DGM and Orion OA newts.

Greetings SAA,

With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post a
brief formal response.

1. Shortly after the Oct 03 Astronomy Magazine review of the DGM Optics
OA-3.6ATS by Phil Harrington, Orion ordered an OA-4 late last year. Orion`s
stated intention for evaluating it was in the interest of some sort of
potentional partnership with DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical.

2. After several months of silence from Orion regarding the OA-4 and it`s
performance, Orion approached Dodgen Optical independantly with the
intention of Dodgen doing the optics. Because of a long standing agreement
between myself and Rod Dodgen, Orions offer was refused. In part, the
refusal as such was due to Orion being unwilling to include DGM Optics in
the production, and to some small extent, financial gain of the Orion
version of the OA-newt.

3. DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical are in no way involved with the production
of Orions new OA-Newt and will continue to produce the DGM Optics OA-Series
telescopes as small volume, high quality, hand made telescopes.

Dan McShane
DGM Optics










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Dan McShane wrote:
With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post a
brief formal response.

[snip: Orion buys an OA from Dan, thinking about potential partnership,
then approaches Dodgen on their own, is rebuffed; Dan and Dodgen go on
making their scopes entirely separately from Orion and *their* OA.]

Thanks very much, Dan, for clearing the air. But, you know, I still
wonder: Why do you use an open-single-quote for an apostrophe? You
write "Orion`s," instead of "Orion's." Just curious.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

Brian Tung wrote in message ...
Dan McShane wrote:
With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and
questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to
post a
brief formal response.

[snip: Orion buys an OA from Dan, thinking about potential partnership,
then approaches Dodgen on their own, is rebuffed; Dan and Dodgen go on
making their scopes entirely separately from Orion and *their* OA.]

Yes, that`s it in a nutshell.

Thanks very much, Dan, for clearing the air. But, you know, I still
wonder: Why do you use an open-single-quote for an apostrophe? You
write "Orion`s," instead of "Orion's." Just curious.

Sorry Brian, I know you asked about that before and I didn`t respond. Just
bad punctuation on my part.
:-)

Dan

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt


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With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post a
brief formal response.

Dan:

Thanks for clarifying this. While personally I think that overall Orion is a
good thing for the community, I am also uncomfortable with some of their
business practices. I was quite disappointed in their cloning of the
Starbound chair, essentially taking a design from one of their vendors and
copying it. It is disappointing to hear that they apparently were not straight
forward and honest with you or with Dodgen Optical.

I hope that the increased visability of the OA design by Orion's marketing
department will lead to increased interest in and sales of your scopes.
Certainly Orion's corner is a small one and you have all the bases covered and
the pricing seems competitive when I consider that you are selling a premium
scope.

Orion catalogs are nicely written but an experienced reader knows that when
Orion says the mirror is made in the US it means the rest of the scope is not.


Best wishes

jon

"Dan McShane" wrote in message ...
Greetings SAA,

With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post a
brief formal response.

1. Shortly after the Oct 03 Astronomy Magazine review of the DGM Optics
OA-3.6ATS by Phil Harrington, Orion ordered an OA-4 late last year. Orion`s
stated intention for evaluating it was in the interest of some sort of
potentional partnership with DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical.

2. After several months of silence from Orion regarding the OA-4 and it`s
performance, Orion approached Dodgen Optical independantly with the
intention of Dodgen doing the optics. Because of a long standing agreement
between myself and Rod Dodgen, Orions offer was refused. In part, the
refusal as such was due to Orion being unwilling to include DGM Optics in
the production, and to some small extent, financial gain of the Orion
version of the OA-newt.

3. DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical are in no way involved with the production
of Orions new OA-Newt and will continue to produce the DGM Optics OA-Series
telescopes as small volume, high quality, hand made telescopes.

Dan McShane
DGM Optics
Hello Dan ,

Good show , glad to hear yourself and Mr Dodgen are tight.
Makes for good business . Best of luck in the coming years .
Leonard

Jon Isaacs wrote in message
...

With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and
questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post
a
brief formal response.

Dan:

Thanks for clarifying this. While personally I think that overall Orion is
a
good thing for the community, I am also uncomfortable with some of their
business practices. I was quite disappointed in their cloning of the
Starbound chair, essentially taking a design from one of their vendors and
copying it. It is disappointing to hear that they apparently were not
straight
forward and honest with you or with Dodgen Optical.


they copied several other product designs from their (at the time) vendors ,
not just the starbound chair. It appears that if you don't at least
copyright a design if not patent it, you're in trouble due to such
unscrupulous practices. It's true that it would be a narrow patent but it
still offers better protection than not doing anything at all. Obtaining a
patent seems to be increasingly trivial with the attitute USPTO showed in
the past few years.

best regards,
matt tudor

Leonard wrote in message
om...
"Dan McShane" wrote in message
...
Greetings SAA,

With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and
questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to
post a
brief formal response.

1. Shortly after the Oct 03 Astronomy Magazine review of the DGM Optics
OA-3.6ATS by Phil Harrington, Orion ordered an OA-4 late last year.
Orion`s
stated intention for evaluating it was in the interest of some sort of
potentional partnership with DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical.

2. After several months of silence from Orion regarding the OA-4 and
it`s
performance, Orion approached Dodgen Optical independantly with the
intention of Dodgen doing the optics. Because of a long standing
agreement
between myself and Rod Dodgen, Orions offer was refused. In part, the
refusal as such was due to Orion being unwilling to include DGM Optics
in
the production, and to some small extent, financial gain of the Orion
version of the OA-newt.

3. DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical are in no way involved with the
production
of Orions new OA-Newt and will continue to produce the DGM Optics
OA-Series
telescopes as small volume, high quality, hand made telescopes.

Dan McShane
DGM Optics
Hello Dan ,

Good show , glad to hear yourself and Mr Dodgen are
tight.
Makes for good business . Best of luck in the coming years .
Leonard

Len,

Right back at ya!
Hope you are well, happy, and still enjoying the 7".

Dan




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I hope Orion falls on their ass, to be blunt about it.
And reap all the rewards. Frankly, I think it will work out that way,
for a change! Good luck Dan.




Dan McShane wrote:

Greetings SAA,

With the introduction of Orion`s new OA-Newt and the interest and questions
put worth on this and several other news groups, I felt compelled to post a
brief formal response.

1. Shortly after the Oct 03 Astronomy Magazine review of the DGM Optics
OA-3.6ATS by Phil Harrington, Orion ordered an OA-4 late last year. Orion`s
stated intention for evaluating it was in the interest of some sort of
potentional partnership with DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical.

2. After several months of silence from Orion regarding the OA-4 and it`s
performance, Orion approached Dodgen Optical independantly with the
intention of Dodgen doing the optics. Because of a long standing agreement
between myself and Rod Dodgen, Orions offer was refused. In part, the
refusal as such was due to Orion being unwilling to include DGM Optics in
the production, and to some small extent, financial gain of the Orion
version of the OA-newt.

3. DGM Optics and Dodgen Optical are in no way involved with the production
of Orions new OA-Newt and will continue to produce the DGM Optics OA-Series
telescopes as small volume, high quality, hand made telescopes.

Dan McShane
DGM Optics

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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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I hope Orion falls on their ass, to be blunt about it.
And reap all the rewards. Frankly, I think it will work out that way,
for a change!

Oh yeah, the ultimate pitfall of being intensely competitve, I can hear the
giant falling now...
rat
~( );

email: remove 'et' from .com(et) in above email address

they copied several other product designs from their (at the time) vendors ,
not just the starbound chair.

It seems that Orion did not clone the Starbound chair. This was brought to my
attention after my post yesterday. I looked back via google and found that
this claim was made during a thread about Virgo Astronomics but apparently
Orion did not clone the Starbound Chair.

jon isaacs