Do I sell up?! After some thoughts from people in a similar situation.

[Dan13]

Hi,

People that have sold there Astro gear, did you regret it? Did you end up buying again later down the line? Did you think about doing it but didn't? 

I'm at a cross roads atm, this autum/winter has been terrible in the UK and have probably been out twice in 3 months... I have about 2.5k's worth of kit and really don't know what to do!

I love this hobby but the time away from it has made me wonder whether the money is better spent else where.

I know you can't make the deciding factor for me but just intrigued in hearing others stories if they have been in a similar place.

 

Edit..I'd be keeping my viewing set up, I'd be looking to sell the photography side of my equipment.

Many thanks

Edited January 24, 2021 by Dan13
Added clarification

[Andy ES]

Dan

I’ve just bought a similar amount of gear after about 30 years away from astronomy.

I wanted a new hobby in early retirement and knew after watching the weather over a long time that this would be an intermittent hobby!

so I thought that this would be a long journey over many years and that the times out would be very special and worth the wait.

if you have a family maybe they can enjoy it with you. 

There will always be something more pressing to spend money on, but I have found sometimes a diverting hobby is worth the investment, particularly in these testing times.

 

[tooth_dr]

I packed my kit away for about 6-7 years, and then in 2017 I just got the bug again.  If you can hold onto it for a while then that might be the best plan.  I had a few items - cameras particularly - that dated badly over the time I stored them and became virtually worthless!

[Dan13]

Thanks Andy! 

This is my thoughts,  although I love the hobby I'm wondering if at this stage in my life I should sell up and maybe come back when I retire? I have a 2 year old son and would love him to learn the night sky but he's a fair bit off that yet. I'd be keeping my viewing scope but selling my astrophotography gear.

 

I think if im honest the time away has made me intimidated to come back, I feel like I've lost all the knowledge of my gear that I knew so well.

 

I think when I get a clear night I owe it to myself to get out there ans see if that love is back or not.

[Dan13]

2 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I packed my kit away for about 6-7 years, and then in 2017 I just got the bug again.  If you can hold onto it for a while then that might be the best plan.  I had a few items - cameras particularly - that dated badly over the time I stored them and became virtually worthless!

Thank you, I no doubt think I'll be back but your last statement is what's driving me atm. 

 

My cam will fetch a decent sum atm and I'm worried I'm going to feel like this again soon and I'll lose the price tag on the gear. 

 

I hate that I'm even thinking this tbh as I never imagined being in this train of thought.

[John]

You can still be into astronomy without having loads of kit.

I sold my scope when our kids came along and had around 10 years without anything other than binoculars , a few books and "Astronomy Now" magazine. No forums back then either. The interest in space and astronomy did not go away though.

By the time I was in a position, and had the desire, to buy a decent scope again, the price of equipment had actually come down quite a bit, relatively speaking, so for a relatively modest sum I was able to get a good scope and re-learned how to observe.

It is only a hobby. We should never feel trapped by it. People are welcome on SGL armed with nothing other than an interest

[Dan13]

1 minute ago, John said:

You can still be into astronomy without having loads of kit.

I sold my scope when our kids came along and had around 10 years without anything other than binoculars , a few books and "Astronomy Now" magazine. No forums back then either. The interest in space and astronomy did not go away though.

By the time I was in a position, and had the desire, to buy a decent scope again, the price of equipment had actually come down quite a bit, relatively speaking, so for a relatively modest sum I was able to get a good scope and re-learned how to observe.

It is only a hobby. We should never feel trapped by it. People are welcome on SGL armed with nothing other than an interest

Thanks John,  I share your views and probably should have mentioned in my main post that I'd be keeping my viewing set up its the photography side I'm looking to sell.

I agree, the passion for "space" never dies, a true wonder!

[kirkster501]

All of us in the UK go through this doubt because of the weather.   There can't be many places in the world more poorly positioned to be doing astro imaging than in the UK, there have been no clear nights in Nottingham without the moon since the start of November and I have counted on one hand the clear nights where I can do AP since last June.  That's a lot of £££ per use.   I'll say for sure I am making no further large investments into dedicated scopes and cameras/filters, I am becoming more of a DSLR lens imager.  I would love a C11 Edge but I cannot justify it for the use it will get (or not).

[johninderby]

The same thoughts of selling off everything are pretty common I’d think. Particularily on a cloudy night.

I have often thought of downsizing and keeping say just three scopes. The ones that get used most and selling the others and using the money for other hobbies.🤔

[Dan13]

15 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

All of us in the UK go through this doubt because of the weather.   There can't be many places in the world more poorly positioned to be doing astro imaging than in the UK, there have been no clear nights in Nottingham without the moon since the start of November and I have counted on one hand the clear nights where I can do AP since last June.  That's a lot of £££ per use.   I'll say for sure I am making no further large investments into dedicated scopes and cameras/filters, I am becoming more of a DSLR lens imager.  I would love a C11 Edge but I cannot justify it for the use it will get (or not).

That's a good train of thought, maybe i could downsize back to what i started with, a dslr and lens etc and still have that there if i require. thats another ave to look at for sure. 

yes your right, i used to spend all day in this forum and astro buy/sell scouting pages for things to buy  i havent been on either for months! 

[Dan13]

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The same thoughts of selling off everything are pretty common I’d think. Particularily on a cloudy night.

I have often thought of downsizing and keeping say just three scopes. The ones that get used most and selling the others and using the money for other hobbies.🤔

If you have the luxury of having various imaging scopes and set up then thats what i would do! I have a viewing set up and an imaging set up, the imaging is the one im really contemplating selling.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

A difficult one.
I love the hobby and things worked out just about right for me in that I had built up to a reasonable imaging setup just before retirement last April, so bought when I was earning the money (Still working part time but due for full retirement soon).
But had very few totally clear night sessions last year due to weather, and as mentioned above, all has been NB because ALL (really ALL) the clear nights had near to full moon.

If I was rich then without doubt I would keep the gear (and get better gear) whether I used it regularly or not, but I often think is it worth having £5K+ worth of gear for the handful of sessions I get each year.

At the moment I keep onto the idea in retirement I will get my obsy which helps tremendously with being able to either squeeze an hour here and there if skies clear rather than dragging all my gear out of the garage just for the clouds to roll in again.
Only issue I have there is that we also plan to downsize house so also been holding off till we move and of course house hinting not easy because I want somewhere with pretty dark skies and the least LP.

So all in all its a hobby I love but sometime wonder if the worry and headaches that go with it are worth it, but for now I think it is - besides I would be in tears selling my setup for probably half what I paid and knowing I am not upgrading to something better.

Over 10 years ago I gave up carp fishing and had a few K's of gear then for all the over-nighters and also 3 high spec rods, reels, bite alarms etc. I was going to sell up but couldn't bear to part with it so it all got stored in garage.
Then got back into it and really glad I kept the gear (Initially), trouble was after a few sessions I saw all the new gear available and wanted it and of course bought it. 
I think I would be the same with the astro stuff so if I gave up for an extended period and if I stored it then years later would want the latest camera and probably a new scope. Mount I probably would be happy with.

Steve

[callisto]

Your not alone, that's for sure....I've had most of my AP gear since July last year and its been out twice!

I've been seriously thinking of letting all my AP gear go and just keep my 10" dob for visual and spend the money I make on decent eyepieces 

I must admit, I'm a bit of a impulse buyer and afterwards think do I even need this stuff.

Mark

[Dan13]

2 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

A difficult one.
I love the hobby and things worked out just about right for me in that I had built up to a reasonable imaging setup just before retirement last April, so bought when I was earning the money (Still working part time but due for full retirement soon).
But had very few totally clear night sessions last year due to weather, and as mentioned above, all has been NB because ALL (really ALL) the clear nights had near to full moon.

If I was rich then without doubt I would keep the gear (and get better gear) whether I used it regularly or not, but I often think is it worth having £5K+ worth of gear for the handful of sessions I get each year.

At the moment I keep onto the idea in retirement I will get my obsy which helps tremendously with being able to either squeeze an hour here and there if skies clear rather than dragging all my gear out of the garage just for the clouds to roll in again.
Only issue I have there is that we also plan to downsize house so also been holding off till we move and of course house hinting not easy because I want somewhere with pretty dark skies and the least LP.

So all in all its a hobby I love but sometime wonder if the worry and headaches that go with it are worth it, but for now I think it is - besides I would be in tears selling my setup for probably half what I paid and knowing I am not upgrading to something better.

Over 10 years ago I gave up carp fishing and had a few K's of gear then for all the over-nighters and also 3 high spec rods, reels, bite alarms etc. I was going to sell up but couldn't bear to part with it so it all got stored in garage.
Then got back into it and really glad I kept the gear (Initially), trouble was after a few sessions I saw all the new gear available and wanted it and of course bought it. 
I think I would be the same with the astro stuff so if I gave up for an extended period and if I stored it then years later would want the latest camera and probably a new scope. Mount I probably would be happy with.

Steve

Thanks Steve, bar the retirement situation you sound in a very similar place to myself for sure.

I agree tech moves on and especially atm the gear is worth a fair bit of money still so in my head this softens the blow a bit when contemplating getting rid of it all. I just know in my mind when summer comes (except the late nights) i will really miss it.

I keep asking myself what is it ill miss exactly? It used to be about the "buzz" of that first sub come through and seeing what detail your looking at for the rest of the session, at least on my last few it become more of a routine and not so much buzz, mainly due to the fact i was starting to image things i have imaged before. now i know there's A LOT to image in the night sky but unless i move or go to a dark site i can only see the same targets each year, do i really want to keep imaging the same targets each year?!

I'm contemplating seriously down sizing all my gear and have the bare minimum but the mount is the kicker! imo its the most important part of it and also good money. 

[Dan13]

20 minutes ago, callisto said:

Your not alone, that's for sure....I've had most of my AP gear since July last year and its been out twice!

I've been seriously thinking of letting all my AP gear go and just keep my 10" dob for visual and spend the money I make on decent eyepieces 

I must admit, I'm a bit of a impulse buyer and afterwards think do I even need this stuff.

Mark

Im with you on the impulse buyer! im very impulsive with all my things, During lockdown my love for film come back so now i have over 100 4k movies, i missed playing the guitar so now i have another guitar lol, actually reading this back maybe i have an underlying issue i need to clear up haha! but yes i just know ill regret it but somethings telling me to sell up...

[teoria_del_big_bang]

10 minutes ago, Dan13 said:

I keep asking myself what is it ill miss exactly? It used to be about the "buzz" of that first sub come through and seeing what detail your looking at for the rest of the session, at least on my last few it become more of a routine and not so much buzz, mainly due to the fact i was starting to image things i have imaged before. now i know there's A LOT to image in the night sky but unless i move or go to a dark site i can only see the same targets each year, do i really want to keep imaging the same targets each year?!

I know what you mean and I guess the aim eventually is improvement on your images to the last time you imaged that target, or one thing I want to progress to is mosaics, which really do need patience on some targets to get the amount of data required and can take years if the target is only available for short periods each year.

But I also think that the biggest improvement I can maybe make is, as you say, dark skies.
And maybe I would get better images with a smaller more portable setup but travel a bit more.
My area has some pretty dark skies if I am prepared to travel, I still have same issue with weather but at least the few clear nights I get, if I am fully retired, could be used much better if I can easily put my gear in the car and off I go at the drop of a hat. Advantage for me is that I would not have to get up for work so could sleep later.
And, apart from keeping something like a HEQ5 mount and smaller scope all the heavier and more expensive items could go and still get some good data.

Steve

[Dan13]

Just now, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I know what you mean and I guess the aim eventually is improvement on your images to the last time you imaged that target, or one thing I want to progress to is mosaics, which really do need patience on some targets to get the amount of data required and can take years if the target is only available for short periods each year.

But I also think that the biggest improvement I can maybe make is, as you say, dark skies.
And maybe I would get better images with a smaller more portable setup but travel a bit more.
My area has some pretty dark skies if I am prepared to travel, I still have same issue with weather but at least the few clear nights I get, if I am fully retired, could be used much better if I can easily put my gear in the car and off I go at the drop of a hat. Advantage for me is that I would not have to get up for work so could sleep later.
And, apart from keeping something like a HEQ5 mount and smaller scope all the heavier and more expensive items could go and still get some good data.

Steve

Agreed Steve,

My set up is pretty portable to fair and this is my stumbling block, the two most expensive things in my rig are my cooled asi 294 mc pro and my Hyperturned HEQ5 pro. My scope is of money dont get me wrong but i feel if i downsized then id be jeopardising my image quality. Ive had a full spec DSLR before and the difference between that and my cooled cam imo is night and day, do i want to go back to that again...probably not, so thinking more about it, its either sell or all nothing at all. I have a 127 mak for viewing with some nice lenses, i can easily get an eq3 cheap to view with and thats the viewing sorted.

in my personal opinion i wouldn't want to image with anything less then my HEQ5.

[kirkster501]

I think the issue is that due to lack of use in the UK, it can start to cause stress and anxiety, the sheer value of this very expensive gear lying around doing nothing, especially if you havd to justify it to a SO, a problem that I do not have as yet.

Then, a clear night comes along and you waste it sorting out equipment gremlins.....

[Seelive]

Many years ago I disposed of all my equipment including the observatory, mainly as a result of it not being used due to family and work and commitments. A few years ago with such considerations no longer applicable I was able to resurect my interest in AP but I had to start all over again and, as the site of the old observatory is now a raised flower bed, the new kit had to be portable.  So yes, I do regret getting rid of it but having said that, I probably would have updated it anyway as it mid 80's vintage.

[Dan13]

57 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

I think the issue is that due to lack of use in the UK, it can start to cause stress and anxiety, the sheer value of this very expensive gear lying around doing nothing, especially if you havd to justify it to a SO, a problem that I do not have as yet.

Then, a clear night comes along and you waste it sorting out equipment gremlins.....

Ah yes them pesky gremilins! haha thats the worse bit, im gagging to get out there to see how i feel about it but the task of it all after being away for so long seems daunting....

[Dan13]

36 minutes ago, Seelive said:

Many years ago I disposed of all my equipment including the observatory, mainly as a result of it not being used due to family and work and commitments. A few years ago with such considerations no longer applicable I was able to resurect my interest in AP but I had to start all over again and, as the site of the old observatory is now a raised flower bed, the new kit had to be portable.  So yes, I do regret getting rid of it but having said that, I probably would have updated it anyway as it mid 80's vintage.

Thank you and this is what im thinking. Im roughly 30 years from retirement atm maybe a little less, my kit will be far obsolete by then, we could even be living on mars haha, if i sell now and get some good money for it all im sure for my retirement present i could treat myself to some new kit! its just between now and then im worried about and how much ill miss it, lately its been not at all but they always say you dont know what you got till its gone....