Second hand telescopes

[spaceboy]

The Helios would be a decent scope if the mirrors are in good nick but even then not for £275. That's around £100 too expensive in my opinion.

This is one time I would have to disagree with you John. £175 too much IMO. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with Helios but in this case SW changed to the tension handle for a reason and the Helios and earlier SW's came with R&P focuser's. I have seen the newer SW 200P's sit for several days in the for sale section struggling to sell for £180. And I'm not 100% sure thats the original rocker box. The seller mentions there was a dovetail fitted at one point and this would also explain why it's the shorter F/5 FL.

[John]

This is one time I would have to disagree with you John. £175 too much IMO. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with Helios but in this case SW changed to the tension handle for a reason and the Helios and earlier SW's came with R&P focuser's. I have seen the newer SW 200P's sit for several days in the for sale section struggling to sell for £180. And I'm not 100% sure thats the original rocker box. The seller mentions there was a dovetail fitted at one point and this would also explain why it's the shorter F/5 FL.

On balance, I think you are right

The changes to the dob design that came with the 2nd generation of these scopes were worth having. If the scope was £100ish then it might be some fun but, now I think of it, I sold my 200P dob for £160 so you should be able to get one of the current spec ones for around that and it would be a better bet.

[MjrTom]

Don't rule out eBay if you know what you are looking for.

I found my most recent scope on eBay from a seller down the road. He had a very high asking price but because I asked a few questions about the scope when the auction ended without a buyer the seller contacted me directly and I visited his house to inspect it and paid in cash on collection And paid half what he originally asked for and we were both happy with the deal (me especially!)

[DOBBY]

some shops have ex-demo 'scopes on reduced prices...astronomia in Dorking is one

[spaceboy]

That's what the dreaded eBay fees do to people.

[MjrTom]

That's what the dreaded eBay fees do to people.

There was no way I was going to pay eBay/paypal stupid high fees!

[JamesM]

Well the current Skywatcher 8"dob is around £271 new. If you were to assume say 65% used price on this "new" product I would then say £176 but as its older then probably £150. Remember, that the above scope comes with two eyepieces and finder scope - any extras with his?

James

[Strugz]

I got mine from Friday Ad. I got to see it before I bought it, met the seller etc etc. He even took me through setting it up, polar aligment, what I could expect to see and helped me pack it into my car!

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk.

Skywatcher 130. 9mm 12mm 15mm 20mm 32mm revelation eps. Meade 10 x 50 bins.

[Skiddins]

Im actually after a dobsonian anyway but not sure on the the make helios is there much difference between a 6" and 8"?

Also have found this is it any good im just not sure if its a good price and any good for what i want to see which is a good image of planets and d.s.o.

Sky Watcher Explorer 150 Telescope | eBay

This is going to my first scope so once i start to observe i can then decide what the next step will be so a half decent alrounder to start.

Looks ok, provided the optics are in good condition.

It's the sort of thing I was looking at when I bought my (first) scope

If you do buy second hand I would only ever collect yourself then you can take a good look at it to check for anything not mentioned in the listing.

Skiddins

[chesty]

as dobby said above astronomia have an ex demo outlet, they also sell second hand scopes which their customers have traded in. i bought my 200p flextube auto dob from there came with waranty and all original packageing might be worth a look. site is Home page

[cabby]

We have just bought a second hand Celestron Astromaster 130 for our son from Ebay. It came with a 10mm & 20mm ep and a few extra's like a x2 Barlow,moon filter,compass,red light torch,sky maps etc for £99. I waited for someone to be local to us as didn't want the scope to be sent by courier etc. Also if it's along way from you fuel costs come in to it and you could be spending what a new scope costs!! We also bought a Nextstar Goto mount for £100 as well from Ebay, so for not alot of money he should (and us!!) be occupied for some time.

[John]

We have just bought a second hand Celestron Astromaster 130 for our son from Ebay. It came with a 10mm & 20mm ep and a few extra's like a x2 Barlow,moon filter,compass,red light torch,sky maps etc for £99. I waited for someone to be local to us as didn't want the scope to be sent by courier etc. Also if it's along way from you fuel costs come in to it and you could be spending what a new scope costs!! We also bought a Nextstar Goto mount for £100 as well from Ebay, so for not alot of money he should (and us!!) be occupied for some time.

Congratulations on your purchases.

Is your plan to put the Astromaster 130 onto the Nexstar mount then ?.

[philhas]

We have just bought a second hand Celestron Astromaster 130 for our son from Ebay. It came with a 10mm & 20mm ep and a few extra's like a x2 Barlow,moon filter,compass,red light torch,sky maps etc for £99. I waited for someone to be local to us as didn't want the scope to be sent by courier etc. Also if it's along way from you fuel costs come in to it and you could be spending what a new scope costs!! We also bought a Nextstar Goto mount for £100 as well from Ebay, so for not alot of money he should (and us!!) be occupied for some time.

That should go on there very nicely, I have a Celestron 130SLT on Goto which I got off ebay £190 in box with 10mm 25mm Celestron 2x barlow and all manuals .

[brascoe]

just like to say thanks for every ones replies wasnt expecting so many thanks for your time and information much appreciated.

[cabby]

Congratulations on your purchases.

Is your plan to put the Astromaster 130 onto the Nexstar mount then ?.

Hi John, yes that is the plan but I will use the original EQ3 as much as poss as well.

[ronin]

If buying used you simply have to wait until someing suitable appears. When people get told on here that they can get one at £nn instead of £nnn if they buy it used is true, BUT there has to be one for sale and there rarely is and you have to get in fast. No use looking once a week.

Although told wait and get what you want, I do agree with it, but for used you may have to have say 3 scope options and look for one of the options.

One point you may need to consider is that in January Brian Cox is presenting another round of Stargazing Live.

Probably will mean that every scope disappears from shops, all scopes on ebay will go up in price, then 4-6 months after there will be a large number of scopes for sale.