Recommended Vendors

This page is to provide a list of recommended vendors for telescopes and other astronomy and astrophotography equipment and software.

United States

Oceanside Photo and Telescope (OPT)

OPT has one of the largest selections online in the United States. Previously based in Oceanside, CA, they have recently moved to nearby Carlsbad. Their equipment ranges from low-end beginner stuff to some of the highest-end equipment available. They also have fairly knowledgeable staff. They are a reliable supplier of amateur astronomy equipment, if not the cheapest.

Their in-house brand is Third Planet Optics or TPO (which is, of course, OPT backwards). Most of the TPO stuff is made by GSO.

Astronomics

Astronomics is another reliable supplier of equipment. Located in Norman, OK, they have a wide range of equipment, from low-end to high-end.

Their in-house brand is Astro-Tech, which is mostly made by GSO.

Astronomics is the primary sponsor of the Cloudy Nights website.

High Point Scientific

Another reliable supplier of telescopes and astronomy equipment, based in Montague, NJ

Their in-house brand is Apertura, yet again made by GSO.

ScopeStuff

This is a small web-based outfit selling lots of parts and accessories. One of their specialties is mounting hardware, including dovetail plates and tube rings as well as piggyback mounting hardware. They have great customer service and maintain their own database of details on a wide variety of scopes and what is needed for mounting them. If you don't now what you need, contact them and they can usually figure it out for you.

Telescope Parts Outlet

This guy has a wide variety of used scopes and parts. He has a huge list of items available, and a lot of stuff isn't on the list. If you're missing a part or need a repair part, he's a great source, particularly for Orion, Celestron, and Meade.