TMB 130 f/7 $3790

TMB 130 f/7 $3790 - see http://tinyurl.com/rykxl

I believe these are made in China. TMB seems to be undercutting himself quite nicely with these - I wonder if this has something to do with StellarVue getting lenses directly from LZOS without any TMB design? Will APM go it's own way now? Will the quality of these scope be up to the LZOS quality?

Oooooh! If the lenses are being made in China, that would make sense then. Chinese manufacturers have done a fine job with 80mm and 100mm - the next logical step would be 130mm.

You raise some very very interesting questions Philip. I think the coming year will be telling...

I've heard the new lenses are coming from Japan.

The cost savings is in the tube, and the focuser.

Burgess probably is not involved in the production of this product.

I don't know where the tubes are coming from, but a while back I heard it would be less expensive to make them in the USA than in Germany.

While the focuser is a 4" one with 10:1 reduction, it's not a Feathertouch.

Personally, I'd rather see the Feathertouch on there, but perhaps this will be an option.

I expect Thomas and Markus will continue to work together.

Markus sells the Planetary eyepieces in Europe. The "Signature Series" scopes may or may not be cost effective to sell there because the shipping costs and import duties would be on the other end.

I expect the large scopes will continue to use TMB LZOS lenses.

Another point is while the "normal" APM tubes are relatively expensive to make, it doesn't seem to be a big deal for Markus to get a custom tube done to meet a customers request. He's done some beautiful folded refractors.

We'll know more in 3 or 4 months. Hopefully they'll be world class scopes. Looking at the specs, if they decide to make a 6" one, it might be within my weight limit.