Equipment Fever?

[kerrylewis]

There's a lot if talk in the forum about aperture fever but I think a lot if us get equipment fever too. I tell myself all the time that I have all I need and my set up is complete. But then, particularly on cloudy rainy days (retailers must love them!) the mouse starts twitching through the websites - perhaps another eyepiece? Those finders look good, or what about a solar telescope? Then there's Dobs, all their owners extol their virtues. This is where equipment fever combines with aperture fever.

So add to 'the basket', out with the credit card, then the new thrill of tracking the package. 'Received at depot' '' out for delivery' - it almost beats m42 from a dark site.

The door bell rings, sign for the box (or boxes if you are really lucky) and the excitement of opening them (some if us even post pictures!) and discarding all those sachets of silica gel.

Now .. do I really have all the filters I need? And then there's imaging......

[Tinker1947]

Just when you think your there, they bring out a new item, the EQ8 is getting some good reviews, so maybe just maybe i might need one..))

[TractionMan]

Hmmm those rainy days (and nights)... Yep totally blame them for purchases made that still are waiting for first light.

[Pig]

Is there an astro gear rehab centre anywhere ?

[nightfisher]

I think im very guilty of cloudy day buying, there are times i find myself thinking "too many scopes" just sell the darn lot and keep the Tal 100

[astrokoma]

Everytime you  meet   your astro-friends for a coffe or a beer, have you ever thought about the cost of  these coffes  ????

It is cheaper to have the coffe in Brazil, than the local caffe .....

(yeaaaaahhhhhhhhhh)

[cotterless45]

Hi, I'm Nick and I'm addicted to eyepieces. I get my supply from epay,

Nick.

[Stu]

Totally agree with that, I'm very guilty of it too! Like Jules I keep thinking about selling loads of kit and keeping just keeping one or two scopes. Each time I come to sell something though, I find a reason not to, or persuade myself it is 'rare' or hard to replace.

I may need to sell a few ep's soon to raise funds, at least these are straight forward to replace. My mak is no longer made and my 106 was a preproduction unit which is unique...... You see what I end up doing!

Stu

[Rihard]

+1

 Placed yet another order last evening, you know, I badly needed that cool laser collimator,

that nice focal reducer, the expensive Baader filter and the other bits and pieces 

It turns into a serious illness when the amount of deliveries becomes higher then

the amount of sessions under the night skies actually using all the stuff you bought 

[Stu]

Yep, that's the biggest frustration, not being able to use the blooming stuff!!

[rory]

Kerry's opening post made laugh out loud .

What about all the foam we keep ordering to change our e/p case set up. My mrs always rolls her eyes when she sees me faffing about with a Stanley blade and a foam slab .

[Stargazer_00]

I geniunely believe I have everything I need bar one eyepiece, or two if I decide on a slightly different strategy.

That said I picked up a 90mm achro F5.5 in the last few weeks as an impulse buy, I figured it'd be good as a travel scope!

I also fancy picking up a EQ head to put in place of my AZ4 head on the same tripod when I feel like slow motion tracking in an EQ plane.  So I guess I'm sort of looking for an EQ5 head or possibly a HEQ5 head at some point.

Who knows what weird need I'll invent in the future so I can buy more!  With the winter targets rolling around the will to buy more gear is almost irresistable.

[Stargazer_00]

Kerry's opening post made laugh out loud .

What about all the foam we keep ordering to change our e/p case set up. My mrs always rolls her eyes when she sees me faffing about with a Stanley blade and a foam slab .

Link to foam please!  I keep buying new cases everytime I want to change my setup....

[rory]

Link to foam please! I keep buying new cases everytime I want to change my setup....

I use e bay , ( flight case foam) there's a lot of sizes . I used to use about 70mm thickness. Annd paid about £8 a time. But if you want the pre cut stuff like puzzle foam , that's quite expensive.

[Mike73]

I have just one good scope and five good eyepieces, I don't lust after anything else but its taken me nearly 3 years and a lot of spending to figure that out!

[r3i]

The size of my wish list never seems to change, as soon as one item is bought off it, another item that I didn't previously realise I must have magically appears in its place.

Once or twice I've thought that I had absolutely everything I needed or wanted, but 5 minutes later that state of mind evapourates.

[Naemeth]

5 scopes, 15 eyepieces. It's never over. Mind you, I think I'm getting better, there is only a few things I want now, but they are pretty expensive! (Astrotrac, NEQ-6, FF/FR for ED80)

[Pig]

I don't know what to buy next   but I know it will happen.

[Andy_E]

I hear equipment fever is quite contagious, and particularly easy to catch with extended access to forums and reviews . I find it so funny that on clear nights when we're out with our telescope most of our equipment seems just fine... it's only on nights when we're not using it that you really start thinking 'what if...' or 'if I only had a...'. All part of the game I suppose.

What upsets me a little is the increasing amount of threads from people looking to upgrade newly bought equipment before it's even been used, usually regarding stock EPs.

[Stargazer_00]

I do actually find that when I am hampering after buying something and know I shouldn't, the only thing that works is to not visit this forum for a few days :/

[Pig]

Andy,

I kind of know what you mean however I used some of my old stock eyepieces 2 nights ago that I gave away and I can honestly say I am glad I upgraded   That does not mean to say all stock eyepieces are poor quality.

[Pig]

I do actually find that when I am hampering after buying something and know I shouldn't, the only thing that works is to not visit this forum for a few days :/

I believe it is too late for you Graham

[kerrylewis]

Kerry's opening post made laugh out loud .

What about all the foam we keep ordering to change our e/p case set up. My mrs always rolls her eyes when she sees me faffing about with a Stanley blade and a foam slab .

My OP seems to have struck a sympathetic chord - thanks for all the 'likes' .

My eyepiece case (courtesy of Maplin) has those black foam square bits that you remove to form recesses. the trouble is I now have a carrier bag full of square foam bits and a case full of 'cheek by jowl' eyepieces.

Now - how much is a bigger case......

[rory]

Next up is a case to put my case in !!!

[TractionMan]

Hmmm those rainy days (and nights)... Yep totally blame them for purchases made that still are waiting for first light.

Come to think of it, I actually only have two items that are waiting for first light, an AstroZap light shroud for my dob and the 38mm PanaView (can return this one if I don't like it though).