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Buying a new scope poll


Buying a new scope  

69 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you fund a new purchase?

    • Savings / wages
      61
    • Credit card
      5
    • Bank loan
      0
    • Gift
      1
    • Remortgage the house!
      2


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Rick, given that you list:

Scopes: Skywatcher Startravel 102 Refractor, Revelation 8" dob.

Equipment: EQ1-mount with ra motor drive. Canon EOS M + 18-55 and 22mm lenses.

Accessories: Meade series 3000 25, 18, 9.7mm plossls, and 2x and 3x barlows. Meade 6x30 finder. Televue 6mm Radian

Which doesn't sound such a bad haul IMO you must have financed those in some way.  How?

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I set aside a certain amount that I can easily afford every month towards any astro kit that I think I would like to have (must have?).

All my kit has been bought this way.

With all the talk recently about Tak fc100 etc I have persuaded myself that I need to have one to see what all the fuss is about.

If all goes well I should be able to order one by september.

Avtar

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I believe people should do what they feel happy with.  personally my dad died so young I don't believe in waiting unless whatever you do is likely to create more stress than it solves. I live for today but certainly plan for tomorrow too. Everyone else can do their own thing too as far as I am concerned.

My point re confusion was that you seemed to suggest credit and debt were different.  I see now that we agree that they are not ;)

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12 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

I believe people should do what they feel happy with.  personally my dad died so young I don't believe in waiting unless whatever you do is likely to create more stress than it solves. I live for today but certainly plan for tomorrow too. Everyone else can do there own thing too as far as I am concerned.

My point re confusion was that you seemed to suggest credit and debt were different.  I see now that we agree that they are not ;)

Me too, Shane - something I feel more acutely with every passing year.

Anyway - original post - none of those options!  I fund my passion by flogging off all the stuff I accumulated in my previous hobby of 20 years' standing.

(Not sure how this will fare now that I fancy a Meade LX600!!)

Doug.

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I tend to look at spending as a yearly budget , if I am in the market for a scope etc and it suddenly becomes discounted then I will buy even if it means using credit happy that over the year I will most likely be in profit on the deal. The other thing is that I am getting old so I do practice the "I want it now" school of thought and to be honest if you buy second hand you can often re sell for more than you paid.

Alan

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I bought mine as a rare and expensive treat as I was coming up to my tenth anniversary in my current job, and I'd just dug out and cleaned up the old scope that I got as a fifth anniversary present from my previous job. It wasn't quite from spare money as I'd normally buy treats, but from digging into the overdraft a bit more but without risking busting the limit. Fortunately some overtime came up that enabled me to more than earn that money back. A couple of eyepieces were paid for by money saved from not commuting to London for two weeks over Christmas, and from the end of year council tax payment break.

I've just had a bonus from work, and I'm trying to talk myself out of a SW Mak 127. I have a feeling I may not succeed, even though I have other spending priorities first.

Of course, if I actually managed to give up smoking I wouldn't have to worry so much!

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With the advent of eBay and classifieds ads of forums like this I rarely consider the total cost of something I'm intending to purchase. I'm interested only in the deprecation (or rather resale value). For that reason I'll tend to buy second hand and take good care of it, knowing that astro gear tends not to depreciate that much. Given how utterly rubbish savings interest rates are (and the availability of cheap credit) I'd rather place some capital into the right gear knowing I can liquidate that asset fairly easily. I say fairly, as its a bit harder to ship a 14" Dob than a Leica Summilux 50mm lens! I've owned tons of lovely photo gear that I'd never have been able to purchase brand new over the years - probably tens of thousands of pounds of kit for the loss of £2-3k in depreciation. In the camera world lens prices are actually going up - when Micro 4/3rds came along suddenly old film & cine lenses were much in demand for their character. If you're willing to bide your time and look for the right kit and the right price (and make sure its insured) you can make this an inexpensive hobby.

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I'm 36. But I'm old fashioned. The only credit I took was 250 quids when you had credit cards thrown at you at the supermarkets. Got it, done it, don't particularly care about it. Worked my way through, when in my twenties I would carry bricks 8-5, then would do 8-2 in the post office, on weekends - private jobs, extensions lofts and that kind of stuff, saved saved saved saved. All savings were invested, now I'm sitting in a posh flat surrounded by nice paintings. Grand piano. Telescope or two. I know I earned it and have no one to thank about it. 

I wouldn't mind anyone doing the same. It was hard. But it was with it at the end.

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2 hours ago, Erla said:

I'm 36. But I'm old fashioned. The only credit I took was 250 quids when you had credit cards thrown at you at the supermarkets. Got it, done it, don't particularly care about it. Worked my way through, when in my twenties I would carry bricks 8-5, then would do 8-2 in the post office, on weekends - private jobs, extensions lofts and that kind of stuff, saved saved saved saved. All savings were invested, now I'm sitting in a posh flat surrounded by nice paintings. Grand piano. Telescope or two. I know I earned it and have no one to thank about it. 

I wouldn't mind anyone doing the same. It was hard. But it was with it at the end.

It's a great pity everyone doesn't have your attitude, I hope you enjoy what you have earned, you deserve to.  I too have worked since I was young.  I plucked turkeys in my spare time at Christmas and Easter before I was 18 (in the days when you could get away with it as a young child).  I earned enough doing it to visit the States for 4 weeks when I was 18 years old.  With the exception of the 3 months it took me to get a job when I left school I have worked ever since.  I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but if I am careful the 'pin-money' fund is rarely empty if I watch things I can usually buy what I want (like the telescope this year - I usually treat the house to one 'large item' each year) and even as a single mum my kids have enjoyed an upbringing and holidays that many would envy.  In my opinion there is no substitute to an upbringing that leaves folks willing to work for what they want and to do most things for it.  Believe me, turkey plucking is hard work!

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I have a load of hobbies and just started into astronomy and not got a decent scope yet.

I intended to get one this week but just had a major disaster with my car so holding off on a scope just now.

I spend very little on hobby stuff and everything hobby related gets given to me for nothing and I find lots of stuff in charity shops (so I tell the wife).

in reality I start off with enough to get me into the hobby then build it up, with astronomy..I was given a free 114mm reflector for nothing (really this time) and it's got me interested so my plan is to get a 10" dobsonian for viewing and then a decent mount and scope for trying astrophotograghy.    all totally free of course ;-)

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22 hours ago, JOC said:

It's a great pity everyone doesn't have your attitude, I hope you enjoy what you have earned, you deserve to.  I too have worked since I was young.  I plucked turkeys in my spare time at Christmas and Easter before I was 18 (in the days when you could get away with it as a young child).  I earned enough doing it to visit the States for 4 weeks when I was 18 years old.  With the exception of the 3 months it took me to get a job when I left school I have worked ever since.  I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but if I am careful the 'pin-money' fund is rarely empty if I watch things I can usually buy what I want (like the telescope this year - I usually treat the house to one 'large item' each year) and even as a single mum my kids have enjoyed an upbringing and holidays that many would envy.  In my opinion there is no substitute to an upbringing that leaves folks willing to work for what they want and to do most things for it.  Believe me, turkey plucking is hard work!

I've found its hard work trying to be a pheasant plucker ??

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On 08/05/2017 at 18:52, JOC said:

Rick, given that you list:

Scopes: Skywatcher Startravel 102 Refractor, Revelation 8" dob.

Equipment: EQ1-mount with ra motor drive. Canon EOS M + 18-55 and 22mm lenses.

Accessories: Meade series 3000 25, 18, 9.7mm plossls, and 2x and 3x barlows. Meade 6x30 finder. Televue 6mm Radian

Which doesn't sound such a bad haul IMO you must have financed those in some way.  How?

I sold the TV ep some time ago as it was surplus to requirements, but I came into some money to pay for my kit fortunately (I haven't got round to editing my signature, lol :p)

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