List your scopes through the years

[Piero]

Here is my "list": 

- Celestron Newton 4.5" F8 (1998, currently in Italy)

- Revelation 15x70 (early 2014, currently in Italy)

- TV-60 F6 (end 2014, currently in the UK)

If one day I will go back to my country and buy a dobson, I will probably buy an AZ3 or AZ4 for the Newton 4.5" before giving it as a gift to a child coming from a family who cannot afford a telescope. Hopefully s/he will play and have some fun with it as I did and still do the few times I am over there.

[mcolbert]

easy for me to list but dates are vague.

C8 as a first 'scope (purchased 1979?)- sold

10x50's as I was travelling/studying/working etc - now 'modified' waiting on the bench to be re-assembled*

130 refractor - purchased around 2005

various other small glass instruments

michael

* read that I was messing around with them and..oooops!!!

[Rusty-Gunn]

2014... Orion 80mm/350 grab type table tops for beginners, of which I am.

2014 Orion 8" Newtonian dobson.

2015 Celestron C90 Mak-Cass ( still in the mail)

[Tyson M]

New to the hobby this year

2015    200mm F4.9  Orion Newtonian Reflector- first telescope/ possibly selling /too big for supplied mount for imaging and takes up too much room for grab and go in car/ great views especially solar with Baader film

           

ST80  F5 - excellent grab and go but not really in use right now, focuser sucks big time and lots of CA but that was to be expected. Will upgrade to 2 inch dual speed GSO focuser and use for solar with quark/diagonals for imaging

           

Skywatcher Equinox 100mm  F9 - a scope of elegance. my favorite thing I own. still good grab and go, Love the focal length, the 11:1 dual speed focuser, craftsmanship is top notch including case, got hooked on refractors after this. Will be my main scope for a long time for both night/solar imaging and viewing.

[mikeDnight]

Dates are approximate:

1980

60mm Astral refractor, eventually sold.

1983

4" F10 refractor made by a local firm. Kept coming out of collimation and showed plenty of red, but still thrilled me at the time.

Manufacturer eventually broke the lens while trying to remove it from its cell.

1985

4" F13 Vixen achromat.

A superb scope optically but it came on a flimsy altaz fork which was virtually useless. Eventually sold.

6" F3.5 Comet seeking Newtonian. Very nice rft bought at the same time as the refractor. I returned it as I preferred using the refractor.

8" Maksortof Cass. Junk! Returned to local manufacturer.

6" f3 Schmit Newt. Junk! Got broken, thankfully!

4.5" SCT. An OK scope at low power. Sold

6" F13 SCT. Junk! Returned.

1999

120mm Helios achro. Very nice. Sold

152mm Helios achro. Great rft and OK planetary scope. Eventually sold.

2003

Takahashi FS 128. Outstanding all rounder. Eventually part exchanged for

2007

Takahashi FS 152. Eventually and regretfully sold.

2008

TV NP101. Superb RFT but not good on planets or the moon. Gave a nicotine yellow tinge to the lunar surface. Focuser was rough. Sold

2009

120mm DS Pro

Stunning! Sold for

2011

Equinox 120

Stunning!! Sold

2015

Returned to Tak

Takahashi FC 100

Perfect!!! Keeper!

Mike

[Philip Benson]

Wow this takes me back...

Circa 1981 - Small 40mm refractor with table top tripod from Boots bought for me by family friend.

Circa 1982 - Tasco 50mm refractor bought for me by parents through TV Times magazine

Circa 1985 - Prinz Astral 500 60mm refractor on equatorial mount bought from local branch of Dixons (my first equatorial mount  )

1987 - 16" F5 dobsonian reflector purchased from Beacon Hill Telescopes.  The first serious telescope I actually owned.

1993 - Tal-1 4.5" Russian made reflector.  Brilliant scope for the money in term of both build and optical quality.

2002 - Helios 120mm refractor on Skyscan 2001 mount.   I remember seeing Mars through this during the 2003 close approach.

2004 - Meade LX200GPS 10".  I blame this telescope for setting off my interest in imaging and subsequent spending blitz!

2008 - Purchased an EQ6 Pro with Skywatcher 100ED and William Optics Meg 72.

Since then I have bought and sold more scopes than I care to think about as part of the imaging learning path.   However I have now levelled off having established a collection of telescopes I am really happy with. So, as of Autumn 2015 I have the following:

TMB152/1200 apo

Lunt LS152 Ha solar scope

Takahashi TSA102

Orion 16" F4 dobsonian with Nexus 'IDOL' system

Meade 14" LX200GPS SCT

Skywatcher BKP250

[Tyson M]

Wow this takes me back...

Circa 1981 - Small 40mm refractor with table top tripod from Boots bought for me by family friend.

Circa 1982 - Tasco 50mm refractor bought for me by parents through TV Times magazine

Circa 1985 - Prinz Astral 500 60mm refractor on equatorial mount bought from local branch of Dixons (my first equatorial mount  )

1987 - 16" F5 dobsonian reflector purchased from Beacon Hill Telescopes.  The first serious telescope I actually owned.

1993 - Tal-1 4.5" Russian made reflector.  Brilliant scope for the money in term of both build and optical quality.

2002 - Helios 120mm refractor on Skyscan 2001 mount.   I remember seeing Mars through this during the 2003 close approach.

2004 - Meade LX200GPS 10".  I blame this telescope for setting off my interest in imaging and subsequent spending blitz!

2008 - Purchased an EQ6 Pro with Skywatcher 100ED and William Optics Meg 72.

Since then I have bought and sold more scopes than I care to think about as part of the imaging learning path.   However I have now levelled off having established a collection of telescopes I am really happy with. So, as of Autumn 2015 I have the following:

TMB152/1200 apo

Lunt LS152 Ha solar scope

Takahashi TSA102

Orion 16" F4 dobsonian with Nexus 'IDOL' system

Meade 14" LX200GPS SCT

Skywatcher BKP250

I would be happy with that final combination as well lol. That Lunt Ha, Tak, Orion dob, and a 14inch are eventual objectives for me as well. 

[physicus]

1975 Helios 7x50 binocs

1976 Fullerscopes 6" f8 Newt. MkII mount, utility spec. (= no paint :-P)

2000 ETX90. Hardly used it. (London, work)

2015 C9.25, plus all the fancy stuff you wake up to after 40 years in cryofreeze.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Celestron 90mm (fl 1000mm) refractor on EQ mount (great scope......hate the EQ). Not used since 2007.

Skywatcher Heritage 130P.........love it and still use it as a grab n go.

Celestron 70mm travelscope refractor. Now used as a dedicated solar observing scope along with Hershel wedge.

Celestron 8se

[cathalferris]

Timings are approximate.

1988 - Tasco 60mm f15 refractor, with pick-off finder, shaky alt-az mount 0.965 eyepieces - Sold in 1990 to help pay for:

1990 - Solis Scientific 222mm f5.6 Newtonian, on shaky manual German EQ mount, permanent pier. Disused, pier lost in house move, college got in the way.

2004 - Lidl Special, Meade ETX-70. Upgraded with a set of plossl eyepieces, a video eyepiece, and a few other bits. Stolen from my house 2005..

2005 - Borrowed parent's ETX-70 for a while, updated handset. Returned to parents in c. 2011

2009 - Meade 6" LXD75, picked up cheap secondhand. Hypertuned mount, flocked tube. Moderate optics. Sold 2014, regretting it now as was perfect for video astronomy.

2009 - 8" OO newt tube, supposed to use optics for briefcase dob, but regularly used with lxd75 instead. Near-perfect optics. Added flocking, curved spider. Sold 2014.

2011 - Celestron 80mm Onyx ED apo, as a grab'n'go scope on AZ-3. Current.

2012 - Coronado PST. Lovely piece of kit. Current.

2012 - Celestron Omni XLT 102mm achro on driven EQ3-2. Sold to workmate in 2014, as it was not getting used and taking up too much space. No regrets.

2012 - 70mm IKI ED apo, airline portable in carry-on with cut-down Vixen Porta Mini mount. Current.

2014 - Skywatcher 12" collapsible dob, on pseudo EQ table. Very good scope, so glad I got it! Current.

(that reminds me I must do a proper review of that pseudo EQ table at some stage..)

[beamer3.6m]

Cannot recall the dates but here goes:

Explorer 130p (2007?) [stil got]

Explorer 200p [still got]

C80ED [sold]

Skymax 127 [sold]

Virtuoso 90mm Mak [sold]

Explorer 130pds [still got]

Can you see the Skywatcher theme emerging!

[Jay T]

Only had 4 so far...

2011 - A borrowed Newtonian from a friend (cheap Argos thing to get me started)

2012 - My first proper scope, an 8" Skywatcher Dob (sold)

2013 - Skywatcher 200P on EQ5 (sold OTA, kept mount)

2015 - Altair Astro 110ED Frac. Easily my favourite so far. I've got an enhanced motor drive with guide scope port ready for when I start imaging Outstanding visuals and excellent contrast.

[mert]

1985 -- Tasco 4.5 newt from Lasksys ( paid for by 3 paper rounds lol)

1986 -- 80mm Vixen Refrator on EQ mount from Charles Frank

1999 -- Celestron C8 on wedge

2007 -- 8" Seben newt (oooohhhhh dear)

2010 -- 12" Sky-Watcher Synscan goto

2011 -- 12" Meade LX90

2012 -- 22" dob (Big Blue) current

2013 -- 5" Sky-Watcher Dob (current)

2015 -- 18" Sky-Watcher Stargate 450P (current)

[mert]

The 5" is my 4 year old daughters scope. The 22" is big and heavy and it's setup permanently, I have to use a ladder to view most objects which is a becoming a pain. I just bought the 18" as I wanted a large scope that could be broken down easily, it only need a small step to view objects a zenith

[nicoscy]

Oh, boy...

Celestron XLT-150 Reflector

Celestron Nexstar 8SE

Astrotech AT 72 ED

Stellarvue SV 102 ED

Stellarvue SV 90T APO

Stellarvue SV 80T APO

Teleskop Service 152 F5.9 Achro

Skywatcher 102 F5 Achro

Skywatcher 120 F5 Achro

Celestron Travelscope 70mm

Skywatcher 80 F5 Achro

Orion ST80 F5 Achro

Opticstar 80 F5 Achro

Televue 60 ED 

Teleskop Service 50 ED

Teleskop Service 60 APO

Fakahashi FC76DC APO

Celestron C6 SCT

Skywatcher 102 Mac (twice!)

Skywatcher 90 f10 Achro

Sumerian Optics 12" f4.8

Orion Optics UK 12" f4

Skywatcher 76 Mini Dob

Orion Optics 140 OMC Mak

Bolt ones still in the house altough the XLT will soon go the way of the Dodo...

[slickfonzy]

Crikey, there's some seriously long lists here!  Still, some of them do start long before I was born 

circa 1995 - Optolyth 30 x 75 drawtube scope (which I still have).  Technically bought for me as a birding scope when I was a boy, but I remember using it to view Jupiter, Saturn and M42 for the first time, so I've put it on my list!

1997 - Tal-2M, bought with money left to me by my granddad when I was 13.  Wonderful scope, built like a tank, lasted me for 17 years.  I was very reluctant to part with it but aperture fever eventually struck!  I can still remember the lovely smell of the wooden boxes it was shipped in.  None of that cardboard rubbish from the Motherland!

2014 - parted with the Tal and purchased a Flextube 250p GOTO.  Lovely scope, but found the GOTO to be hit and miss and was very fussy over setup.  I found myself spending more time fiddling with the Synscan each setup than I used to spend setting up the EQ mount on the Tal.

2015 - sold the Flextube to move to a manual dob and recently purchased a 10" Revelation.  Only had time so far for a quick first light through the mist on Halloween, but was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use a manual dob.

[L8-Nite]

Astronomical scopes - 1965 to 2015

A 50 or ? 60mm no name refractor.

Pencrest  114mm reflector.

Sears 76mm  6339-A refractor.

Intes Micro 127mm Mak.

Questar 178mm Mak.

Carton 60mm refractor.

Zeiss 63mm Telementor II

Questar 89mm Mak.

Zeiss 63mm Telementor I

Edit: Nine scopes in 50 years. I have six of them now, which is three too many.

[Joseki]

2013

          10" f6 mirror (will be sort of completed this christmas when I get my WO bino's which it's been dimensioned for).

           90mm starsky achro (too nice to sell for the price I'd get)

2014 (went a bit crazy)

           Altair Astro 6" f5 newt (sold)

           Skymax 127 (sold)

           Skywatcher evostar 120 (sold, wanted it for the Quark I had for a couple of weeks)

           Jessops 114mm newt (a gift, now in the loft)

           Skywatcher 100ed (keeper - it's nice and I'd lose too much money selling it on)

2015 Skywatcher 200pds

         Lunt 35

Pretty happy with what I've got now, and can neither justify getting rid of anything or afford to upgrade it at present.  Oh, well I would like a SW 66ED baby scope or WO 71 (2016 wish list).

[Marki]

My list since I started nearly 5 years ago - I've still got the ones in bold:

Celestron 8SE: 200mm SCT F/10 (sold - found it somehow cold and uninvolving; why do they ship with such a pants finder too?)

TAL 100RS: 100mm achromat refractor F/10 (keeper - currently stationed at my mum's place in France)

Starwave 100ED: 100mm "semi-apochromat" refractor F/7 (sold - visually not as good as it was cracked up to be, mechanically very nice though)

Skywatcher Equinox 80 Apo Pro: 80mm apochrormat refractor F/6.5 (sold - brilliant quality, nice and handy, but not enough aperture for me - I'd bought it with AP in mind and never really got into it)

TAL 125R: 125mm achromat refractor F/8.9 (probably a keeper - not great to begin with, but much better after receiving some professional attention to address some speherical aberation)

Skylight f13: 100mm achromat refractor F/13 (definite keeper - based on a Carton 100mm objective, the scope looks fantastic and the views through it are even better - long focal length 'fracs are things of wonder!)

Istar Perseus 150: 150mm achromat refractor F/10 (sold regretfully - this scope was simply too massive for me to mount well and use regularly; fantstic views though - miss that aperture and clarity!)

Got a thing for 'fracs, me. I miss the aperture of the 150mm F/10 but that thing was heavy and massive and mounting it became a somewhat painful chore that put me off using it. Without the ability to build/maintain a permanent mounting solution/obsy, I sadly had to let it go. I may be tempted to go back to an SCT or Mak for a more compact way of getting aperture. Or maybe I'll even consider the dark pleasures of Newt/Dob ownership!

And the thing I use most? A second hand pair of 10x50 bins .

[John]

Nice list Mark.

My Istar 6" has moved on now as well - for just the same reasons !

I see that Istar have introduced lighter tubes for their refractors now so it seems that they have realised that there was an issue with their earlier models.

If I'd had an observatory and a massive EQ pedestal things might have been different .......

[cathalferris]

Timings are approximate.

1988 - Tasco 60mm f15 refractor, with pick-off finder, shaky alt-az mount 0.965 eyepieces - Sold in 1990 to help pay for:

1990 - Solis Scientific 222mm f5.6 Newtonian, on shaky manual German EQ mount, permanent pier. Disused, pier lost in house move, college got in the way. (Still have the mirror)

2004 - Lidl Special, Meade ETX-70. Upgraded with a set of plossl eyepieces, a video eyepiece, and a few other bits. Stolen from my house 2005..

2005 - Borrowed parent's ETX-70 for a while, updated handset. Returned to parents in c. 2011

2009 - Meade 6" LXD75, picked up cheap secondhand. Hypertuned mount, flocked tube. Moderate optics. Sold 2014, regretting it now as was perfect for video astronomy.

2009 - 8" OO newt tube, supposed to use optics for briefcase dob, but regularly used with lxd75 instead. Near-perfect optics. Added flocking, curved spider. Sold 2014.

2011 - Celestron 80mm Onyx ED apo, as a grab'n'go scope on AZ-3. Current.

2012 - Coronado PST. Lovely piece of kit. Current.

2012 - Celestron Omni XLT 102mm achro on driven EQ3-2. Sold to workmate in 2014, as it was not getting used and taking up too much space. No regrets.

2012 - 70mm IKI ED apo, airline portable in carry-on with cut-down Vixen Porta Mini mount. Current.

2014 - Skywatcher 12" collapsible dob, on pseudo EQ table. Very good scope, so glad I got it! Current.

Adding to this list..

2015 - National Geographic toy 75mm dob, crappy optics, on lend to a neighbour.

2015 - Celestron C6N 6" F/5 Newtonian, specifically for video astronomy. Current.

2016 - Stellarvue F50 mini-scope to be a finderguider, still en route Soon to be current

Also in the process of trying to purchase a C100ED refractor as well as I've a use for that size..

[wheresthetorch?]

2001-2006: Meade Etx-90. Sold this when I got divorced and moved into a flat.

2007-2015: Celestron 4SE. Bought for me for Christmas by my new girlfriend (now my beloved wife).

2015-present: Revelation 8" Dob. Decided to trade convenience of GOTO for increased aperture. Glad I did!

Next project: Keep the Dob, but maybe acquire a short-tube achro on an alt-az mount for grab 'n' go.

[Norfolk star gazer]

Finally a question that I can answer on here

Just the one scope

2015 skywatcher 250px 10 inch dob (heavy, but not selling it)

Think I had a toy one in 1971 if that counts, but can't remember the make!

[DevonSkies]

Great fun reading through this and seeing what people have kept, what they have sold, and what they wish they hadn't sold! Reminds me of the list of cameras I've had over the years!

Just 2 scopes here at the moment (SW 250PX and ST102), but I can already feel the slippery slope approaching! 

[Moonshane]

well, I am very proud to say that I have not changed a single scope since October 2015 ! https://stargazerslounge.com/modcp/ip-tools/?ip=212.121.220.27