79 replies to this topic

[Rick-T137]

As much as I have loved many of the scopes that I have sold, I have no regret in selling them because others that I loved even more replaced them or more importantly, they just no longer fit either my lifestyle or my observing style. Ie. They just didn’t work for me any longer. Yes, some of were hard to let go of, two in particular: my wonderful 4” F15 Edmund and the 6” reflector that I made myself from the mirror up in 1966. I have wistful, loving memories of them, but I don’t miss either one because they absolutely wouldn’t work in my condo and I love my new, simplified life. I thankfully had the good sense to keep the three Japanese classics that do still work for me and I know I would have truly regretted letting go of. The only other exception was selling my 1988(?) Questar Standard. After moving, I really regretted selling that, but happily I was able to replace it with a year that I wanted more- a 1969, year of Apollo-11 model with the original globe or beehive eyepieces, Cer-Vit mirror, and the English leather case. It’s the same make as the first Questar I ever saw back in the 1960s, the one I really fell in love with. So destiny worked in my favor. Regrets? No. I’ve moved on.

I think you managed to express the essence of what I was thinking - it was hard for me to let go of some of the scopes I did (particularly the 10" Meade Starfinder, the 10" Meade 2120 and the Explore Scientific ED-102) however I don't really miss them. Well, maybe the ED-102 a little bit. But you're right - as Morpheus says in The Matrix ";

 

Morpheus : No, what happened, happened and couldn't have happened any other way.
Neo : How do you know?
Morpheus : We are still alive.

 

Well, maybe the stakes aren't that high - but you know what I mean. I wound up here with the scopes I have because that's the way it happened.

 

I am with you - no regrets. Time to move on! 

 

Thanks!

 

Rick

[MarkMittlesteadt]

I recently reacquired my 25 year old ETX105, but only temporary as I sold it to a friend who kept in storage for the last 20 years. I cleaned it up for and checked it over. It still has near perfect optics (easily as sharp as my EON 80ED apo refractor) only with a bigger aperture. 

 

I still missed it, and testing it was a reminder why I sold it (not the best mount even with all my mods and repairs), but also why I regret selling it...absolutely perfect optics. And even after all these years there is zero mirror flop or shift. 

 

The ETX105 is almost never for sale on the used market and is discontinued. Even when Meade brought back the ETX line, they only brought back the 90 and 125, which is really a shame because it was easily the best of the three in the ETX line-up (I've owned many of these over the years).

 

If I ever got it back, first thing I'd do is defork it (and mount on my own mount), replace the entire back with a Wegat and add a new dual speed focuser and a solid 2" diagonal. 

 

 

 

Edited by MarkMittlesteadt, 22 August 2024 - 09:35 AM.

[Eric P]

Traded a TV102 for a mushy Starliner cass many years ago.  

[MarkMittlesteadt]

Traded a TV102 for a mushy Starliner cass many years ago.  

Ouch!

[Rick-T137]

Traded a TV102 for a mushy Starliner cass many years ago.  

Wow! I guess you live and learn.

 

The worst trade I ever made wasn't telescope related - I had a model of the Millennium Falcon that was big - like around 18" across, and it had light up engines that took D-cells. It was a heck of a thing. I traded it for a Battlestar Galactica Centurion action figure. Dunno what possessed me to do it - I just really wanted that action figure, I guess.

 

That started a long and illustrious string of dumb a** moves that I made in my life. Fortunately my first wife rescued me from myself! LOL!

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

[MarkMittlesteadt]

Wow! I guess you live and learn.

 

The worst trade I ever made wasn't telescope related - I had a model of the Millennium Falcon that was big - like around 18" across, and it had light up engines that took D-cells. It was a heck of a thing. I traded it for a Battlestar Galactica Centurion action figure. Dunno what possessed me to do it - I just really wanted that action figure, I guess.

 

That started a long and illustrious string of dumb a** moves that I made in my life. Fortunately my first wife rescued me from myself! LOL!

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

 That made me laugh out loud. I've done the same with many things I've owned over the years. 

[Bomber Bob]

The ETX105 is almost never for sale on the used market and is discontinued.

 

I briefly owned an Excellent Meade 2045 Astro.  IMHO, Meade could've tapped a market with a quality 105mm MCT using the same quality (all metal) components of the 2045 SCT...  A "shoebox observatory" with more aperture than a Questar, and with modern tracking drive(s) & electronics.  But... Meade never asked for my opinions...

[Rick-T137]

That started a long and illustrious string of dumb a** moves that I made in my life. Fortunately my first wife rescued me from myself! LOL!

I should point out that I've only been married the one time - and we just passed 30 years together!

 

I call her my "first wife" kind of like as a lark when we're at parties.

 

"Oh? How many times have you been married?"

 

"Just the one time."

 

Think I got that from some British comedy skit.

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

[BIG]

I should point out that I've only been married the one time - and we just passed 30 years together!

 

I call her my "first wife" kind of like as a lark when we're at parties.

 

"Oh? How many times have you been married?"

 

"Just the one time."

 

Think I got that from some British comedy skit.

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

Funny, and as much as I'm now tempted, I can already feel my wife's eyes burning holes in my head if I were ever to use that term anywhere or with anyone.

[CHASLX200]

The ETX105 is almost never for sale on the used market and is discontinued.

 

I briefly owned an Excellent Meade 2045 Astro.  IMHO, Meade could've tapped a market with a quality 105mm MCT using the same quality (all metal) components of the 2045 SCT...  A "shoebox observatory" with more aperture than a Questar, and with modern tracking drive(s) & electronics.  But... Meade never asked for my opinions...

I had a crazy nuts sharp 2045 spotter version. I kept asking myself is this a Mak?

[pairofdocs]

I had a lx-6 premier got rid of because to quote ChasLX200 it was real mush bomb

 

[deSitter]

I should point out that I've only been married the one time - and we just passed 30 years together!

 

I call her my "first wife" kind of like as a lark when we're at parties.

 

"Oh? How many times have you been married?"

 

"Just the one time."

 

Think I got that from some British comedy skit.

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

That reminds me of a joke that I can't tell because it involves psychoactive chemicals, but basically it was sort of "I used to love Tasco scopes. I still do, but I used to, too." That comedian is a scream.

 

-drl

[jragsdale]

My only telescope regret is selling a Compustar 14 many years ago. Such a cool scope!

[Rick-T137]

That reminds me of a joke that I can't tell because it involves psychoactive chemicals, but basically it was sort of "I used to love Tasco scopes. I still do, but I used to, too." That comedian is a scream.

 

-drl

Who is the comedian? I don't recall that bit.

 

Thanks!

 

Rick

[deSitter]

Who is the comedian? I don't recall that bit.

 

Thanks!

 

Rick

Mitch Hedberg.

 

-drl

[Exnihilo]

Ultimately I don’t regret letting go of any particular scope in the past, except maybe the Tasco 7TE-5, which was my first scope. 

[scout]

Every time I see a cherry red Tasco 11TR 4.5" f/8 reflector for sale I miss mine. I donated it to Goodwill about 20 years ago. It was such a sharp telescope when using good .965" eyepieces.  I get very tempted to buy one whenever they're for sale locally. But it would just take up space once the nostalgia wore off, so I've resisted.

 

Those bright red Tasco reflectors and refractors sure are pretty though. There's a beautiful complete 851TR 60mm f/15 refractor about an hour away for only $20 right now, but I really don't need another 60mm. 

[Rick-T137]

Every time I see a cherry red Tasco 11TR 4.5" f/8 reflector for sale I miss mine. I donated it to Goodwill about 20 years ago. It was such a sharp telescope when using good .965" eyepieces.  I get very tempted to buy one whenever they're for sale locally. But it would just take up space once the nostalgia wore off, so I've resisted.

 

Those bright red Tasco reflectors and refractors sure are pretty though. There's a beautiful complete 851TR 60mm f/15 refractor about an hour away for only $20 right now, but I really don't need another 60mm. 

I had the same situation with my original Sears 40mm reflector. I missed my original one, and when an identical one came up on F*cebook marketplace for $20, I bought it. Right now it's still in its box in my closet, but soon I'll have it set up in my office once I'm done some renos.

 

Clear skies!

 

Rick

[Terra Nova]

No matter how painful the loss, never regret what you once had as long as there was either love or learning involved in the experience. Just cherish the memories, be thankful for the experience, and move on with life.

[DAVIDG]

  The two Meade scope I bought at full price  I regret buying. One was a 107D which is 4" Mangin Cass, junk optics. I still have it but it lives in  the closet. The other was ETX90 RA. Again junk optics and cheaply built I sold it cheap. 

   I have a couple of  Meade DS2000 which are GOTO that I got either free or real cheap because they were broke and I fixed them.  They are useful for my projects like to use with Yagi antenna to track satellites and make contact with other amateur radio operators and I'm working on using one to make a heliostat to direct sunlight into my for Solar observing in the winter.

  My clubs has been donated a couple LX200GPS over the years that were broke. Once I fixed the electronics and upgraded the mechanics of the drive system they work well but I'm  glad I never bought one new because of the original design problems.

 

               - Dave  

[davidmcgo]

Excellent advice, never sell a good telescope.  Duds, sure dump them.  But good optics and mechanics that you enjoy using, keep.

 

My regrets were more on stuff I didn’t buy when it was available for one reason or another.  Usually just got something else, too busy to use it, etc.  That and it always nagged at me I never had the full lineup of orange tube era Celestron SCTs (I gave up on C90s after 4 or 5 bad to meh).  I had convinced myself that the 5,8, and 11 were enough and the 14 was too big.  But emotionally it nagged at me, so when woodsman listed his, I floundered for a day or two and pinged him.  Have had it out 4 nights already and it is a hoot, really sharp, impressively huge, borderline manageable.

 

The one item I do regret selling was a beautiful 12mm Clave Plossl.  When I got my AP 130 mm f8 apo, I needed shorter fl eyepieces for planets and sold it to get a couple of Takahashi LEs.  Nice eyepieces and did what I needed but for the f10 SCTs the Clave was awesome on Jupiter.  It had a warmth and contrast better than the Brandons and I do miss it.

 

Dave

This is a very simple pitfall to avoid…never sell anything. That does create a bevy of other issues, however 

 

I am slightly concerned about a couple of older Vixens and an AP Mach 1 I let one of our esteemed Administrators borrow, tho…but I know where he lives…he just thinks he’s safe behind that gate 

Edited by davidmcgo, 24 August 2024 - 10:04 AM.

[Exnihilo]

Excellent advice, never sell a good telescope.  Duds, sure dump them.  But good optics and mechanics that you enjoy using, keep.

 

My regrets were more on stuff I didn’t buy when it was available for one reason or another.  Usually just got something else, too busy to use it, etc.  That and it always nagged at me I never had the full lineup of orange tube era Celestron SCTs (I gave up on C90s after 4 or 5 bad to meh).  I had convinced myself that the 5,8, and 11 were enough and the 14 was too big.  But emotionally it nagged at me, so when woodsman listed his, I floundered for a day or two and pinged him.  Have had it out 4 nights already and it is a hoot, really sharp, impressively huge, borderline manageable.

 

The one item I do regret selling was a beautiful 12mm Clave Plossl.  When I got my AP 130 mm f8 apo, I needed shorter fl eyepieces for planets and sold it to get a couple of Takahashi LEs.  Nice eyepieces and did what I needed but for the f10 SCTs the Clave was awesome on Jupiter.  It had a warmth and contrast better than the Brandons and I do miss it.

 

Dave

Lol, this is qualified of course by having enough storage space.  I do, but it all takes up one full bedroom.  I can't imagine having any more than that.

[bjkaras]

I never regretted any of the scopes I bought, but I do regret one that I sold. I bought a 6” Cave when I was 16, with money from a summer job. I used it for 14 years and it turned out to be a great performer. I sold it when I upgraded to a 10”, and I regretted it almost immediately. I wasn’t planning to sell it but a friend who knew I had just upgraded wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally he asked how much I would take for it, so I quoted a price that was double what I paid for it. To my surprise he accepted, so I had to give it to him. It took me 30 years to find another one, but I’m keeping it now. 

Edited by bjkaras, 02 September 2024 - 02:30 AM.

[CHASLX200]

I never regretted any of the scopes I bought, but I do regret one that I sold. I bought a 6” Cave when I was 16, with money from a summer job. I used it for 14 years and it turned out to be a great performer. I sold it when I upgraded to a 10”, and I regretted it almost immediately. I wasn’t planning to sell it but a friend who knew I had just upgraded wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally he asked how much I would take for it, so I quoted a price that was double what I paid for it. To my surprise he accepted, so I had to give it to him. It took me 30 years to find another one, but I’m keeping it now. 

I sure did. Many i bought were mush dogs. But when you buy so many scopes you are gonna run into some bad 1's. But if i did a avg i would say had way more good than bad. A few stand out as insane on all types of scopes. All time best planet scopes for me were all my Obsession and Starmaster Dob's by far since much bigger in my seeing really shows it's stuff.  Pretty much done unless them grail scopes pop up close by.

Edited by CHASLX200, 02 September 2024 - 06:20 AM.

[bobalex]

After using dozens of scopes ranging from 3" refractor to 17"dob, the one I miss the most was a Jaegers 4" F-15 refractor I sold back in the 1970's. Image quality was outstanding. and I will never forget the views of Mars and Jupiter I had with it.