Are the STC-7 currently under production? If so, what would be a realistic lead time for USA delivery? Thanks, Carl.
Yes, they are a real product in production, we shipped more of them this week to dealers and direct customers. We are building them as fast as we can, and we're catching up on the orders placed in the latter part of November. With Christmas holidays coming up very soon, it is probable new orders may ship after Christmas, likely early January. We're aiming to deliver quickly, however due to COVID-19, and the resultant global shortage of electronic components, some things we're waiting for are delayed. So if you're trying to plan, 4-6 weeks (inclusive of our holiday shutdown) is likely. There is a queue.
Thanks Colin. Early November, I talked to you on the phone. Nov. 11, l places an order from one of your dealers for the camera, guider, AO8 package. I called the company yesterday for an update, they told me maybe mid February.
Due to strong and growing demand for our new products, we're ramping up our production capacity and are currently hiring. We're also increasing inventory levels to compensate for the fact that many (if not most) of our suppliers are slower than normal due to COVID. Some good news for you - I just had a look at the order queue. There are a couple of dealer orders for that package that came in mid-November, and they're near the front of the queue.
Reading through the camera manual that I found online, I didn't see any mention about using "Driver Checker" for the latest drivers. Should I assume that this camera will come with its own "Stand Alone" drivers and not use universal drivers?
Correct. The SBIG Driver Checker does not cover the SBIG Aluma CCD, SBIG AC-, SC-, or STC-series CMOS cameras. We've modernized the whole way drivers operate with the DL Imaging driver software. You can find it all on the camera's product page under the download section. https://diffractionlimited.com/product/sbig-stc-7/
I have to say that I'm rather disappointed. I placed this order with a prominent West Coast Authorized dealer. Now I can't get a return email or phone call on the status of this order. It's been seven weeks since I placed the order, and if what they told me the last time I actually talked to them is true, it will be another six to seven weeks. Sad. This means that I will have lost the entire Winter imaging season. If your going to tell me that this is Covid related, save your breath.
We're building STC-7 and STC-428 cameras as fast as we can! They're a hot item right now, and it's keeping the crew very busy. I'm hopeful we can get the current STC orders filled in the first two weeks of January. While COVID isn't affecting STC production currently, because we have parts on hand, it definitely is a problem for our supply chains. At least half the parts we've ordered in the last year have arrived weeks late. The last StarChaser build was pushed back a full month due to critical parts that didn't arrive on schedule. Not making this stuff up... it's been a very challenging year.
Roughly 10 years ago or so, I bought a new St10 directly from SBIG. Seeing that I can not get any response from the Dealer that I ordered my (STC7) camera from, Is there an option where as I can buy the camera from SBIG again? If I try to switch dealers,I'm sure I'll go to end of the line.
I'm investigating what happened with this dealer and will be in touch soon. It appears that weeks passed between when you say you ordered it and when we received an order that might possibly be inclusive of your items. You can always buy direct, but there is a queue, and I would not recommend that at this point.
I got a notice Friday that my camera is on it's way. One last question, I would assume so, but are the filters close to parafocal? When I set the focus for the SC2, which filter should I use to focus from.
The filters are parfocal. It doesn't matter which filter you focus the guider against, but generally I'd use Luminance.
