-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Look Familiar? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter henry link
- Start date
FrankD
Well-known member
Maybe for now Tero. I have not heard much anything about the 32 mm Meopta lately so I do not have my hopes up. I could go ahead and order one and the return it if I do not find it to my tastes but I have been down that road alot lately and the return shipping is starting to make a dent in my budget. 
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
So I was thinking the ship date for the Orion ULX 8x42 ED Binoculars was Dec 14th. Just a couple of days away. People will be getting them in their Christmas stocking and wondering when they'll be able to try them out.
So ...
I was going to ask if anyone has ordered them but I visited the Orion site today and see the ship date is now 05/03/09 (i.e. May 3rd 2009).
http://www.telescope.com/control/pr...rding/~pcategory=binoculars/~product_id=09256
Here's hoping no one was counting on the Big Red Guy to bring them one.
So ...
I was going to ask if anyone has ordered them but I visited the Orion site today and see the ship date is now 05/03/09 (i.e. May 3rd 2009).
http://www.telescope.com/control/pr...rding/~pcategory=binoculars/~product_id=09256
Here's hoping no one was counting on the Big Red Guy to bring them one.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
Sancho: I think this is the first slip for this bin. But it is quite a big one.
Given the other two bins we suspect are in the same class are already out (Hawke and Promaster) there one might wonder if this is not a production problem but a finance issue.
To make up some numbers: Orion would have to pony up the cash for 10,000 or more production run (or a promise to buy a large number ... perhaps the ODM wants the money up front?). If they were paying the ODM $100 per item then that's $1,000,000 needed to complete the deal. I'm pretty sure you'd do that with a loan or line of credit. And those have become difficult to get even for well established companies.
I suspect the delay is different from the Swaro or Nikon delays which seem more "technical" given the gossip surrounding them.
Given the other two bins we suspect are in the same class are already out (Hawke and Promaster) there one might wonder if this is not a production problem but a finance issue.
To make up some numbers: Orion would have to pony up the cash for 10,000 or more production run (or a promise to buy a large number ... perhaps the ODM wants the money up front?). If they were paying the ODM $100 per item then that's $1,000,000 needed to complete the deal. I'm pretty sure you'd do that with a loan or line of credit. And those have become difficult to get even for well established companies.
I suspect the delay is different from the Swaro or Nikon delays which seem more "technical" given the gossip surrounding them.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
Just a guess (that may be more typical of a more "mass" bin) but to tool the production line the ODMs like a commitment before they start up.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
And the next step ... I guess it gets worse!
The product page for the Orion ULX ED
http://www.telescope.com/control/pr...ndard/~pcategory=binoculars/~product_id=09256
and is now marked as "This item is discontinued and is no longer available for pre-order"
Might want to strike that one from the list. Shame it was a good price.
The product page for the Orion ULX ED
http://www.telescope.com/control/pr...ndard/~pcategory=binoculars/~product_id=09256
and is now marked as "This item is discontinued and is no longer available for pre-order"
Might want to strike that one from the list. Shame it was a good price.
Steve C
Well-known member
I posted this on another thread, but it works here too. The new "Zen from Zen-Ray" (what a name |:S|) . Looks and specs like an almost identical triplet to the Promaster/Hawke.
http://www.zen-ray.com/zen.shtml
http://www.zen-ray.com/zen.shtml
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
One commonality I've seen is they all are very like the Hawke and a little different from the Promaster. The PM seems (so far) to be the one off. But the others all match closely on multiple specs and in the case of the Zen Ray ED it looks very similar too.
They all could come from the same ODM or even the same designer and only differ in the size of the field stop. But the PM went with a 7.5 degree FOV and has a few other minor differences in the EP. All the others (Hawke, Orion ULX, Zen Ray ED) share the same specs.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
I speculated on the first delay being possibly financial (with a rough loan/line of credit estimate) and I know commercial line of credit has become very difficult to get (even for previous regular customers with good balance sheet and good prospects). The banks have gone from throwing loans at everyone to the other extreme.
I suspect they may have moved from delaying that ("We may give you the line of credit in April") to "We can't see giving you a big line of credit in the near future. How would 20% of your previous LOC do?". Well it wouldn't as you need a minimum buy so you kill the line.
For the geeky, keep an eye on LIBOR for a hint when this credit crunch might loosen up.
I think we might see similar problem with other optical companies that rely on LOC to aid their cash flow in their business.
Last edited:
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
Their website did have a picture that looked like a real picture of a real bin not a CAD rendering.
I suspect they got to the prototype stage and then must have decided not to go ahead.
I wonder if they chose a "generic" rubber armor pattern (i.e. just like the Hawke) that would save the cost of making injection molds for the armor (a big capital cost). So perhaps they were just "badge engineering"
They would be collectable if they exist (like those Red Leica prototypes
)