Too many scopes ?

[johninderby]

Just curious as to what most people consider as owning too many scopes.

What brought that up is today when looking at the scopes I own there are a couple that just aren't getting as much use as they should do. Now don't get me wrong they're great scopes, and ones that I've mentally ticked off as being too good to get rid of, but I really feel I need to have a bit of a "cull" and concentrate on just a few.

John

[Mark at Beaufort]

John how many scopes do you have? Which are your favourites and which ones don't you use?

Mark

I should have said that the 10" Dob is my main DSO scope. The 4" frac is used for lunar and double stars. The William Optics SD66 is only use for solar white light. I only bought the 6" newt at SGL6 for use at star parties and whilst on the SkyTee I can view above my fences to observe DSOs at -20/25/30 dec.

[Psychobilly]

At the moment - all of them...

Even more so for mounts ... I have at least two which I have never used... They seemed like a good idea at the time...

[johninderby]

John how many scopes do you have? Which are your favourites and which ones don't you use?

Mark

There's the 150f/8 Newt OTA with the OO 1/12PV optics, CNC mirror cell, crayford etc. Fantastic lunar/planetary scope, but then I've just picked up that TAL200K, which while it doesn't have as good optics, it does have the aperture advantage and is a great lunar/planetary scope in it's own right.

In refractors I've got an 80mm APO, 90mm Achro, 98mm APO and 102mm f/11 Achro. . While my favourite all-rounder is the FLT98 FeatherTouch, I've been very impressed with the 102mm f/11 Achro, the depth of focus the long fl gives you is remarkable and also at that fl CA is no problem. That's just been turned into a a PST-102 though, but when trying it out with a Herschel wedge it did such a great job that I'd love to have two of them sitting side by side on the Skytee 2 mount, one for Ha and one for white light.

The TS80/480 is such an outstandingly good scope as well, small and portable, but when I have the FLT 98 sitting there well..............and if I sold that I'd be able to get the second 102mm f/11 for an amazing solar observing setup.

I think I could live with the TAL200K and FLT98 together on the Skytee 2 or the two 102mm f/11s for solar use.

Oh and there is one other little scope I forgot to mention. See photo.

John

[F15Rules]

Yep, I can see how you could have overlooked that one....NOT!

Until quite recently I had 7 scopes, none of them above 6" aperture, but I decided to concentrate just on two main scopes and let the others go. So I kept the Lomo Mak F14 6" and acquired the 6" F8 Evostar frac.

I reckon between them they cover most of my needs, which are visual only. And I've started to upgrade my eyepieces, with a few nice 2" ones for wide views especially in the big frac.

The scopes I let go were all refractors of some vintage, which is an interest of mine (hence the handle F15 Rules;))...the one that really hurt to let go was the Pentax J80 F12.5. Truly that scope gave the best stellar images I have ever seen. But aperture does tend to rule and I can just see so much more with the 2 scopes I have left.

I also found that I was buying this, selling that, all the time and I wanted to get more actual observing time..I still do some buying and selling but couldn't tell you the last time I sold anything on ebay and tend just to use this forum or UKABS now, so I am buying and selling from other enthusiasts, and the vast majority of whom are decent, genuine people.

Loving that big dob John, what size is it? 14"? Have you ever done an observing report on it?

I'm also intrigued by your F8 newt...I can imagine that gives great views at that FL...

cheers

Dave

[Mark at Beaufort]

John I can understand your wish to have two solar scopes side by side on the SkyTee. I use my PST and WO SD66 side by side to get Ha and white light together.

If I could change a scope it would be to obtain a 8" SCT or the Tal200K and have that side by side with my 4" Astro Tech.

We are never happy.

Mark

[swamp thing]

Hi

Nice looking cannon you've got there John.

For me, four would be too many.

I have two at the moment a 10" grab n go baby Dob, and my main 16" scope.

I use the 10" for local evening sessions and the 16" for all nighters from dark skies.

I may Get a RFT to go with the large Dob to those dark skies to observe big faint fuzzies in the future, but that would be it.

I'm not really into planets enough to warrant a planetary scope.

The 10" is a good all-rounder and for DSO's the 16" is adequate (for now)...... just! I can hear that large aperture mirror set calling at night now though.

Regards Steve

[John]

I seem to have reached a 4 scope "fleet" at the moment:

- 4" Vixen ED102SS

- 5" Celestron C5

- 6" Intes mak-newtonian

- 10" Orion Optics Newtonian

I seem to have a "gap" in the 8" niche as well

I can't go above 10" because of my observing situation. The 5" SCT is a "grab and go" travel scope. The Vixen and the Intes are gems which I will kick myself if I ever part with.

I suppose "too many" is when there are items that really never get any use. Even then it's sometimes quite hard to part with them

From your posts John, I reckon you take pride in and enjoy your equipment and, like myself, it is an important part for the hobby for you. The easiest way to part with a scope is when it's paving the way to another, even more desirable one

[johninderby]

The more I think about it having one setup on the Skytee 2 for nighttime use (TAL200K and FLT98) and another for daytime (102mm Ha & 102mm white light) would be just right for me. And of course the 14" OO dob (0.990 Strehl optics) for those nights of great seeing.

I can see a "cull" coming in the very near future.

John

[DoctorD]

Hi

The answer to "how many scopes?" is an easy mathematical formula:

N+1

Or

M-1

Where N is the number you have currently and M is the number that causes your other half to file for divorce

Applies to most hobbies.

Clear skies

Paul

[Moonshane]

for me four would be the maximum:

1) big dob - 16" f4

2) planetary dob - 6" f11

these are my two current scopes.

I'd really like (in the far flung future sometime)

3) Megrez 72 or similar would act as holiday and widefield at home scope plus a solar scope (white light) until I can afford the last one on my list...

4) good quality solar scope

Any more than this would be OTT for me.

John's collection does make you slobber a bit though.....

[brantuk]

I reckon once you have a smashing SCT (or marvellous Mak), a brilliant big dob, and and a razor sharp refractor that does imaging and observing, all that's left to save up for is a stupendous solar scope.

Oh - you might need a great guidescope as well, then you've pretty well got the sky covered.

[Moonshane]

I'm currently trying to sell the Megrez as a way for my wife to do wide field 'zooming and finding' which is generally her preferred method of observation.

[Peter Drew]

My most used scopes are a 16" SCT for nightime obs and for solar obs a standard PST and a 125mm F10 PST mod. Over the years I have added another 20 scopes, either self built or purchased S/H because they were bargains too good to be missed. A lot of them don't get used very often but I like them and that's good enough for me, it's a bit like those who collect cars/motorbikes/guns etc. .

[iwatkins]

I have two, see .sig, and that's enough for me. This week anyway

Only thing I miss is a Ha scope and maybe a small Mak for 30 second setup for 10 mins viewing on "those" nights.

I've set myself a rule of no dedicated CCD and guiding until I see how I get on after the Winter with what I have.

Only new stuff to get is a cheap refractor to build a sungun.

Cheers

Ian

[spaceboy]

Hi John

Nice collection you have there. I think it is some what of an obsession you have grown in your quest to have the perfect views resulting in a large collection of scope which despite having a Sky tee, you can only use two at once

I think unless you have your heart set on the 102 then you may as well keep the scopes. As long as some get used from time to time who cares. Even if you find you don't use one for years you still have it if it ever takes your fancy. If you feel one would be easily sacrificed to fund a 102 the all the better.

It is a sad reality that no scope is a Swiss army knife in that one scope can't do everything. For this reason I have my 10" dob for a grab and go dark sky DSO hunter, an 8" flek for an urban what ever I can see through the LP scope, EVO 120 for lunar and during poorer seeing and a 127 MAK for splitting doubles and soon solar observing. Sure it's not an ideal setup but for me at the mo they cover all the bases.

So in answer to your question I would say 5 is realistically too many scopes but like I said before if it makes you happy why not have them. If you should get rid of anything it should be that Sky tee II encouraging you to use two scopes at a time TUT! I'll happily take that tempting mount of your hand for you

SPACEBOY

[F15Rules]

Brantuk,

Would that razor sharp refractor be an Ace Achromat or an Awesome Apo??

Of course it could also be a Knockout Newt...

Maybe we should quit while we're ahead...after all, All this Alluding to Allegorical Alliteration could Alienate Alot of Allies on this forum!

Dave

[Rusty Strings]

Don't you mean knockout knewt?

I have more guitars than I can possibly play, but I love them all and they all have there uses

[brantuk]

Lol Dave - I didn't get over just ordering my alliterative appo yet hehe!

[A McEwan]

Dave - you sold the J80????? NNNNOOOOOO!!!! How'd I miss that?!?!?

Ant

[RikM]

My current fleet is:

10" Dob quick set-up visual (not had it long but I foresee this getting a lot of use)

150P on driven EQ3 (unguided imaging, white light solar and deep sky outreach scope)

127Mak also on EQ3 (lunar / planetary webcam imaging and outreach)

5 year plan:

10" Dob quick set-up visual

150PDS on HEQ5 + OAG or finderguider (imaging)

PST on Supatrack auto or camera tripod

80ED on EQ3 (grab and go, white light solar and outreach, switch out with 150P on HEQ5 for imaging) ??? Not sure about this one.

I think 3 or 4 will do me. I bought the Skymax to try out planetary webcam imaging but it doesn't really float my boat so no need for a big SCT in my future.

[A McEwan]

All my scopes are in my sig. The one that gets least use is the 8" Dob cos I lov using my refractors, but at the same time I've invested a lot of work and money in that scope... hard to part with...

Ant

[smudgeball]

If my wife was reading this, she'd just say

"you can only look through one scope at a time"

On that basis I'm only ever going to own a smashing SCT

[johninderby]

If my wife was reading this, she'd just say

"you can only look through one scope at a time"

On that basis I'm only ever going to own a smashing SCT

So when are you going to order that Celestron 14" Edge HD OTA then?

John

[jgs001]

I have 5, but two of them do not get used, by me anyway...

A Konus Vista 80s (ST80), guidescope and portable widefield viewer

Celestron 80ED, imaging, but has stunning views too

GSO 6" RC, imaging, probably ought to look through it at least once

A Skymax 102, A good little scope, but it never delivered enough more than the 80ED. Thinking of parting with the Mak.

A Celestron 60mm Acrho, cos it came with the NexStar SLT mount, although the kids use it from time to time.

Oh, and 3 pairs of bins...

To answer your question John, yes, you have too many ...