William Optics SpaceCat 61mm Review - Updated

[@PeterZelinka]

Another Important Update - 8/30/2024: After speaking again with William Optics, I have some good news! Here's what they said: "we are willing to cover the tax and duty for your viewers who use the coupon code on their SpaceCat 51/61 orders." Therefore, if you would like to order a SpaceCat 51mm or 61mm telescope, you can use the Coupon Code: PETERZELINKA during checkout to waive the usual import fees, which could cost upwards of $150. The SpaceCat model is exclusive to William Optics website, so if you are a fan of the grey color scheme, this will help to make it more affordable. (I still think most people are better off saving their money and buying the RedCat model through AgenaAstro, but I wanted to clarify the situation with the latest information.)

[@Chiclets1]

Sounds like shady business from an overprice, well marketed, brand. Great review. Love your work, but.. I'm a dog guy. 🐕

[@paulwood6729]

Import fees are taxes and are unavoidable. Whether you pay it due to importing an item yourself or through a retailer, you're still paying it. It's reasonable for WO to not mention it as the fees vary from country to country, but a single sentence to the effect of "You will need to pay any import fees for your country." would've been sensible.

[@singularity666]

The discount is still not working. I used the discount code while purchasing the 51mm. Everything appeared to go through okay until I got a message from UPS stating that I had to pay an $84.84 import fee. Not cool!

[@paulwood6729]

@@singularity666 The discount has nothing to do with import taxes, except that you are probably paying slightly less tax due to the discount, assuming it's ad valorem.

[@PeterZelinka]

@@singularity666 was it the SpaceCat? If so, contact William Optics and they should be able to fix it

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

I have one of the original White Cat51s from five years ago. I have fitted an auto focuser which has removed the focusing issues. I currently use it with an ASIair mini and it works great. Over the last five years I have used it more than any of my other scopes. As it is currently working fine, I will not be replacing it any time soon.

[@gabrielmagister6072]

I bought a redcat 61 direct from WO during their summer sale. A big mistake as I had to pay around $300 import fees for shipment to USA.

[@rodwatkins145]

Hi Peter I really appreciate your reviews. Do you have any thoughts on the Pleiades 68 compared to the Cat range? Ive read the early ones had quite poor stars shapes at the edges. Would you avoid the Pleiades?

[@akshitkumarsingh7345]

Hey, I have a doubt, can I use a spacecat telescope for capturing celestial objects like saturn, jupyter, mars Venus etc?

[@dce21b59]

No, not in a meaningful way. To try and put it in perspective, the moon is 1/2 degree in the sky, M31 is 3 degrees. At 300mm M31 will fill your camera FOV.... The moon will appear very small. To get the moon to fill you FOV you need a long focal length then 300mm.... Planetary and Lunar observation is much better, going with a SCT or another type of reflector with a longer focal length. Think 2000mm+

[@OVRCOME]

Very cool review! Suckes what they did to you with the code. I mean.. I guess they dont make enough money!

[@davidletz9123]

Being new to astrophotography and buying gear, I made the "mistake" of buying my Redcat 51directly from William Optics a few years ago. And yes, my only complaint about the Redcat is the focus ring on the tube.

[@andrewleno591]

Their products are kind of overpriced... Doesn't matter if we look on new or refurbished. Also they do not have any product in their lineup which outperforms the competitors so they can justify the price... Buying anything from them is an emotionally biased purchase.