opinions on apogee 80mm optics

I was considering the possibity of making an inexpensive st80 with the f/5
80mm telescope optics from Apogee. The optics are $50, and I could
cannabalize / cheaply obtain the rest of the stuff I need so that I'd be able
to do this pretty inexpensively.

http://www.apogeeinc.com/scopeoptics.html

My question: Are these Apogee optics worth the $50? I mean, would I be
better off just finding a used Orion or Celestron st80 instead? My
assumption is that the optics are probably of the same quality if not from the
same source.

FWIW, I have an orion st80 and my 9 year old would like to have "his own" so
I'd like to make it a little project that we both could work on and he'd take
something away from it more than if I just handed him one. I think we'd both
enjoy doing it, but if the end result is optically less than the Orion or
Celestron ST80's, then perhaps it'd be better to go that route, after all.


jeff