Deja vu

Back in September, I submitted a post titled "My new 6mm Expanse eyepiece"
where the horrors of dealing with several bumbled attempts at Fed Ex's
attempts to deliver the ocular were narrated. The reader with a good memory
will recall that I ended up driving 40 miles to the Fed Ex distribution
center to get the eyepiece. I was hot.

Fast forward to Monday, October 10, 2003. After shopping online for a new
focuser, I placed an order from e-Scopes. This business concern is what is
left of Coulter Optical. For $79.95 they offer a 2"/1.25" metal
rack-and-pinion focuser which is nearly identical to one which Orion sells
for $99.95. The bargain is even better considering that e-Scope's price
includes shipping whereas Orion's does not.

"Hmmm, " I thought to myself, "I hope they don't ship Fed Ex."

They don't. They ship UPS. Oh boy, oh boy. . .oh boy oh boy oh boy. Even
better, a tracking number from United Parcel Service was emailed to me
enabling me to follow the focuser's trip from Florida to the state of
Washington. I did. Everyday. Sometimes twice a day. The scheduled
delivery date of November the 18th never changed until. . . . . . . . . . .
.. .November the 18th.

A few minutes before noon I spotted the truck from UPS ("Brown," they like
to refer to themselves as in one of the worst ad campaigns ever to hit the
media and I should know. My degree from the University of Washington is in
Communications/Advertising and, indeed, I used to own a small ad agency). I
was even outside at the head of my driveway when the truck drove by. I
jumped and yelled and my arms, they flailed. The driver's eyes must have
been going deaf. . .he never even looked my direction. "Oh well," I
reasoned, "He's just going up the street and will obviously get to me on his
way back." Back inside my house, I waited. Realizing sometime after 3:00
p.m. that my package, the package which the UPS site had told me this very
morning was "out for delivery," the package with my shiny new all-metal
focuser, would not show up on the promised date.

I just went to the UPS web site and to my astonishment, upon entering the
tracking number, was told that the delivery had been attempted at 12:18 p.m.
and was being rescheduled for the next day since no one was home to receive
the package. Bunk.

Here's what I think happened. "Brown" had too many deliveries to make on
this typically dark and rainy northwest day. He delivered as many as time
permitted and then returned to headquarters where the false excuse was
entered in the computer. Oh, I don't doubt that I'll receive the focuser
tomorrow but there was no need for this "business lie."

Ethics, moral. . .what ever happened to honesty?

-------

Martin
To reply remove "ilikestars" from my email address

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 01:39:24 GMT, "Starstuffed" ...reflected:

snip

Ethics, moral. . .what ever happened to honesty?

Business practicalities plunged a dagger into her bosom, I expect.

I've fallen victim to that exact same scenario in the past, I just know it,
and worse even.

Alan

Ethics, moral. . .what ever happened to honesty?

The ACLU has been seeing to it that those ideas become illegal to talk or think
about.
Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

Well, I'm all smiles again. The focuser did arrive today. It is not the
one pictured on the e-scopes web site but is a fine and solid piece of
equipment.

The one that was shipped to me departs only slightly from the promised
"all-metal" item. . .the knobs are plastic - - but that's fine.

Also, the racked in height is 3.125 inches as opposed to the stated 3.5
inches. I'm not quite sure that I'm interpreting the travel correctly. The
details for the one pictured online said offers 3 1/8 inches of travel. The
one I received measures 5 inches in height from the base when fully racked
out. This differentiation is not significant to me since the travel of the
unit falls within the focused position of the focuser it is replacing.

The draw tube is black and not silver as pictured online.

Focusing in and out is nice and smooth with no "play" evident within the
draw tube. There are what appear to be Teflon strips inside the assembly
which I would think are responsible for the pleasant focusing action.

Given the above, I can't imagine the unit suffering from image shift. I'll
know in 4 or 5 months when the skies clear up here in the land of rain.

-----

Martin
To reply remove "ilikestars" from my email address

"Starstuffed" wrote in message link.net...


The one that was shipped to me departs only slightly from the promised
"all-metal" item. . .the knobs are plastic - - but that's fine.

Also, the racked in height is 3.125 inches as opposed to the stated 3.5
inches. I'm not quite sure that I'm interpreting the travel correctly. The
details for the one pictured online said offers 3 1/8 inches of travel.

Martin


3.125 = 3 1/8 exactly Martin.

Plastic knobs don't 'burn' the fingers when it gets seriously cold.
Metal knobs are just an unnecessary, expensive, pointless fad.
Designed for those who set their telescope up in the dining room
rather than use them at night. ;-)

Chris.B

I wrote in message
link.net...

Also, the racked in height is 3.125 inches as opposed to the stated 3.5
inches. I'm not quite sure that I'm interpreting the travel correctly.
The
details for the one pictured online said offers 3 1/8 inches of travel.

It would seem to me that if a focuser has a racked in height of x inches and
a travel of y inches then the racked out height should be x + y inches. Is
this not correct? The one I received has a racked in height of 3 1/8 inches
and a racked out height of 5 inches so it has only 1 7/8 inches of travel.
Is this right? If so, this is a rather dramatic difference from the one
described in e-scopes online catalogue where they state it has 3 1/8 inches
of travel. Have I got it all wrong?

-------

Martin
To reply remove "ilikestars" from my email address

"Chris.B" wrote in message
om...

Metal knobs are just an unnecessary, expensive, pointless fad.

I managed to break a plastic knob on my Celestron ST80, so I replaced them
with the alluminum knobs from Orion. I actually think they're uglier than
the plastic knobs, but they are less likely to break. (And in case you're
thinking I shouldn't have broken the knob in the first place, I've said all
along that the ST80 is my kick around scope ;-)).

-Stephen

"Starstuffed" wrote in message link.net...
I wrote in message
link.net...

Also, the racked in height is 3.125 inches as opposed to the stated 3.5
inches. I'm not quite sure that I'm interpreting the travel correctly.
The
details for the one pictured online said offers 3 1/8 inches of travel.

It would seem to me that if a focuser has a racked in height of x inches and
a travel of y inches then the racked out height should be x + y inches. Is
this not correct? The one I received has a racked in height of 3 1/8 inches
and a racked out height of 5 inches so it has only 1 7/8 inches of travel.
Is this right? If so, this is a rather dramatic difference from the one
described in e-scopes online catalogue where they state it has 3 1/8 inches
of travel. Have I got it all wrong?

Martin

I'm sorry Martin I misread your post. Of course you have it right.
The focusser you have received has a rather limited 1 7/8" travel. I'd
get onto them at once since they have failed to supply the goods
advertised. You are short of 1 1/4" of travel (more than one third of
the travel advertised). Which might be important to you one day.

My apologies,

Chris.B

Post in haste, repent at leisure.

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message ...

I managed to break a plastic knob on my Celestron ST80, so I replaced them
with the aluminum knobs from Orion. I actually think they're uglier than
the plastic knobs, but they are less likely to break. (And in case you're
thinking I shouldn't have broken the knob in the first place, I've said all
along that the ST80 is my kick around scope ;-)).

-Stephen

ABS Stephen! *;^)#