Doing the right thing

[Sunshine]

While looking through a local and very busy thrift shop I ran into this Skywatcher short tube 80, upon inspecting it and setting it up properly for them I came to the conclusion that although the tube was in great condition the mount was abysmal. It was as though someone had stepped on it, nothing would tighten properly, both axis would wobble and the slack on both was horrible even when knobs were tightened. It seems the greese was totally worn off and turning either axis slomo controls resulted in jams, creaks, jumps and wobbles. At $200 CAD i could not let this sell to an unsuspecting parent and child, upon speaking to the manager I kindly explained the issue and he was more than happy to pull it off the floor especially as all sales are final. He did ask if anything is worth keeping and I explained the OTA seemed to be great, surely someone else with a bit of knowledge on the subject of astronomy would know what they want to use it for so he decided to sell it separately. Thrift stores depend on donations, I am aware of this but I felt I was saving someone from heartbreak when they realized they dropped $200 On a dud, and a poor child left deflated.

[Ouroboros]

Yeah, I think you did the right thing. I suppose they could sell the telescope and throw the mount in for free and explain the problem with it.  

[RobertI]

You definitely did the right thing. The shop could probably put it on a camera tripod to make it more suitable, and more usable!

[Guest]

Good call. 

[bosun21]

A good call from yourself as well as the seller. As you say you probably saved a child a huge disappointment or a beginner hours of frustration.

[russ]

You did the right thing. Just hope they didn't ditch it all as the ST80 is a great little tube. Bought my niece one and she loves it. Hasten to add we bought an ST80 tube only and remounted it on an AZ4 going cheap. Works brilliantly for a young beginner.