For Sale : Used twice !! Why??

[John]

.......So when a noobie asks for advice maybe we should ask these questions first rather than just telling them what works for us?

Yep

[bingevader]

Hmmm, I think we might be being a tad harsh on ourselves here!

It's often the questions asked too!

If someone says, and they often do, "I've £300 to blow, what's the best 'scope I can buy?", then there is only one answer and it's an 8" dob!

However, generally, the people on this forum do ask all the questions of new visitors and do give very good answers.

Rather than beating ourselves up over this, I'd still come back to the assumption that amateur astronomy really just wasn't what they'd expected.

It's another of those hobbies that's full of gadgets that can seem very appealing from the outside (or your sofa in front of Brian Cox!) but just isn't for everyone.

AND, one of the biggest factors in that is time, which none of us seem to have enough of these days!

Cheers

[barkis]

There is an old saying, "Marry In Haste, Repent In Leisure", it can be allied to an inexperienced person buying an astronomical instrument.

Not doing some research first, or asking advice from folks who are knowledgeable on such things, for example, an Astronomy Society, or an Astro forum, will, in many instances mean a wrong choice is made. This will usually result in the buyer putting the instrument up for sale shortly after realising it's not what he/she expected it to be.

It's a poor way to gain experience, and lose you money into the bargain. It was stressed during Brian Cox's Stargazers shows, that anyone thinking of buying a telescope, should ask advice first. It is still a fact, that not all do, which is a shame. There are more good scopes out there than bad ones. You need to know what you are paying for before parting with your hard earned brass.

Ron.

[bomberbaz]

Defo. You get the same thing with bikes after the Tour de France. If you give it about 3 months after the tour you can get a real bargain!

tennis courts are busy has hell since wimbledon. However cricket bats have been seen out now.

[Naemeth]

Astronomy certainly does require a lot of time researching and waiting. Somehow, and I don't know how, I've managed 50 Messiers - but I feel I've hit a sort of limit, I feel that I don't know my way around the sky enough. Would GoTo help? Yes, of course it would. But, I personally think I'd rather do it the old fashioned way - learning the constellations and stopping myself from relying on technology (Stellarium - how I got those 50!).

When I first started, I had no idea about anything - I only thought you could see some of the planets and Moon in the night sky, and that everything else was just stars. Newcomers not only need to be welcomed, for their questions to be answered and advice given, but they also need time to absorb that.

Thinking about it now, I'd probably know just about the same if I'd gone for a 200P right at the start - and the narrower FOV might have made it harder for me to find those 50 Messiers - in a way, I'm glad I started this way. I still have loads to learn and I still feel like a newcomer. There are so many things that can be learned on this forum, but at the end of the day a lot of it's theory.

I've had enough of the theory, I want to focus on the practical - but it's cloudy tonight... Perhaps Sunday....

Think, Ask, Absorb, Practice, Read, Practice, Read etc..

[lensman57]

I've seen so many scopes for sale 'used twice'.

Now I appreciate that 'twice' might be a euphemism for 'not much' but why is this so often the case?

Do people get bored quickly? Did they buy the wrong scope?

I'm not talking about the £50 ebay scopes (of which there are plenty) but of decent scopes and decent makes.

Why do you reckon it is?

Regrettably with the light polluted skies, bad weather, short light summer nights and an unreasonable expectation to see the DSOs as they appear in the Astroimaging photographs, there is no surprise that so many scopes come up for sale, wether thay have been used twice or twenty times is anyones guess but as has been said poor research, bad advice and lack of perseverance are the likely causes.

A.G