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Telescopes seemed much more expensive back then..


t0nedude

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9 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Makes a change... usually you oldies are reminiscing about how everything used to be cheaper in your day!:grin:

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be ...... :icon_biggrin:

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12 hours ago, t0nedude said:

No apologies necessary. 

The thread was started in a light-hearted tone, for us oldies to reminisce about more expensive times..:icon_biggrin:

Tony.

Well this is all very encouraging! I'm 38.  When I reach retirement, a Tak TSA102 will be just a few hundred quid then??  (Said in great hope!)

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On 5/20/2016 at 12:17, Davesellars said:

and to think now you can get a mounted 4" refractor for ~ £160.

I can remember the days when I started out, how eye-watering the prices were. I lusted after a Charles Frank 6" reflector, which was then £98, an extraordinary sum when I think that my father was earning about £12 a week, and I was earning about 7/6d a week in pocket money. A 3" refractor was even more expensive (Frank's were importing the Swift range), and looking at the price of a 4" refractor would have me thinking, do I really need two whole kidneys? Apochromatic glass is still expensive, but mass production from the east has certainly brought the prices down for the most popular types of optical kit, and the level of accessorisation available to the amateur is beyond anything I could have imagined in the sixties. 

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 06:47, John said:

They were much more expensive and the range of stuff available was much more limited. The Russian and Chinese equipment was not really making an impact back then.

I have a 1990 Telescope House catalogue and the prices are really eye watering compared to what can be bought today.

"we have never had it so good" :icon_biggrin:

So true,  thank you Mr. Synta .

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On 22/05/2016 at 23:08, Paul M said:

My 6in Fullerscope Newtonian took me years to save up for.  I'd salivated over the Fullerscopes brochure for most of my youth and eventually bought their top spec "export"  model in 83 or 84.

I don't remember the price but seem to remember it was over £500.

Although the mirror is a very excellent David Hinds specimen the rest of the OTA has a DIY feel to it. The Mk 3 mount is somewhat bomb proof but never had the features or refinements of modern mounts. 

Today you get what you pay for. Back then there was much less to choose from and money didn't improve the choice much. 

Then the introduction off mass produced US imports changed amateur astronomy for ever! 

The Fullerscope 6" refractor was £500 in 1964.

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I have some old newspaper advertisements. One from 1961 is for a pair of Ross binoculars: 8x30. They are described as

Practical but not prosaic, munificent without being extravagant and cost £34/8/9 (other models available from £20)

By comparison, a secretary in London would be earning about £14 / week at that time. I believe that the reason people were advised to start astronomy with a pair of binoculars (50+ years ago) was because there were lots of army-surplus models available and they were within the affordability range of ordinary people, whereas a telescope would be far too expensive.

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I paid somewhere north of £870 for a Solis Scientific 222mm f/5.75 scope (using a plastic waste drain as the tube) on a heavy and shaky manual German equatorial, with 18mm and 25mm Kellner eyepieces, back in 1991 or so.

I could buy roughly similar now, but with a much better set of optics (no TDE, no stig), a much better mount and better eyepieces for about £450, or over a quarter of the adjusted price of what I paid then..

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