixen products would probably mark up Vixen binoculars at least 40% before they distributed binoculars to retailers, so Vixen products distributed by local distributors might not be much cheaper than rebranded Vixen products from Celestron and Opticron. But Opticron and Celestron don't EVER want Vixen warranty work to be possible in the USA or UK. If you could get a Vixen binocular or spotting scope with the Vixen brand fixed in the USA or UK, then there would be companies like Adorama in the USA who would go directly to Japan or Hong Kong and buy 10 container loads of Vixen binoculars at direct pricing. Then an aggressive retailer like Adorama (or one of the aggressive London retailers near the Telephone Tower) would discount the Vixen binoculars ferociously and the fat profit margins of Opticron and Celestron would disappear when two birders could compare their identical binoculars (one branded Vixen and the other branded Opticron or Celestron) and then consumers would wonder why the Opticron/Celestrons were double or triple (or 5x) the price of the identical Vixen models.
It's nice that Opticron and Celestron provide education for consumers through advertising amd English translations of user manuals (I really need a binocular user manual???). And maybe Opticron and Celestron donate money to worthy charities like the RSPB and Ornithological Society in the USA. But if you order a Vixen binocular or spotting scope from K.Kasai in Japan or a discount retailer in Hong Kong you will probably pay 50-75% less for the identical product you would buy from Opticron or Celestron. I've seen items made by Vixen and branded with the Meade and Celestron brand badges, selling at 80% price reductions on "Closeout", and neither Meade or Celestron were losing money "at cost" (not counting attributed overhehad charges, like trips by Celestron executives to Hawaii for "seminars"). The mark-ups and profit margins for these rebranded products are absolutely gigantic and they are getting even larger with Chinese produced items. A good rule of thumb is that if something retails for 500 dollars or pounds, the "rebrander" could be buying that item from the original equipment manufacturer for 90-95% less than the consumer retail price.
That's why when a company like NC Star in China starts directly selling retailers their versions of optical products they make for other brands, so it's possible to buy a 30-90x90mm spotter for $150 including shipping.
Vixen Optics homepage
http://www.vixen-global.com/
Link to the Vixen web pages mentioned above
http://www.vixen-global.com/MASTHEAD_PAGES/BINCOCULARS/o.htm
tilling said:
Link to the Vixen web pages mentioned above (URL is split to allow on one line)
http://www.vixen-global.com/ MASTHEAD_PAGES/BINCOCULARS/o.htm
tilling said:
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Ksbird,
many thanks for your insights into this binocular maker djungle. I´ve heard that a Japanese manufactorer called Kamakura (not sure if the spelling is right) work in in similar way you described it for Vixen. They make binoculars and scopes e.g. for Pentax and Minox. Do you know something about this company too?
Regards
Steve
many thanks for your insights into this binocular maker djungle. I´ve heard that a Japanese manufactorer called Kamakura (not sure if the spelling is right) work in in similar way you described it for Vixen. They make binoculars and scopes e.g. for Pentax and Minox. Do you know something about this company too?
Regards
Steve
trashbird
Well-known member
Pinewood said:
Adorama has a store-brand called Pro-Optic, which seems to rebadge products from different manufacturers.
They used to offer Pro-Optic binoculars that were pretty much the same as the Celestron Ultima series -- which was made by Vixen, I believe -- at a considerable savings.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
I see that Opticron sells direct from their website too (letting you use your credit card). Slightly more than placing it in cart (you get an estimate and send them credit card details).
http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/buying.htm
Although it is clear some of the bins are same OEM as Vixen (whose product are now made in China by Bosma! It's OEMs all the way down) not all of the products are the same as Vixen products. Like a lilte of OEMed products you get a menu of features that you can select from.
e.g. Opticron Discovery 8x32 is a very lightweight 8x32 and seems to map to the Vixen Atrek 8x32 similar size weight and other specs. Except the Opticron has phase-correcting coating and the Vixen product doesn't.
http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/discovery_wp.htm
Pity that as the Vixen is available in the US but the Opticron isn't.
Sill even without VAT they cost $200 (at the best exchange rate) before shipping
http://www.google.com/search?q=(139+*++(100-17.5+)+/+100+)++GBP+in+USD
http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/buying.htm
Although it is clear some of the bins are same OEM as Vixen (whose product are now made in China by Bosma! It's OEMs all the way down) not all of the products are the same as Vixen products. Like a lilte of OEMed products you get a menu of features that you can select from.
e.g. Opticron Discovery 8x32 is a very lightweight 8x32 and seems to map to the Vixen Atrek 8x32 similar size weight and other specs. Except the Opticron has phase-correcting coating and the Vixen product doesn't.
http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/discovery_wp.htm
Pity that as the Vixen is available in the US but the Opticron isn't.
Sill even without VAT they cost $200 (at the best exchange rate) before shipping
http://www.google.com/search?q=(139+*++(100-17.5+)+/+100+)++GBP+in+USD
