How much do you think you have spent.....

[Macavity]

Probably 3x more than I needed? I sense, for all I've achieved:

An 8" F/10 SCT with 2" capability, focal reducer, video cam...

But noone is perfect re. anticipation of eventual needs?

And the learning curve has been fun? (maybe)

[RichP2]

As my wife reminds me every time the bank statement or credit card bill arrives it's over £2,500 since Christmas! However this is mainly due to the purchase of a new SW 250PDX with NEQ6 mount which was a 50th birthday present to myself Unfortunately I also spend a lot of time sea fishing and probably spent as much on new rods, reels and bait over the past twelve months. New continental style beach rod about to be purchased so I can add another 300 quid to the tally. Oh, forgot about the 2" barlow and astro video camera last week which she doesn't know about yet

[Scooot]

1371477307[/url'>' post='1965595']

It helps if you can split/share the cost. I have shared an interest in astronomy with my brother since the late 70's I keep all my astro receipts and still have the one for my first proper scope in 1978.

i started my first job in 1977 on 2.5k per year. Take home pay was about £50 per fortnight (they paid fortnightly strangely) so it would have taken me 12 weeks saving without spending on anything to buy that scope. I was a lowly junior though.

Really interesting to see that receipt. So far its only cost you £8.57 per year.

[Scooot]

Correction £9.25 I forgot the vat

[smudgeball]

Well I wish I hadn't read this thread.

It really adds up

After around six years of visual I decided to take my occasional dabbling with imaging a bit further.

So far this year

WO Megrez 72, Modified 1100D, remote focuser (audrino based)......new OTA case cos the modified scope no longer fits in the original case !!

New dovetail bar as I'm now hanging that much off the back, I can't get balance with original WO tiny dovetail.

A spare 8Gb card for my new camera (1100D takes SD cards, not CF cards like my 40D)

It's gone way past £500

Help me

[Polar Bear]

Last year I bought 4 scopes , 1 from a local auction (120 Evostar) 3 from ebay that were collect only (including a 150mm Orion Optics UK newt) and sold them all on for a good profit through ebay and UK Astro B&S.

Just purchased my C8 (ebay locally) from last years profits so my spend at the moment is £0.00

I do enjoy trying different scopes and this has led me towards the C8 which is certainly a 'keeper'

I understand peoples caution with secondhand but if you are patient something will crop up local to you and you can go along and check it out first.

There are a lot of good honest fellow stargazers out there selling used equipment.

Photography is a little different and this years spend is about £1300 but my cameras and lenses get used every day .

As with all things cost is relative and if you derive enjoyment from your equipment and it enables you to do what you want to do, then good on you.

My brother is a DJ and I witnessed people at the club he was playing in, drinking £500.00 bottles of champagne Each to their own I suppose.

[leemanley]

Stick another £80 on my bill !!!, just bought a nifty fifty.

Aiming to use this on NC's and miliky way shots, if we ever get a clear spell....

[bomberbaz]

Add another 53 quid on mine, cost of a dual mounting bracket, haha

[Donkeiller]

You can't spend it when you are dead - so go for it

[DaveS]

Not on astro as such, but £1648 to pay off for my BMC camera (In addition to the £500 deposit) plus the cost of a 240 gig SSD and a couple of MFT adapters (M42 and Leica R).

Now my TV's playing up and I may need a new one (They don't repair CRTs any more) .

[leemanley]

Just about to order a FF/FR for the ED80, DON'T tell the Mrs.

[crashtestdummy]

Roughly worked out as about £3500 since feb 2011 but recouped about £800 so far selling on but about to spend another £1000 in the next month minus about £300 recoup again.tbh its nowhere near as expensive as my Troutfishing hobby or car racing but as a £/day its easily the most expensive overall

[Paul M]

Not a lot for me since 1975.

Lots of books and magazines, my 6" fullerscopes reflector in the early 80's which I can't remember the price of (£500-£800?).

My biggest recent spend was the relatively expensive SkySafari Pro app for my tablet. There is also the cost of a number of lesser astronomical apps.

So given that I can't remember how much or when, I'd guess at £1500 - £2000 over 40 years.

Technically I should include 2 Total Solar Eclipse expeditions in 1999 (Golden Sands, Bulgaria) and 2006 (Side, Turkey). It just so happens that I chose hotels virtually on the centre line and these were used as annual family holidays too. But we wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for the eclipses.

There is another £2k sat in an old account just waiting for me to take the plunge on a better scope!

[haitch]

I've only bought...

2 80mm refractors (1 sold) and a 72mm refractor (all ED doublets)

2 EPs (A 20mm Nagler & an ES30 82^o)

A Modded DSLR

2 Field Flattener/Reducers

A Baader 2" UV/IR Filter

An LXD75 mount

4 Pairs of Binoculars

A number of cables for connecting said mount to laptop

A Thousand Oaks glass solar filter

2 Bhatinov masks

Most of the above was bought 2nd hand

I already started the year with 2 complete set ups which I've still got (A14" dob & a C8 on a Vixen GP)

Just got to tell the wife about it all now :/

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I worked mine out, in total since i originally bought the scope (January 2012), i've spent around £1500! No wonder im always skint.

[davew]

I wish I hadn't seen this thread in some ways. Most of the gear I use for imaging I bought second hand. I can't remember precisely how much for but for a laugh I decided to look up today's equivalent prices. For the little pile of nuts and bolts I drag outside I would have to spend over £ 10,000 How on earth have I managed that ? A mount, camera, camera lens and guider system. Bonkers.

Things are worse. There are products that came highly recommended over the years, in fact some made it sound mandatory, that I bought and were as much use to me as a chocolate fire guard. At today's prices a smidgen over £ 2000 !

I have a further pile of stuff I've outgrown. A few hundred only....

I need help,

Dave.

[Earl]

It helps if you can split/share the cost. I have shared an interest in astronomy with my brother since the late 70's I keep all my astro receipts and still have the one for my first proper scope in 1978.

8% VAT !!!!!!

I wish

[Paul M]

It helps if you can split/share the cost. I have shared an interest in astronomy with my brother since the late 70's I keep all my astro receipts and still have the one for my first proper scope in 1978.

I only just spotted this.

It helps me value my own 6.25 fullerscope from about 83/84. Great seeing the invoice. I must still have mine somewhere, I think.

And the waiting period! 4 months!

I can't remember the price but I remember the wait. Excruciating after having saved up for years!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I woke up the other morning and for some reason i had a strong feeling that i had been shopping on FLO again. I checked my bank account online and then my email account. Happy to report that i must have been dreaming and had not bought anything. To be honest i cant think of anything i want/need,so for now my spending is over.

[nytecam]

A bit of a frightener here, I've just been totting up what I've spent since Christmas on astro gear.

I've done just over a grand since christmas, how the hell !!!!!

It's not as if I've got a huge disposable income or anything or a lottery win ! This hobby sure is a wallet swallower without even realising it, I don't know about you but I would'nt think twice about buying a nice new shiny bit of kit, however, if it were a new pair of shoes it might be a different matter.....Anyone else here realise how much this hobby costs ?

It gets a lot cheaper 'per view or pic' IF you stick with the gear and don't keep swapping around - haven't bought any stuff for ages and never take my credit card to astrofairs

I lie - bought a £2 webcam in Tescos recently and converted it to planetary/lunar imager for zero cost

[bomberbaz]

. To be honest i cant think of anything i want/need,so for now my spending is over.

Happy to say I am also in this camp, however spent a flippin small fortune getting here. If the Missus knew she would flip.

I darn't reckon it properly but its over 4K since xmas, omg

[planet15]

Not sure how much in total, but certainly buying used gears saved a fortune, I am sure. Still trying to keep selling my toys, and save for a 16" Reflector and / or Obsy. Astro photography gear has to wait until next year or two, I am afraid.

[helicalwave]

I have had a telescope since June, and in that time I have picked up the telescope itself, along with mount, tripod, eye pieces etc (£422), I picked up a variable moon filter (£30) and a pollution filter (£90), a lens cleaning kit (£30), a laser collimator (£43), and I have just purchased an Optik padded bag for my OTA (£77) online. I also joined the BAA (£51). So that totals £650 + since the beginning of last month. I hope to add some better eyepieces and a synscan in the near future, as well as some photography kit.

[TheMightyKong]

Not that much this year actually when I add it up... No wait, forget I said that.

[leemanley]

OMG, another £200 on this !!!!

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Imagers-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_0_50_71

finally got round to sorting the guiding issue out with this, an Opticstar PL130m cool air autoguiding kit, looks the biz !