68 replies to this topic

[scotsman328i]

After using that 60mm Tasco (with  500+ power) for 8 years I went with an 8"SCT (1998).  Few years later the FS102.

 

Put your name on the AP list because when your name comes you "WILL" have the $

 

Would have, could have, should have.

Haha Bruce! I put my great-great-great Grandson’s name on the AP list, so he can receive it for his retirement party. 

[RichA]

Following on from Astrojensen's topic on - Why do people (also amateurs) say astronomy is expensive? in the general observing section......

 

For refractors - if you could give yourself advice about what to buy first when starting the hobby...........what would you say to get?

 

If I started out.....today....knowing everything I know now.

 

Me leaning toward visual would probably be a skywatcher 120ED paired with a AM3 or EQ5.

A decent 2" diagonal and possibly celestron LX eyepieces (or similar. I think they no longer make them but I thought they were good for the price).

 

If this is too much for a starting budget........what about the next level down?  Planeta and EQM35?

 

 

imagers welcome.

What I bought.  A C8.  Still the best combination of performance and aperture you can buy.

Edited by RichA, 19 March 2025 - 11:09 AM.

[Jeff Morgan]

Following on from Astrojensen's topic on - Why do people (also amateurs) say astronomy is expensive? in the general observing section......

 

For refractors - if you could give yourself advice about what to buy first when starting the hobby...........what would you say to get?

 

If I started out.....today....knowing everything I know now.

 

Me leaning toward visual would probably be a skywatcher 120ED paired with a AM3 or EQ5.

A decent 2" diagonal and possibly celestron LX eyepieces (or similar. I think they no longer make them but I thought they were good for the price).

 

If this is too much for a starting budget........what about the next level down?  Planeta and EQM35?

 

 

imagers welcome.

 

That is a hard one because to change one's past is to change who you are today.

 

But I would have bought land in Sand Key Florida, or perhaps the Key West (though that secret was out long ago).

 

Keeping it astronomy related - the 6" f/8 Astro-Physics refractor at $999 circa 1985.

 

The "imagers welcome" is a nice thought. Bought going back to when I started that meant "film" and many other difficult things. Glad I waited until the digital age to get on that train!

[fishhuntmike]

Much of the stuff that I would prefer now was unavailable or unaffordable when I was younger. If I had the money I would have tried to get an early AP 5-6" refractor and perhaps a C11.

If I was young today I would most definitely want to save for a BT100 or BT120 first, then a 5-6" APO and a large Dob.

Edited by fishhuntmike, 19 March 2025 - 02:55 AM.

[mikeDnight]

  When I started out in this hobby in 1980 I knew nothing about telescopes. All I knew was that I wanted that beautiful 60mm equatorialy mounted Astral refractor in the camera shop window in town. It was a great little scope and a perfect introduction into the hobby when combined with my 12X60 binoculars that I'd mounted on a home made altazimuth fork copied from an S&T article. I felt I'd made the grade, whatever the grade was.  

 

 

  In 1981 I met a local amateur who became a good friend and mentor of sorts. He repeatedly said "You can't beat a 4" refractor!" and though I hadn't used or even seen one in the flesh, I believed him. Refractors back then were fearsomly expensive, and in England seemed to be as rare as hens teeth, but I wanted one. Advertisements in S&T showed the Unitron, the Genesis, and some young upstart that named his company AstroPhysics. I couldn't afford any of them! All I could afford was an English made 4" F10 achromat shown below.

 

 

  Since then I've been privilaged to own some beautiful telescopes - mainly refractors, with the largest being a Takahashi FS152. Despite this, I wouldn't change much about my path into this hobby, after all, it was the right path for me as I'm still batting on observing with refractors 45 years later, and with just as much zeal and enthusiasm as I had at the start. And even though I've used many great telescopes of many different designs and apertures, my personal favourite, apo, ED or achromat, is the humble 4" refractor.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mikeDnight, 19 March 2025 - 03:30 AM.

[edif300]

I'd tell my younger me to marry a dark sky and enjoy every second under stars (Sun including). Time is too short. So buy time for happiness and be happy getting old. Key is how you use your time and who is with you in the travel. Be much more selective.

Edited by edif300, 19 March 2025 - 04:10 AM.

[BKBrown]

Honestly? I'd tell me to do the same thing. After a lengthy hiatus I found my comeback scope on sale; a Skywatcher 100ED Pro on a decent motorized GEM for under 1K! If I recall correctly, it came from OPT, and its arrival was like Christmas. Although I eventually sold that mount to fund the acquisition of a Sirius (think HEQ5 for those who don't remember Orion), I often wish I hadn't. What a great way to get back in the game   And to this day, that 100ED remains my most used scope...

 

 

Clear Skies,

Brian 

[therealdmt]

When I was starting out, I knew exactly what I wanted even though I was just a little kid — the Edmund Scientific 4" refractor but shorter (more like f/10, not f/15!) and alt-az mounted on a shorter metal tripod, not the EQ mounting on tall wooden tripod that the Edmund was sold with. All that was so I’d actually be able use it — the beauty of a scope was just too big for little elementary school me to use even if I could have afforded it (which I couldn’t). So it had to be considerably cheaper too so that I could actually buy it. And finally, it should be even better color corrected despite being shorter. In other words, the telescope I knew I really wanted did not yet exist.

 

Accordingly, I got an EQ-mounted Newtonian that was within my carefully saved budget. Could have gone for a 60mm refractor, but again, even as a little kid I knew I’d be disappointed if I spent my whole budget on 60mm. The 80mm refractor was tempting but would have been a major stretch — like another year or more of savings, and would still have only been about 3 inches. A refractor just didn’t make sense for me, and so I gave up on getting one.

 

My only regret is that I wish I had been aware of the 100ED when it first came out (I guess as an Orion). I was only barely keeping in touch with amateur astronomy at that time, mainly by occasionally browsing through a magazine, and though I did have a vague awareness of the 100ED, I didn’t realize that it was the dream scope of my youth, now realized. As a result, I lost out on what could have been I think about 15 years or so of telescopic observing, in particular the Mars oppositions around the epic 2003 opposition which I only caught naked eye. I’d had some vagabond years there, but by 2003 I was actually finally settled in a bit and was making my first similarly sized purchases in a completely different hobby/interest. I think the Orion 100ED was already out, and I sure wish I had purchased one, or in the later 2000’s and into mid 2010s when I actually lived under decently rural-suburban transition skies and had rural dark skies nearby. Woulda coulda shoulda…

 

Anyway, I finally got the scope of my childhood dreams in 2020. Not that its the best scope in the world or anything, but its pretty much exactly what I’d always envisioned. I guess I would have told my younger self: Hang in there, buddy. Keep monitoring things, and be ready to jump when the market gets there, ‘cuz it’s a gonna

[Erik Bakker]

To start with, a 80-ish mm f6-f/8 high quality doublet with a sturdy, smooth alt-az mount and 3 high quality eyepieces.

 

Local availability, brand preferences and budget determining the make and model.

 

Some years later, a similar f/6-f/9 100-ish mm and or 130-ish mm would come into play, with an additional more sturdy driven equatorial mount plus adding a few eyepieces and binoviewer.

 

When I started out after dabbling with a 7x35 and 20x40 monocular, I bought a high quality 76mm f/12 Japanese achromat on a hand driven equatorial with a 25mm Kellner and 9mm Orthoscopic. It showed me many wonders of the universe and only lacked a bit of wide field and perhaps a bit higher power IME.

 

A modern high quality ED or fluorite doublet of around 3” on a good alt-az with some nice eyepieces would make perfect sense to me as a starter scope and later as a secondary scope. Bigger scopes bring more hassle, especially on travels, before they bring their improved views to the table.

[ayadai]

If I started out.....today....knowing everything I know now.

 

I'd buy the same very capable AP scope I bought at the time: The Orion ED80T-CF. Although today, I'd buy it second-hand; there have been some stellar deals on them as of late.

[balcon3]

I'm pretty happy with the path I have taken. No major regrets. My mainstay scope now is a Takahashi FC100DF supplemented by a Mewlon 180c, but I'm not sure I would have appreciated them if I had started out with them. I think going through a process of figuring out what you want is part of what makes for satisfaction when you do finally find it. Like most things in life.

 

One thing that I wished I had known is not to buy a scope that is too big and bulky for me to use and store. My first scope was a Skywatcher 6" f/8 reflector. It seemed like a great idea and met many of the criteria that I had set out. But I didn't take into consideration the awkwardness of maneuvering the tube down two flights of stairs and through two doorways whenever I wanted to use it. Just because of this ergonomic issue, I almost always turn to my 100mm refractor or 180mm SCT instead of the longer reflector.

 

Another thing that I wished I had known is that electronics and astronomy do not mix well for me. Each electronic aid that I bought, from Nexus DSC to a motor-driven tracking mount, sits in the closet in favor of a high quality manual AltAz mount and a printed star atlas. For me, star gazing is a mechanical and optical activity, not an electronic one. I do realize that I am in the minority here.

 

Finally I wished I had understood earlier the important role that binoculars play in observing the night sky. For me binoculars, with their wide fields and direct connection to naked-eye viewing, are key to making sense of the sky. I like nothing better than finding a faint hint of a DSO in binoculars and then finding it with a telescope in order to zoom in and see details. Many nights I only view with binoculars. There is much more to see than I at first realized.

[Jon Isaacs]

When I started, money was tight, a new career, a new family.  I don't think ST-80s existed at the time... My inclination is to suggest an 8 inch Dob but there wasn't enough room in the car when we went camping for an 8 inch Dob.. Mini-Dobs did not exist.  Maybe a C-5 on a solid photo tripod. 

 

 

I would probably tell myself:

 

Pay attention, learn as much as you can.  In the future, this is going to be a big part of your life.  

 

Jon

Edited by Jon Isaacs, 19 March 2025 - 06:25 AM.

[scotsman328i]

 

I would probably tell myself:

 

Pay attention, learn as much as you can.  In the future, this is going to be a big part of your life.  

 

Jon

Well said! 

[bobhen]

Although I got a 60mm Sears refractor for Christmas in 1965, in 1977 I wanted a more serious telescope. I drove to Edmund Scientific and had a look see. I was impressed by the compactness of the SCTs and by the look of Edmund's 4" long achromatic refractor. Like many at that time, a month later I purchased an 8" SCT. If I had to do that over, I would purchase the Edmund 4" refractor. I know that because about 15 years later I got to observe with one.

 

About 11 years later I replaced the 8" SCT and purchased my first serious refractor, a 1989, Astro-Physics 6" F9 triplet. That was the scope that showed me what a quality refractor could do. The AP 152 was mounted on a Losmandy GM-100. The Losmandy mount was fantastic and was easily more robust than the later G11. But looking back, I think I would have been better off getting an alt/az mount for the large refractor.

 

From what I learned and if starting out today, I would get a refractor from a top manufacturer; Astro-Physics, TEC, Takahashi, LZOS, CFF. If budget was an issue, I would look used or save more. Not compromising with refractor optical quality is something that I also learned. With my seeing, I would get something in the Goldilocks aperture range of 120-140mm and mount it on a really high-quality alt-az mount, like a Rowan 100. 

 

Today, if one wants more light gathering capability, one can add an inexpensive Dobsonian to the refractor or do EAA with the refractor or use an image intensifier with the refractor.

 

Bob

[Tony Flanders]

For refractors - if you could give yourself advice about what to buy first when starting the hobby...........what would you say to get?

Refractors have changed so much since I bought my 70-mm f/6.9 Tele Vue Ranger in 1997 that the question is almost meaningless. At that time reasonably color-free refractors were prohibitively expensive. Today they're much cheaper than my Ranger was when I bought it -- even in dollars that aren't adjusted for inflation.

[Dougfish]

My first scope was a gift from my parents- a 4” Criterion reflector with three EPs and the world’s worst mount. It got me hooked, and I have kept it for the past 55 years, although it hasn’t seen starlight in decades. Next I purchased a Meade 7” Mak, which I subsequently traded for a 10” SCT, and then downsized to a Meande 8” SCT. I should have kept the Mak. But what I really should have bought for my first purchase was a TV-85,  a Panoramic mount, and three good wide-field eyepieces. Truth be told, I did acquire the TV-85 about 25 years ago when I did a straight trade for the Pronto that I found to be too limited. I still have the 85, and even with a small herd of larger, ostensibly nicer refractors, it is the scope that gets the most use. I just love that thing. 
 

-Doug

[Kitfox]

So much of this (really, any) hobby is the people who participate with you.  Cherish-and cultivate-these relationships better and longer.  One I neglected and let fade away is now gone forever...we lost Ken Fulton a few years back...I would imagine most of the folks discussing in this thread can count loss amongst our own circles.  Steve Eubanks...Thomas Back...Martin Jolly (I know, you have no idea who he is, but I miss him, too).

 

Read "The Light-Hearted Astronomer" every 4 years or so.  Perspective.

 

And put your name on every AP list.

[csrlice12]

First, I'll give myself winning lottery ticket numbers.  Second, buy a patch of land under dark skies.  Third, all the Superbowl game winners.

[scoale]

Copies of Burnham's Celestial Handbook and Starlight Nights.  

 

A membership to an astronomy club in order to get as much first-hand experience as possible with a variety of gear.  No one can tell YOU how much difference there is (or isn't) between various makes and no one can tell you how much difference various levels of aperture make.

 

Gas to drive to a very dark site, and to a site with excellent seeing.  Only then will you know what your scope is truly capable of.  Even better to go to one of these sites when a star party is occurring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kmparsons]

I would have bought a Takahashi TSA 102. Would I ever have needed another scope? 

[Erlend L]

I think it's hard to tell, because I started out as a 13 year old in Norway 1983. I got a 60mm from the the US. I don't know what options I had at the time.

Maybe it makes more sense to say what advise I would give myself if I were younger and starting out today.

I don't advice people to spend too much on the first scope, because so many people use it once or twice. If you are not able to enjoy a $300 80mm achro, you should probably not spend $2000 on an APO.

I don't think it's wrong to start out with an 80- 100mm F/5 achromat. Large FOV. Enough aparture to show some DSO and the planets. OK to experiment with astrophoto with a relatively light tracking mount.

Edited by Erlend L, 20 March 2025 - 03:37 AM.

[Sketcher]

I'd change nothing.  My past made me the person I am today.

 

Therefore, I would recommend to my younger self:  Go with that first serious telescope from the late 1960s -- a (unknown brand) 60 or 65mm (uncoated) cardboard-tubed refractor with a single Ramsden eyepiece (uncoated lenses in a rubber housing) along with a single-element (uncoated) Barlow lens (in a rubber cell) that could be pushed various distances into the refractor's (plastic) focus tube in order to achieve pretty much any magnification between 60x and 150x.  The telescope also came with an optional-to-use 35mm aperture stop that could be used to reduce aberrations.  Oh, it also came with an eyepiece solar filter that I made good use of -- sunspot observations as well as a partial solar eclipse.  I read (and followed) the instructions for safe use of that filter and had no problems with it.  The scope also came with a mirror star-diagonal, a cheap tripod, and a sheet-metal alt-az mount.  It had no finder, but I still managed to observe the Sun, Moon, planets, at least one comet, and a variety of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.  When pointing the telescope at objects I quickly learned to shift the scope up a bit before releasing the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) so that when the scope dropped down (as it inevitably would) it would end up pointed at the desired object.

 

Edit:  Some mentioned an Astro-Physics refractor and/or the purchase of land at a dark location.  Both of those came later for me.  I purchased a piece of totally undeveloped land under a seriously dark sky that become my home in the early '80s.  (It's still my home).  My new 130mm Astro-Physics refractor was delivered to me in the mid '90s.  I've had its use for the past 30 years  .

 

For starting out, for one's first telescope, that crude 60 - 65mm refractor was plenty to keep me going in this fascinating hobby.  But in all honesty, I was hooked on this hobby before I had that first telescope.  For me, it all started with books . . .

Edited by Sketcher, 19 March 2025 - 01:36 PM.

[PKDfan]

Thinking about this some more i'd do one more thing to maximize my very few dollars growing up.


I've canvassed all the pawn and thrifts here in Edmonton finding some awesome vintage binoculars for pennies to their actual cost so i'd have told my youngerself to check out all the pawns and thrifts in my journeies through north western North American larger cities for similiar bargains.

Possibly I'd have collected my nice binocular collection even sooner or find other choice bargains.



CSS
Lance

[Paul G]

When I was offered the last open spot in the first (and only) production run of the 180 EDF at about $8k I should have jumped on it. I passed, since it was too big for my mount and I assumed there would be more runs and I could get one later. I didn't understand AP at that time.

[Andrew_L]

I’d go back fifteen years and tell myself that for astrophotography a good quality mount is at least if not more important than the telescope. I would advise myself not to believe the sales hype that an unguidable SkyWatcher EQ5 mount was good for deep sky imaging.  Mind you, I learnt a lot in the few years I used that mount for that purpose.  So maybe not all the frustrating hours spent were wasted.