Out-of-Business

For Your Information Only!

1. PHONE your order to VSI (M-F, 9-5 Mountain Time) at 719.495.3828. If no answer, please try your call later.

2. FAX your order to our dedicated fax line (24-hours) at 719.495.6465.

3. SNAIL MAIL your order to VSI. Van Slyke Instruments, 12815 Porcupine Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80908

4. E-MAIL Questions/Orders. Click E-MAIL BULLET above, or send e-mail to: BFO@OBSERVATORY.ORG. E-mails are answered every Friday.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please insert the words VSI ORDER or VSI INFO in the SUBJECT block of your e-mail in all caps. Not absolutely necessary, but your very important E-MAIL becomes easier to find when scanning through my spam infested lists. - PBVS

5. VSI Quick Order Form (print, FAX, copy, or e-mail)

MSRP = *MANUFACTURER'S SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE - Your price is in GREEN

US: orders under $1000 = $25, $1000 to $3000 = $57, over $3000 = $98, over $5000 (max USPS insurance) = by insured value per package.

CANADA: orders under $1000 = $57, $1000 to $2000 = $98, over $2000 = by insured value per package up to $5000 (Air Express only). Customer accepts responsibility for loss/damage over $5000.

FOREIGN: orders under $1000 = $57, $1000 to $2000 = $98, over $2000 = by maximum insured value per package allowed by country (Air Express only). Customer accepts responsibility for loss/damage over country maximum allowable insurance.

All orders ship via US Postal Service and include insurance to your destination (except US small packet orders @ $10). US orders ship via Priority Air insured (small items are not insured).

CANADA and FOREIGN orders ship via USPS Express insured. USPS contracts this special air service through FedX. Your package travels by FedX at a fraction of the cost compared to directly shipping via FedX. Any package value that is over the maximum insured value allowed by a specific country is the responsibility of the customer if lost or damaged, unless alternate [more expensive] shipping methods are requested.

For more shipping info and VSI policies, see VSI Policies link, or click on the POLICIES bullet at VSI's home page.

Please don't assume that I know everything about every scope, CCD camera and accessory that was, or is on the market today. On the contrary, I know very little about other peoples products, because I've never actually had much hands-on experience with any of their products. I add various converters/adapters to my "arsenal" from time to time over many years, and I usually forget everything about everything that I previously owned/created in a very short period of time. However, I do hope that you are [and I rely on you being] intimately familiar with your own equipment?

What I am trying to say, in the above paragraph, is that you still need to do your "homework." I would really appreciate if you would not "throw" your equipment info at me and expect me to build you an imaging train, just because you think I know everything about every scope or camera ever made. I don't! So please try to [at least] make the effort and take the time to design/build your imaging train, using my stock port rings, etc. listed and pictured at my web site. Then you can run it by me. I will then try to catch any mistakes you may have made. In other words, learn/know your own scope and camera [threaded or not] configs before you introduce me to your equipment list. This helps to eliminate mistakes that can cost time and money, especially if custom machining is involved, because no custom machined item is returnable.

Of course, I will help you to create your ultimate/dream imaging train, because service [before and after the sale] is my commitment to you. As it says at my USER COMMENTS link, User's Rule at VSI! If you need my help from scratch, then I am all ears, or is that eyes? Probably both. Remember, I don't have a dissatisfied VSI customer anywhere on Planet Earth, that I know about? If you are unhappy with any VSI product, it is your fault, not mine. All you have to do is call me, or email, and I will make even the smallest VSI problem disappear (the Maytag repairman does come to mind about now). That is my most important job - customer satisfaction, "till Underverse come." Remember, at VSI, anything is possible. Dream large! - PBVS

Optional Reading: My wife always tells me that I have to be smarter than the equipment I am trying to operate, especially when I break something, which is actually quite often. After all, we are all human, aren't we? Did I ever tell you the story about my new Vixen SkyPod?

I disassembled it to fine tune and tighten the needle bearings in the RA/Azimuth and Dec/Elevation axis, etc. In the process, I broke the plastic encoder off the back of the Dec motor. OOOPS! Large disaster, because you can't acquire these motor/encoder/gear reducer combos from anyone but Vixen! And, if you take the case off the scope, you void your warranty. Obviously, the encoder can't be broken without removing the case. Catch 22 anyone?

To shorten a much longer story, I called Vixen and told the truth about what I did, and a new replacement motor arrived in the mail about a week later. I happily installed the motor and my SkyPod is, once again, working properly. Luckily, Mike Fowler at Vixen had been following my "career" for the past 20 years, and my reputation had preceeded me. Did I say I was lucky?

My point. Good luck happens very seldom, and it is something most of us do not possess. I usually need to insert that other four-letter word before anything happens at all. I find that "doing my homework" increases my luck and the chances of my success. If you do yours, before contacting me, we both reap the benefits of your first-time, successful installation. - PBVS