Realistically, I don't think there is a shooter on here that wouldn't like to see a quality scope manufactured in Canada.... etc.
I think your post pretty well hit the nail on the head. And being Canadian, I think some of us (perhaps myself included) are sometimes leery about a "Canadian-made product"- can it really be any good? (Whereas, across the border, "100% Made in America" gets them all teary-eyed and rallying 'round the flag.)
As to being of Chinese origin, sadly this is hard to avoid these days, but Scopehunter has stated that "the optics are of European origin", so perhaps they are not Chinese! In any case, we should not assume otherwise unless we actually have ironclad proof. Japanese optics and products generally were considered crap when they first came out, but no one sneers at them now. I suspect the same will be true for Chinese products. I'm leery of Chinese stuff, too - I juist couldn't buy a Norinco 1911, despite all sorts of people saying they are OK, including Gunnar at Armco - but I think many of these imported products are crap partly because N. American companies see better profit margins buying cheap products from cheap suppliers, rather than demanding good quality. (I would guess NC Star, Leapers, etc. fall into this category. However, many of the "high-end" tactical lights are from Asia and are giving Surefire etc. a run for their money.)
Scopehunter- if you're still brave enough to read this thread, although you've been given a pretty rough ride, I think that, vitriol aside, there have been a few valid points made. (And the weird fluted tube question still hasn't been answered. The big boys in whose league you seem to want to play don't flute their tubes, so it does come across as just a marketing gimmick.)
a) The website
is pretty cheesy. (Mind you, so is Ellwood Epps' but Epps has been around for decades and has a known reputation.) You really need to get a professional web designer to re-do it. It's the first thing a viewer sees and if it looks cheap, it'll be uphill from there- no matter how good the product may be.
b) Blatantly announcing that your product is "THE BEST SCOPE MADE" on a new and completely unknown product cannot help but result in being given a good barracking. As good as Swarovski, Zeiss, Kahles, Schmidt & Bender, Leupold, whose reputations have been forged over decades in every field, valley and veldt on earth? Who is going to believe that, coming from a company no one has heard of? Heck, I recall seeing sceptical comments about the Bushnell 6500 line, ostensibly introduced to take that venerable name into the ranks of optical Valhalla. And King Optics isn't (even) Bushnell.
c) If King Optics has priced their product at the high end to "justify" a comparison with the big boys, rather than making a decent return on investment, I suspect you're shooting yourselves in the foot, as it were. As many have stated, if they are going to risk "Zeiss bucks" on a scope, they will buy a Zeiss or similar, rather than on an unknown product. Better to be more modest with your claims, price the product lower,
then get the product in the hands of people whose unbiased opinions can independently help spread the word. Unfortunately here in Canada we don't have high-profile writers like Boddington, Barsness or Shoemaker to review them (and our Jim Shockey has already been snagged by Leupold, I believe) but without getting respected industry feedback, you're unlikely to be taken seriously, no matter what you say on the website- you'll just sound like a used car salesman in a loud jacket. What sceptical hunters need is not advertising hype but reviews by people they know. Maybe then P&D and other respected retailers will show some interest.
You folks may very well have a really good product, and I hope you do, but it seems to me your marketing is doing you more harm than good.
Stuart
ps- Look at the good comments on the Falcon Optics. Apparently a "small company who could." Not claiming to be the best and not made in Canada, but a relatively unknown line that seems to be well made and well received. Mid-range products are easier to sell, of course, but they must be doing something right.
