Second hand 8" schmidt cassergrains?

[Smithfire]

Are they like hens teeth and how much should you be looking at paying?

Clive

[Hairycamel]

There's a Meade one on Astro Buy Sell at the moment for £250. Bit of a bargain as the cheapest ones usually go for £300.

[hobsey]

I've seen them go for 300-500.

I paid 500 for mine, a bit more than I wanted to but they weren't coming up that often secondhand so I grabbed it while I could.

[Laurie61]

The 8" sct has been a popular choice of scope for many years, as there are now many in circulation you will see them for sale quite regularly. They were often sold complete with fork mount and these will be more common than just the OTA. If you want a cheap one it may be worth looking for a scope with a dead mount and de forking the OTA. The optics on these closed tube design scopes can last for many years, I have an old Meade 10" f6.3 (LX6) and the mirror coatings still look as good as new.        

[Smithfire]

Thanks for the replies. The one for sale us in Scotland and is pick up only. Shame, all the ones ive seen for sske are the wrong side of 500 notes.

Am I right in thinking that they are not as prone to colimation probs as Maks?

many thanks

Clive

[Laurie61]

To get the best results an sct does need accurately collimating, many sct owners report that, once done, they do hold collimation well. Having said that I will check mine every time it gets used as it's going on and of the mount and carried around in between