Where to buy secondhand in London?

[jzlcdh]

Dear All,

I would like to buy a tube a bit larger than my current 9cm Maksutov. Could I get something secondhand for under 300 pounds do you think? Is there any alternative to a 15cm or 18cm Maksukov which is still transportable? If so where in London could I look bearing in mind that I live outside the UK and will likely only be in London for a few days so probably would not be able to join a club or go to a specific event.

Alternatively where to buy secondhand online with delivery to UK or Turkey? There seems to be nothing suitable on UK ebay at the moment - maybe I should wait until after Xmas? I see Telescope Outlet has a good review - any others?

Regards

Geoff

[John]

Have you tried looking on the UK Astro Buy & Sell website ?

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

It's the best source of used astro equipment around in my opinion, much better than e.bay. Some of the sellers are based in Europe too.

There is no London specific astro buy & sell facility as far as I am aware. The only London based astro dealer is the Widescreen Centre which is central:

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/

But they do not sell used equipment as far as I know.

You budget should buy you a used 127mm maksutov-cassegrain on a mount or a new optical tube assembly alone and, given your need for portability, is probably the most practical way to get portable increased aperture over your current scope. An alternative would be a 5" schmidt-cassegrain I guess. If you are lucky you might even find a used 6" for your budget but would would need to provide a suitable mount of course. 

If you can do a deal up front through one of the above sources you might be able to arrange to collect it when visiting the UK.