Does buying more gear really make you any happier ?

[Solar B]

I suspect it does in the short term but then in the long term I'll always revert back to 

my previous state of mind and start looking for that next fix ! (never satisfied ,  there's always 

something better out there you know).

Then when things do arrive they are carefully smuggled into the house or even sent to a friends 

or some other surreptitious address.

I'm always on the look out for that next high with another solar product when I should really be 

spending the money on maintaining the house , the 4 cars i,m running & my family (5 of us in total).

So here some guilt starts to manifest itself and it feels selfish to even be considering another 

purchase ... but perhaps we astronomers are all a little selfish deep down.

Most of my colleagues don't appear to have these same issues and do not waste large amounts

of time patrolling the buy and sell pages , they appear to have things in check & behave rationally.

I know this all sounds like I have a problem .... and you know what perhaps I do 😎

Brian 

 

 

 

 

[CloudMagnet]

10 minutes ago, Solar B said:

but perhaps we astronomers are all a little selfish deep down.

Most of my colleagues don't appear to have these same issues and do not waste large amounts

of time patrolling the buy and sell pages , they appear to have things in check & behave rationally.

I don't think it is selfish to buy gear for yourself. If anything astronomy is very humbling- at least in my mind. It helps you realise just how much more there is out there and how unimportant arguments can be in the grand scheme of things.

Also, other people are spending plently of money on other things- most people won't tell you about of thousands of pounds of debt they have on credit. Keeping up with the Joneses and all that.

Best thing at the end of the day is keeping a roof over your head and being financially secure- then spending the rest on what keeps you happy as well.

[banjaxed]

No it's not selfish as long as you can afford it and your family are not going to be deprived.

[andrew s]

It's  a difficult one this. I very  much enjoy the research and planning but if when it arrives there is nothing to fettle then it ca be an anticlimax. 

I built up my own custom  mountain bike rather than buy for that reason but could have got a similar spec cheaper fully built.

I enjoy making Astronomical telescope and nstruments but it is much cheaper  to buy ready made.

Regards Andrew 

[bomberbaz]

I have actually got to a stage where I carefully weigh things up now and don't usually buy just because I want but I look at what I already have and try to decide if their is a real and quantifiable need.

EG, I want a daystar solar scout but already have a lunt 35 which works very well. Do I need to shell out a big wedge for a slightly improved view which is subjective from my research?

I also consider storage as my gear takes up a lot of space, mainly hidden behind the sofa and at present swmbo does not mind too much. I want to maintain the status quo.

[Paul M]

I'm having a bit of a spree just now. Annual bonus time and no holidays for the last couple of years and non on the horizon. Until fostering came our way we used to have 2 or 3  holidays away each year.

So I've bought the MD a new laptop and I've got some new toys on order. Not silly money by any means, just a few bits to get my old RasPi running Astroberry and some low end ZWO cameras. My first big spend since getting the Skywatcher gear in 2013.

I'm looking forward to the dark nights to have a play. And it'll be money well spent. Because it's so infrequent I don't have mountains of unused gear. I always talk to the MD about my spending too. So no guilt trip for me!

It's always been about the subject and not the equipment for me.

[heliumstar]

There should be no guilt. I don't want to live a life when I only spend on things I need. I have wants as well. There is an inner struggle sometimes with things like, maybe someone needs resources more than I do but I compansate that with occasional donation. The struggle is still there though.

Myself, it does make me happy when the package arrives

Thumbs up for the thread since I feel there are quite a lot of us with struggles like this

Edited June 7, 2020 by heliumstar
added content

[vlaiv]

34 minutes ago, Solar B said:

I suspect it does in the short term but then in the long term I'll always revert back to 

my previous state of mind and start looking for that next fix ! (never satisfied ,  there's always 

something better out there you know).

I have noticed this as well. I think it is more about doing something that makes one happy rather than always focusing on what makes others happy.

From time to time, I just start craving that - "this is what I want" fix. It is not necessarily "chase the better" gear kind of thing - it can be "papa's got a brand new toy" thing.

It's not impulse buy thing either - a lot of thought and yearning go into it.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I am on the lookout to improve things, but I do enjoy the gear I got myself long after I acquired it (or else I sell it to get new kit). So, yes, buying kit can make you happy in the long term, not because you own it, but because of what you can do with it; because it allows you to explore the universe. This is doubly true if you manage to get a really good deal (like, most recently a 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton in very good nick for just 165 Euro). One thing which I have found a useful guidline is to get new kit only when you have started to run into the limitations of the old. This is probably why I haven't bought any EPs in a long time, what with a box full of Nagler, Delos, XW, and other very nice EPs indeed.

[bomberbaz]

1 minute ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I am on the lookout to improve things, but I do enjoy the gear I got myself long after I acquireed it (or else I sell it to get new kit). So, yes, buying kit can make you happy lin the long term, not because you own it, but because of what you can do with it; because it allows you to explore the universe. This is doubly true if you manage to get a really good deal (like, most recently a 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton in very good nick for just 165 Euro). One thing which I have found a useful guidline is to get new kit only when you have started to run into the limitations of the old. This is probably why I haven't bought any EPs in a long time, what with a box full of Nagler, Delos, XW, and other very nice EPs indeed.

Good point well made Michael. I have hardly bought anything new myself regarding eyepieces since acquiring the Nikon's. You can't improve on perfect which is how I view them.

[Davey-T]

Does buying more gear really make you any happier ?

Works for me 😂

Dave

 

[John]

I'm not sure that investing heavily does help much

I've always had totally separate funds for my hobbies and have never taken a loan out to fund anything. So it's never been a choice between domestic and astro equipment expenditure.

Before the lockdown I was going to have a massive clear out of gear and cut right down. Ironically, due to the generally fine weather that we have had since March, I've actually done a lot of observing and I've used most of what I have so I can see the point of it more now.

I had a big spend in 2016 and got a couple of top end scopes that I would only have dreamed about in years gone by.

It has been great to own and use them and to see what "premium optics" actually look like at the eyepiece but I don't feel that they have been game changers in the hobby for me.

One of the things that using a premium optics has shown me is just how good the standard of more "ordinary" equipment is today

 

 

 

 

[david_taurus83]

I'm in the same camp. Forever picking fault at what I have, always thinking something else will be better.

[mikeDnight]

No!  What makes me happy is knowing the little I have is top of its league. Knowing that gives me confidence in my gear, and makes me really push things to their limit, so that I really get the maximum performance out of it.  Having said that, the biggest game changer I've had occured when I bought a cheap binoviewer and cheap ortho's, proving you don't always need to spend a fortune to obtain a spectacular improvement in performance. 

[Star101]

I'll tell you tomorrow when my 16" RC Truss arrives  

[John]

My "game changer" has been my 12 inch dob which was a 2nd hand tube and a mount made by the good hands and mind of @Moonshaneof this fine forum

It's the scope that has cost me the least and yet has shown me the most

[ollypenrice]

My golden astro rule is, 'If it ain't broke don't fix it,' so I actively dislike introducing new kit. Of course, this is partly because the kit I have is very good. What I really like doing is going out and using it in the knowledge that I understand it and that it will almost certainly work. This might seem surprising but I'm not really all that interested in kit. Above all I just want it to work.

Anyway, by far the most important thing to have is a good sky.

Olly

Edited June 7, 2020 by ollypenrice

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I suppose kit makes you happy if it is the right kit. My C8 on its Vixen GP mount has been with me for nearly 25 years, and I still thoroughly enjoy that scope, in part because it is easily set up, and incredibly versatile, great for visual, but also at planetary and lunar (and even a little solar) imaging. The APM 80mm F/6 triplet has been around a while too, and is a very useful complement to t he C8, shining in wide-field observing, and solar and deep-sky imaging, and a neat travel scope. The Meade SN6 sits nicely in between, a lovely wide-field and comet chasing scope, and lovely for imaging smaller DSOs than with the APM.

Am I fully content? Yes and no, to quote Sir Humphrey Appleby, but mainly yes, because I have a very versatile set of good quality kit. I do, of course have further things on the wish list. The GP-DX mount I bought from @Stu now allows me to support a 6" F/5.9 frac to create a dedicated 6" solar scope, for white light, Ca-K and H-alpha. I would mount my Beloptik 85 mm tri-band ERF halfway down the tube, and simply switch between Herschel wedge with solar continuum filter, Ca-K module, and H-alpha unit in the focuser. That would really give me a huge boost in resolution. I am on the lookout for a second-hand OTA of this calibre. The other thing on the wish list is a C11 OTA, which I am told will actually sit happily on the GP-DX, despite being heavier than the (conservative) Vixen spec. When will I get this stuff? Time will tell. And maybe a really nice portable Dob will come along, and I will pounce on that instead. Self-control? I have heard of it

 

[tomato]

I have used this quote before to sum up my approach, stolen from an advertising slogan for another expensive kit related hobby:

"Why waste your money on food and rent when all I need is my" (insert as required). Unlike Olly, I am very interested in the kit, I think you have to be living under UK skies. 

Joking aside, it can be an expensive hobby, just like golf, owing a classic American muscle car, horses etc etc. If you can afford it, I don't feel the need to feel guilty about it. And I always feel better knowing that Mrs Tomato has an up to date list of the resale value, should she need it.

 

 

[Ships and Stars]

I try to buy everything second hand and then look after it well, that way there's no real hit on depreciation. 

I'm now at the point I have two dobs and a nice, but not over the top, eyepiece collection, with three main eyepieces that cover 95% of my observing.

All sorted on binoculars! 

As long as I stay away from astrophotography...

[DaveS]

I'm not planning on buying anything serious for the foreseeable, having dropped something like £20k last year on DDM85, ODK12, G3 16200, all of which is still waiting to be installed due to multiplying delays. Hopefully not too long. The only major thing planned and on the horizon is a Sony IMX 455 based camera, but that won't be for a couple of years while manufacturers shake out their designs.

My current TS 130 f/7 triplet / DDM60 / and either SC694 or ASI1600 does me very well indeed.

[ollypenrice]

3 hours ago, tomato said:

 And I always feel better knowing that Mrs Tomato has an up to date list of the resale value, should she need it.

A resounding Yes to this. Although 'hiding it from the other half' is a kind of running joke on SGL, there was a touching and deeply disturbing post from a member who deeply regretted doing this because it damaged a precious relationship. Hobbies (not my favourite word) take us into worlds of specialized equipment made in small volumes, so an expensive world. We make our peace with this world as we each see fit. It's easy for me: I make a living with my kit, all of which has high residual value. And it's also easy because if I pop my clogs tonight I know that our 'regulars' and robotic clients will see Monique gets a fair deal out of what's left. I don't need to verify this beforehand, I know it.

Olly

[Star101]

I have tried a few times to convince my wife that that Astrodon 1.25" 3nm Ha piece of glass would cost £600 brand new. She thinks I'm joking...serioulsy!! lol

[Pete Presland]

I don't think i have bought many items expecting them to make me happy to be honest. Although my 22mm Nagler makes smile every time i use it (what an eyepiece!)

Getting 2nd hand equipment that has been looked after by previous owners and now is giving me pleasure does make me very happy though.

I do the same as @John i have a completely separate fund i save in for Astronomy items, if there isn't enough in it, i don't get it. 🙂 

 

[Paz]

This is a great idea to make a thread about and will hopefully guide some readers towards what really makes them enjoy the hobby.

I enjoy researching kit and getting new things but towards finite goals rather than an endless cycle. I'm almost done with purchases and only have 2 things left on my long term list to try at some point... binoviewers and Ha solar. I don't have any further plans for mounts eyepieces scopes etc, I'm enjoying what I've got and I'm grateful for it.

I think astronomy can be enjoyed for not too much expense, and you can get a lot of your money back on reselling. There's plenty of more expensive hobbies out there.  I used to ride motorbikes, so many costs are sunk and you never get them back but because they don't result in bits of kit piling up in your cupboards you don't think your spending so much, but things like petrol, insurance, tyres, servicing, tax, track days, repairing accident damage, the list goes on. You could easily burn enough money in one year that could instead pay for an epic scope that would last a lifetime.