New to this world. Buy a used telescope?

[anderolas]

Hey, I've been thinking about buying a telescope for s while and reading here about equipment... is it a good idea to buy used scopes? And if so what do I need to check? 

I came across this Celestron Firstscope 80EQ for $80 usd... At least the tripod is good and is not a bird jones (hey I read your posts)

Good deal?

 

Thanks for your help

[Zeta Reticulan]

Difficult to say. These were made in the mid 90's and were also marketed as Vixen I believe. I think they are achromats around f/11. There are 2" aftermarket focusers available as an upgrade. These are purportedly quite good planetary/lunar scopes with little chromatic aberration (false colour). $80 is about 66 quid (£), so pretty good value for the whole bundle. Of course ... caveat emptor.

[Gabby76]

It looks like a mix of parts, the Celestron Firstscope is a decent refractor. These were made after Celestron partnership with Vixen and that is why it is made in China not Japan.

The optics with these are usually good but the mount may be at its limit with this setup.

For $80USD it is a reasonable price. 

Upgrade a few things over time and you will have a capable setup.  

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @anderolas and welcome to SGL. 

At $80.00 USD it is not a lot of money to loose. If and when you upgrade at a later date you can sell it on or make use of it for some other astro-related accessory, i.e. finder, guidescope, solar projection, etc.
My TeleVue Ranger [image below] is over twenty years old and I paid just a little bit over £400.00 GBP and it was used/secondhand when I purchased it during the summer of 1998. 

 

Many 'cheap' telescopes include 0.965" eyepieces and/or accessories, as opposed to the 'standard' 1.25" ones. Not sure what is included with yours though... sorry!
You can still obtain/purchase 0.965" e/p's [new or used/secondhand] but uncertain as to the performance, quality, etc. 

Above images showing the comparison between 0.965" and 1.25"

Edited July 26, 2022 by Philip R

[Louis D]

$80 isn't too bad of a price, but you'd need to check out the mechanics of everything.  I'd also check the optics; but barring physical damage or fungus, they're probably okay.

In general, though, I've found sellers of entry-level scopes tend to overprice their scopes and accessories.  Given the slim market for used entry-level scopes (who wants to give their kid a used scope on Christmas morning?), they stay on the message boards for months.

On the other hand, higher end scopes and accessories are usually great to purchase used.  They are generally built to last in the first place.  Their owners generally take astronomy seriously and thus take good care of their equipment.

Less than 25% of my equipment was bought new.  Many advanced amateurs have much deeper pockets than mine and are always on the upgrade treadmill to my wallet's advantage.