StarmanDan
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/27/07
Loc: Deep in the heart of Texas
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Thinking of starting over
#5619729 - 01/12/13 07:50 PM
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Have any of you thought about just starting over equipment wise? Like most, I have several scopes, too many accessories and not enough time. I'm planning on building an observatory to help increase my observing time and have given a lot of thought as to equipment for it. At the time I bought my LX200 I had AP in mind even though I knew it would be years off. Now I'm starting to get serious in it and am learning the limitations of the fork mount design. As a result my visual observing has taken a back seat and I'm finding that i don't miss it much. I'm nearly at a point where I just want to sell everything and start all over. Am I just crazy?
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snowcrow
sage
Reged: 10/21/12
Loc: Vermont
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5619803 - 01/12/13 08:57 PM
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If you did start over, what would you buy? Can you afford it with your plans for an observatory? If you have the funds, go for it!
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crazyqban
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/16/08
Loc: Miami, Florida
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5619983 - 01/12/13 11:06 PM
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Quote:
Am I just crazy?
Not at all. 
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Jon Isaacs
Postmaster
Reged: 06/16/04
Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5619988 - 01/12/13 11:11 PM
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Am I just crazy?
Rather than just starting over, I suggest letting your choices evolve with time. Experiment, figure out what it is you do want. Move in that direction.
Maybe you already know what would really work for you. I never did, I just experimented until I figured it out.
Jon
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Mike B
Starstruck
Reged: 04/06/05
Loc: shake, rattle, & roll, CA
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: crazyqban]
#5620056 - 01/13/13 12:16 AM
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Quote:
Quote:
Am I just crazy?
Not at all.
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David Pavlich
Transmographied
Reged: 05/18/05
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: Mike B]
#5620480 - 01/13/13 10:42 AM
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Absolutely! The economy could use a kick in the pants.  Tongue in cheek, of course, but if it's in the budget and you want to try new stuff, why not?
David
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edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
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Re: Thinking of starting over *DELETED*
[Re: David Pavlich]
#5620523 - 01/13/13 11:00 AM
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Post deleted by edwincjones
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edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: edwincjones]
#5620532 - 01/13/13 11:06 AM
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I have considered it,
a start over would be more direct, more focused
I would have less scopes/binoculars/accessories
I would want the best quality "affordable"
and more portable
and-important here
put money into more travel and less items
edj
but we all do it now
when we sell old and buy new
change interest/focus of activities
edj
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fmhill
sage
Reged: 07/17/12
Loc: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: David Pavlich]
#5620533 - 01/13/13 11:06 AM
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Yes, but in a good way...
Starting over is a win-win situation as I see it.
Between what you have learned getting to this point in time, and how fast technology advances, you can only gain...
I did pretty much the same thing last year, bought a new telescope, mount, and camera and haven't looked back since... Only thing is, I didn't sell any of my old gear so I see it more as a continuation than starting over...
Edited by fmhill (01/13/13 11:12 AM)
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csrlice12
Postmaster
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: fmhill]
#5620640 - 01/13/13 12:04 PM
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Time to start crusing the classifieds again......
Clear skies regardless of which way you go!
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herrointment
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/12/11
Loc: North of Hwy. 64
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: csrlice12]
#5620914 - 01/13/13 02:25 PM
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Starting over works best buy first giving your stuff away....it's (usually) hassle free and always enjoyable.
Guilt free upgrades!
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snowcrow
sage
Reged: 10/21/12
Loc: Vermont
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: herrointment]
#5621016 - 01/13/13 03:04 PM
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Starting over works best buy first giving your stuff away....it's (usually) hassle free and always enjoyable.
Guilt free upgrades!
+1
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Lorence
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/15/08
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5621175 - 01/13/13 04:33 PM
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Am I just crazy?
No, you have probably realized you have been doing things the way others have done things instead of doing things the way you want to do things.
You say you want to get into imaging. Why? Those pretty picture take a lot of time and effort to make. Is that really what you want to do?
I dabbled in astrophotography until I realized I was spending more time with a computer than I was looking at the sky. There was something very wrong with that picture. At any rate I already had a huge library of astrophotos that I could never hope to duplicate.
I built my observatory to allow me to enjoy observing and to make observing as easy as possible. The system was designed around the Mallincam video cameras. Initially I sacrificed the better eyepiece view of some objects for lower resolution but that gave me a lot more to see that wasn't possible to see with an eyepiece. A fair trade off in my opinion. I'm now using a Mallincam Universe CCD camera to give me a near live view of the sky that is beginning to rival anything I could see with my eyepieces. I used to spend more time straining to get the best view of an object than it now takes for a nice image to appear on the screen in front of me. All from the comfort of my living room.
Decadent? Absolutely, and I love it because it's exactly what I want to do.
My advice. Decide what you want to do and how you want to do it. Then do it. I decided I wanted an observatory like mine thirty years ago. Took twenty eight years but it was well worth the wait and every cent I put into it.
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droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Loc: Conneaut, Ohio
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5625671 - 01/16/13 06:02 AM
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Dan; I dunno man, I guess only you can decide for you.
Looking through your sig line, it looks like you pretty much got the various equipment covered.
Maybe just put the photography aside and get back to what brung yah to the dance, be it visual observing, or relaxing with a pair of binos.Destress your hobby?
A few years ago I went though some thing similiar in amateur rocketry, Went from ready ready to fly fun flying to level 2 high power flying,amd it was fun...but one flight took planning, and a lot of work.Add to that my club requirments, and I burned out. I re thought my hobby and went backwards to smaller rockets, and in the process picked my NAR Trek bronze and silver certs, and rediscovered fun flying in the process. De-stressed and had fun. But back to amateur astronomy,We all go through second thoughts, wonder why we did that or bought that, lol.
What ever you decide I hope you really think on it first.
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Eddgie
Postmaster
Reged: 02/01/06
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5625849 - 01/16/13 09:31 AM
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For must of us, it is an evolution.
You often don't know what you like and don't like until after you have used a few telescopes.
And evolution is in fact nothing more than a "Phased" startover.
I know that when I started binoviewing, I figured it would be easy to just pick up some good binoviewers and get going.
I am on my third set now, so have "Started over" twice. It was more like an evolution. I used each set of binoviewers to better understand what I really needed in a binoviewer system (Trust me, it is complex).
I think I have it right this time...
And my current primary telescopes (C14, Edge 8, 6" APO) evolved from a long series of mostly smaller scopes... But I think I have this mostly OK now, though I still consider replacing the C14 with a big Go-To dob.
But it is a constant evolution, and until you really know exactly what your needs and desires are, you will be constantly starting over.
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csrlice12
Postmaster
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: Eddgie]
#5625869 - 01/16/13 09:39 AM
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"We all go through second thoughts, wonder why we did that or bought that, lol."
How else you gonna start eypiece series collecting? 
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snowcrow
sage
Reged: 10/21/12
Loc: Vermont
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: csrlice12]
#5626071 - 01/16/13 11:59 AM
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Re-boot....
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John Miele
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/29/05
Loc: North Alabama
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: snowcrow]
#5626441 - 01/16/13 03:55 PM
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I have "started over" several times. I upsized from 4.5" Astroscan up to a 16" homebuilt truss tube dob with a DDII system over a period of about 15 years and it was visual all the way. Even got my Messier and Herschel 400 Certificates star hopping with this gear. I then got tired of setting up the big dob and downsized to a C11 and got into binoviewing. I then got into video observing with a Mallincam. I then ditched the video gear and went to the dark side of CCD imaging. I sold a lot of gear to optimize an imaging-only setup. I then burned out on imaging after a couple years (oh yes...it can happen) sold a lot of imaging gear and went to a SE8 setup. But doggone it, within a year, the imaging bug bit me again and I regeared again, this time with even better imaging scopes and equipment! I also discovered I loved refractors during this period. I have just recently converted from "pretty picture" imaging cameras to equipment beter suited for photometry research and that is where I am today. So I have started over several times. It's always been a fun ride each time and I learned to see this hobby from many different perspectives. Of course the 'ol bank account has not fared too well, but I have done my part to help fund all our wonderful equipment vendors... ...John
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Raginar
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/19/10
Loc: Rapid CIty, SD
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: StarmanDan]
#5626663 - 01/16/13 05:40 PM
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Starman,
Yup. Just went through the process. I kept my scopes (AT8IN and a ED80) but replaced everything else from the ground up. New camera... The consumer-level stuff is nice, but you start to realize after fighting it to get good pictures that you can do better with not a ton more investment.
The nice thing about astronomy: buy used and sell used. You're usually just out shipping and maybe a paypal fee or two. I think I only lost a 8-10% on the stuff I purchased.
Good luck 
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droid
rocketman
Reged: 08/29/04
Loc: Conneaut, Ohio
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Re: Thinking of starting over
[Re: Raginar]
#5632532 - 01/20/13 01:02 AM
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Dan; just curious, if this post helped you out.Been wondering which way you decided to go.
Clear skys
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