87 replies to this topic

[Echolight]

I don't know. I have amassed a bunch of small telescopes. Haven't sold any yet.

The only thing I regret is buying two old helical meniscus focusing C90's and an old made in Japan Celestron 60mm refractor.

All the others taught me something. And because most were bought used, at a very good price, I won't lose much for the education.

The current for sure little scope keepers are an old Starblast 113, and bought new C5 and ST102.

 

My 24 year old flat back made in U.S.A. C8 is kind of classic.

 

A 90's goto ETX90 you say? Yeah, I got one.

....on an SLT mount.

The classic Starblast beats it though. Maybe I'll try it out on the SLT.

Edited by Echolight, 05 September 2024 - 12:12 PM.

[pstarr]

I regret selling this 10" f-5-6 that I built in the early 70's. The mount was very sturdy, drives on both axis, excellent optics and whole set up was very portable and easy to handle. Of course I was much younger then too. I'll be 78 in October.

 

 

[pstarr]

I regret selling this 10" f-5-6 that I built in the early 70's. The mount was very sturdy, drives on both axis, excellent optics and whole set up was very portable and easy to handle. Of course I was much younger then too. I'll be 78 in October.

 

WCI mount 003.jpeg

Thought I would add a photo of Saturn I took with this setup. It was long before digital photography. It was taken with Plus-X film, a Nikon-F camera and although the reprint lost a lot of detail, it was used to illustrate an article in the first issue of Astronomy magazine. 

 

[roscoe]

I had and restored an older Vixen 80MM..... and later sold it.  Stupid move!  It was a fabulous telescope.

[Bomber Bob]

I have some degree of regret for every decent old scope that I parted with -- so many scopes, so many cloudy nights, so little storage space...

[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

Too many regrets to list. Besides, why go thru all that heart-ache again?

 

Clear skies and keep looking up!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

[clamchip]

My Bluey.

I should be drawn and quartered for letting her go.

Robert

 

[John Higbee]

My only lasting regret is having gifted my ETX125PE to a good friend who had let me store a lot of my astronomy / O Gauge  train holdings in his utility building for free.  

The optics were superb, but Meade's "bastarding" of theoretically good mount-and-Go To designs soured me on it, (multiple repair efforts all failed).

He's using it in alt-az configuration, and occasionally on the wedge in equatorial mode, with no problems.

 

Oh Well - guess I'll go over for a PE "fix" as necessary!  John

[davidmcgo]

There was a certain elegance in form and appearance of the original blue tube Coulters.  I used to have use of a 10.1” regularly that a fellow club member stored at the observatory and it was a really decent mirror, great Mars detail and just so simple to use.

 

I miss the days I was happy with stuff like that.  The 17.5 probably would have crushed me though.

 

Dave

My Bluey.

I should be drawn and quartered for letting her go.

Robert

 

post-50896-0-37145500-1647449376.jpg

Edited by davidmcgo, 13 September 2024 - 07:30 PM.

[CHASLX200]

There was a certain elegance in form and appearance of the original blue tube Coulters.  I used to have use of a 10.1” regularly that a fellow club member stored at the observatory and it was a really decent mirror, great Mars detail and just so simple to use.

 

I miss the days I was happy with stuff like that.  The 17.5 probably would have crushed me though.

 

Dave

I bought a new 10.1 in 1982.  Took many months to get it.

[clamchip]

I still have my 10 and here it stays

Stumpy (Odyssey 8) is also gone and my 13 red tube Odyssey got traded away and is living with a friend now 

These Coulter Odyssey's are FUN scopes!

Robert

 

Edited by clamchip, 14 September 2024 - 11:28 AM.

[starman876]

I still have a set of Coulter 6" cassegrain optics.   Never could get that scope to work right.  I think it was the fact there was no baffle tube.  I might put it back together and this time with a baffle tube and see if it works better.

[munirocks]

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...

Now that's really got me thinking.

 

I've already built a Frankenscope with an ETX90 tube on a B&L4000 fork base, and it rocks.

 

I also have a Meade 2045 astro complete scope with mount and a couple of ETX105 tubes. I guess I haven't recombined them yet because 1) I'm still trying to figure out why the 2045 tracking appears to be slipping and 2) the optics on the 2045 are actually pretty good since I finally collimated and unpinched the secondary, and the wide low power views (F=1000mm) complement my other scopes nicely.

 

But still, it sounds worth trying and I can always change it back.