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Great Value Despite the Expense

mikeDnight

By mikeDnight
in The Astro Lounge

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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Its my little Tak refractors second anniversary on friday 24th March, and over that short period Taky and I have had some amazing adventures. I love this scope so much that its hard to put a true value on it, which got me wondering about the initial outlay and value for money issue. Ok, its a Tak and it wasn't cheap, but was it value for money? As I've already said "we've had some amazing adventures," but how much has it cost me over the last two years? Well, I paid £1738 for the entire set-up from new, which by this coming Friday will have set me back a staggering £2.38 per day since I first got the scope. Who would begrudge paying £2.38 per day on a hobby? The best bit though, is that as time goes on, my hobby gets cheaper!

Looking back through some old sky&telescope issues from the 1950's, it soon becomes evident just what great value for money modern scopes really are. In the 1950's you could have bought a house for the price of a top end Unitron refractor for example. Today, telescopes available off the shelf are so much better than they've ever been before. Optically you'd be very unlucky to get a poor scope today. Aluminizing is better, multi coatings are better (The Unitron only had a single coating on the first surface of its front element), eyepieces are better. Can you imagine William Herschel's reaction if he were to look through an Ethos eyepiece? 

I can't help thinking just how privileged we are to have such a wealth of great telescopes and accessories available to us, and whether we pay a few hundred or a few thousand, their value far outweighs their cost.

Mike

 

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John

John

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Happy 2nd anniversary Tak ! :icon_biggrin:

I agree with you 100% about the value for money of equipment today compared to what it was. I still have price lists and brochures from the late 1980's and 1990's (coz I'm sad like that :rolleyes2:) and the prices were, relative to wages etc back then, much higher than they are today.

A Meade ED 102 F/7 in 1990 would cost as much as I bought my Tak FC 100 DL for 27 years later. And I know which one I'd prefer ...... :icon_biggrin:

 

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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Very nice Mike, I'm sure there's one of those old Chinese proverbs to suit your sentiments.

Nearly bought a 100mm Tak earlier this year and wish I had now as the prices are going up in leaps and bounds.

Dave

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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26 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

I'm hopefully going to be getting the same scope for crimbo, I will show the misses your post to sway her even more. thanks charl.

Christmas eve's going to be a sleepless night for you!

I just hope that fat chap can get it down your chimney,  as it comes in a big box. :happy11:

Mike 

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xtreemchaos

xtreemchaos

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thanks Mike, lol, I think there very good value mate, you would have a job getting 4 TV eps for the same money, ive owned many scopes over the last 40 odd years but never a takahashi, I just want to see how the other hafe live :icon_biggrin:. clear skys, charl.

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DaveS

DaveS

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This echoes something I've been thinking for a while now.

Looking at my 130 f/7 triplet (Not in the Tak league but still a nice 'scope) I was thinking, during my first "incarnation" as an astronomer (Late '70s to early '90s) the idea of having any kind of 5" 'frac would have been laughable, while the only triplet I'd read about was the semi-mythical Cooke Photovisual. It was totally unthinkable that I'd even come across one, let alone own one.

As for AP, well the gulf between what an amateur could wield then, and what I have now is staggering.

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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21 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I think the "pay per view" of anyone who purchased a Tak during the last 12 months would be in excess of £2.38 per day.   :icon_biggrin:

You're right Peter! It's now more like £3.01 per day for the first two years for a 100mm . Or there abouts. :icon_biggrin:

You've given me an idea! If I charge £2.38 per view to visitors, I'd get my money back and the scope would have cost me nothing! :hello2:

Mike

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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38 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

I think the "pay per view" of anyone who purchased a Tak during the last 12 months would be in excess of £2.38 per day.   :icon_biggrin:

And prices set to rise again shortly I believe.

Should've bought a few Mike, you could have sold them at a profit now

Dave

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JeremyS

JeremyS

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2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

by this coming Friday will have set me back a staggering £2.38 per day

Well I have had my Tak FS 102 for quite a few more years. Which means I have paid ~22p a day for the pleasure  :-)

Jeremy

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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22 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Well I have had my Tak FS 102 for quite a few more years. Which means I have paid ~22p a day for the pleasure  :-)

Jeremy

I've now got a mental picture of crazy astronomers trying to calculate the value of their beloved scopes. :icon_scratch:

Just a little while longer Jeremy and Takahashi will be paying you for buying a scope from them! :icon_bounce:£££

Mike

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DirkSteele

DirkSteele

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The value of an instrument divided by the time I have owned it (and even more so the number of observing sessions) is how I have been able to justify some of my purchases so could not agree more.

We definitely are lucky to be amateur astronomers in the current age.  The pace of improvement in equipment, especially at the cheaper end of this hobby, over the last 10 to 15 years has been remarkable.  I think back to what I paid for my first scope 25 years ago with paper round money and inflation adjust that amount to see what I could purchase today is startling! Not only do you get far more bang for your buck, but no doubt the quality overall would be better as well.

And happy birthday to the Tak! 

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xtreemchaos

xtreemchaos

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All this talk about them going up in price is making my finger itchy, don't fancy my chances today with me getting a Quark last week, but I'm mighty thinking about pressing the button and sorting it with the misses at a later date :evil4: charl. ps I think ill have to have a lie down until it passes.

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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4 minutes ago, xtreemchaos said:

All this talk about them going up in price is making my finger itchy, don't fancy my chances today with me getting a Quark last week, but I'm mighty thinking about pressing the button and sorting it with the misses at a later date :evil4: charl. ps I think ill have to have a lie down until it passes.

You must by a Tak, you must buy a Tak, you must buy a Tak :happy2: :happy2: :happy2: :happy2: resistance is futile.

Dave

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Ibbo!

Ibbo!

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having said that my first telescope, a Charles frank 4" saturn reflector must be even better value, bought secondhand for £4 in 1971.

I still have the optics and will one day retube them.

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