Buying a Telescope in the UK

[Pyrodave]

We are aware of the import/shipping etc. I recently bought a US laptop and shipped it over--even with everything, it was cheaper than I could find it in the UK for the same model. I find that sometimes (as we saw with one telescope earlier today), retailers will keep the same numeric value, but not account for the exchange rate (i.e. a 1k USD laptop is priced as 1k GBP)! It's something we'll consider, but only if it truly is cost effective for the particular model of telescope we choose.

Thanks for the heads up, though. :-)

Ok no problem just didnt want you to order from the US not knowing about the taxes

[E621Keith]

We are aware of the import/shipping etc. I recently bought a US laptop and shipped it over--even with everything, it was cheaper than I could find it in the UK for the same model. I find that sometimes (as we saw with one telescope earlier today), retailers will keep the same numeric value, but not account for the exchange rate (i.e. a 1k USD laptop is priced as 1k GBP)! It's something we'll consider, but only if it truly is cost effective for the particular model of telescope we choose.

Thanks for the heads up, though. :-)

Typically, you need to add 25% to the total cost (scope + shipping) to account for the VAT and shipping.

It gets very interesting if there is a fault and you have to return the scope (It does happen, and happens a lot with Meade).

Buying from US is ok for small durable items, but it's best to buy large fragile telescope from a UK dealer.

If you want to save money, you will be better off buying a second hand scope in UK than buying a new scope from the US. Usually if the scope had a problem, the first owner would have fixed it, and he may have added a few upgrades as well. The second hand C8 I bought earlier this year had Bob's knob and focus knob upgrades already fitted, saving me around £50 and the hassle of buying those parts from USA.

The Celestron 6SE is a very popular and can be found around £600 used. I sold mine with a piggyback bracket upgrade for £570 last month.

[Aalynia]

If you want to save money, you will be better off buying a second hand scope in UK than buying a new scope from the US. Usually if the scope had a problem, the first owner would have fixed it, and he may have added a few upgrades as well. The second hand C8 I bought earlier this year had Bob's knob and focus knob upgrades already fitted, saving me around £50 and the hassle of buying those parts from USA.

The Celestron 6SE is a very popular and can be found around £600 used. I sold mine with a piggyback bracket upgrade for £570 last month.

Do you recommend any place in particular to find used scopes? I already know astrobuysell, but should I bother with some place like ebay? I feel that would be questionable...

Now that he knows he has my seal of approval, he's going wild and has been looking all night--this is the latest one he's considering: http://www.f1telescopes.co.uk/shop.php?id=2354&level=

[E621Keith]

Astrobuysell is the best in uk, but popular scopes like 6SE appears on fleabay far more often. However, EBay has its own risk and I would not recommed using it until you have more experience with astronomy equipments. If you are buying from eBay, remember to ask the seller lots of questions.

Astronomia's Telescope Outlet is a good source of cheaper than retail scope. They sell items traded in by Astronomia's customer as well as occasional manufacturer specials. Items from Telescope Outlet is more expensive than private sale, but does comes with a 1 year retailer warranty.

[ollypenrice]

The thing about an 8 inch Dob, which is just a simply mounted but well mounted Newtonian, is that even if you move on to have some far more exotic and expensive scopes in the future the 8 inch Dob will have a place in your lineup. As an astronomy provider I have lots of scopes but there is no one scope among them that can do it all. I don't currently have an 8 inch Dob here but I'd be more than happy to have one and it would get lots of use. If your husband is the kind of guy who likes things to be pretty well right then I'm going to disagree with the suggestion of the ST Skywatchers. I know them quite well but optically they are, quite honestly, a bit rough around the edges. An 8 inch Dob and a high quality widefield eyepiece would float my boat. Olly

[knobby]

Hi Aalynia, if you are staying for a couple of years I'd seriously look at second hand... Keep it til you go back, then sell up to buy a new one in the states.

that way you'll both get the fun of buying twice and you'd have a better idea the second time about upgrading or downsizing to suit your observing style.

also avoids shipping worries.

Telescope house have some 2h scopes occasionally, you might be in luck.

Wish you both the very best of luck with your choice

[bingevader]

Yep, I'd go with the Buy Now - Sell Later thinking.

Especially if in the long run he'd like to go into Astro-photography.

Gives you a second bite at the cherry.

And with that thinking in mind, I'd also go with the 8" dob, the Skywatchers seem to hold their value well too.

You wouldn't have to worry about investing in decent eyepieces either, as you could take those with you.

Cheers

[Luke]

Do you recommend any place in particular to find used scopes? I already know astrobuysell, but should I bother with some place like ebay? I feel that would be questionable...

Now that he knows he has my seal of approval, he's going wild and has been looking all night--this is the latest one he's considering: http://www.f1telesco...?id=2354&level=

I haven't used the Equinox 80, but I have the Equinox 120, and it is a very nice telescope, one you might keep for a very long time!

The 80 would make a very nice scope for taking photos with and for looking at certain objects (I haven't had an EQ5 mount - the mount is also very important when taking images, some say the mount is even more important than the telescope!)

The main downside I would see to the 80 is that although the mount is goto and will drive the telescope to look at thousands of objects, many of these objects will be invisible or barely visible because of the scope's small 80mm aperture.

I'm not sure how much you know about aperture (i.e. the inner diameter of the telescope tube) but basically, the bigger the aperture, the more light it lets in and the more sensitive it is. So you can more easily see faint things.

One downside to dobs is that they are very big telescopes. An SCT is a clever design that "folds" the light, so that it behaves like it was a long telescope, even though its tube is much shorter than a dob. So an SCT packs in a lot of power for its size. But you are paying for convenience of the short design, so a dob can make more sense unless there is something you particularly like about the SCT, such as its compact size or if you want to take astro photos with it (though an SCT is not the easiest telescope to take photos with).

For a general purpose observing telescope, under okay skies, I would recommend at least 6 inches of aperture if budget allows, and the bigger the better if the scope is manageable (bigger isn't always better: "the best scope is the scope you use the most"). Small scopes are still great for looking at certain objects, in fact they can give a better view than a big scope in some cases, but they are more limited visually.

I hope this image gives some idea of the effect of increased aperture for some huge scopes (I wouldn't take the images as fully accurate, but I think it gives a rough idea):

I personally find that a 10 inch scope gives plenty to look at under okay skies. e.g. I've seen faint spiral structure in the beautiful Whirpool galaxy, M51, with it, but that's just me. Some people prefer refractors of much smaller size.

Now that he knows he has my seal of approval, he's going wild and has been looking all night--this is the latest one he's considering: http://www.f1telesco...?id=2354&level=

[umadog]

The image above is roughly accurate if you're in dark skies, but keep in mind that it's a promotional sales piece from Obsession. So the "rather dim" comment attached to the 8" scope view is designed to promote Obsession's line of larger aperture scopes. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with an 8" scope: there's loads to see with one and for many people it's the ideal instrument.

[Aalynia]

Apparently his previous scope (which, I may have mentioned, is probably about 10 yrs old at the moment) is actually an 8 or 10 inch dob (can't recall at the moment)--but it's tucked away in storage in the US. He's definitely ready--and desires--something a bit more advanced.

I'm not opposed to buy/selling. Given the ones we are considering, would it be difficult to sell such a scope? I'm horrified by the thought of being ready to move and not being able to sell it in a timely manner!

[umadog]

What do you mean by advanced? Is that you're after something motorised with object locator, etc? There's absolutely a place for those, but I'm not sure it's fair to label them "more advanced." As an analogy, think of it like boating. Some people might want to go sailing with perhaps only a little trawling in case of emergency, others might prefer a power boat with no sails. Which you choose depends on what you want to get out of it: the more powerful craft wouldn't be considered more advanced by someone who wants to sail. It's sort of the same with telescopes. There are lots of people out there who've been at the hobby for years and years and use an un-driven Dobsonian. Once you learn where an object is, you can often find it faster by hand than the machine's slow motors. You more quickly get a feeling for the sky if you don't have the motors and there's less to go wrong too. I don't want to start a GoTo/no GoTo debate (which happens readily on these fora!), I just wanted to point out that you don't need the bells and whistles to have an "advanced" telescope.

[Aalynia]

Perfectly fair and valid points--and I certainly hope it doesn't start a debate! You'll have to forgive my naivety concerning this subject. I'm the literary and musical one--he's the chemistry, astronomy, mathematician one. ;-)

The more he talks about it, the more he seems interested in astrophotography--hooking the telescope to his computer, having goto, etc. So we may be spending a bit more than my original budget, but I'm ok with that, so long as it does everything he hopes and dreams!

[Luke]

The more he talks about it, the more he seems interested in astrophotography--hooking the telescope to his computer, having goto, etc.

In that case I would really recommend getting the book 'Making Every Photon Count' before buying a scope. It's very popular here on SGL as the guide that gets you up to speed and helps you to understand your equipment choices.

FLO, the forum sponsors, stock it:

http://www.firstligh...e-richards.html