Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Optical instruments |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Founder | Tim Gieseler |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 2 |
| Products |
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| Website | telescope.com |
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars was an American retail company that sold telescopes, binoculars and accessories online and in-store for astronomy and birdwatching. It was founded in 1975 and had corporate offices in Watsonville, California. A large proportion of its products were manufactured by the Chinese company Synta for the Orion brand name. Orion Telescopes & Binoculars shipped its products to the United States and over 20 other countries. Orion put out a semi-quarterly mail-order catalog as well as email catalogs. The company was a prominent advertiser in North American astronomy magazines, such as Sky & Telescope and Astronomy.
In July 2024, Sky and Telescope magazine reported that Optronic Technologies, the owner of Orion Telescopes, had closed their facilities in California and had laid off all of their employees. As of July 15, there had been no official announcement from the company, and S&T said they were trying to get more information from their sources.