What was your worst astronomy purchase?

[sojourneyer]

Now this one should bring some funny and unusual responses -- I hope!

This is number 2 on my list
It was from Amazon Warehouse. I like new Twilight 1 mount

Well it came in a box that belonged to a kids painting set and was full of torn, ripped styrofoam that did not come with the mount. I did not even try to assemble the mount as there was large tear in the box and I found some parts actually lying in the driveway when it was delivered.
What the heck... Enjoy.
and wait for number one.... of course it is from Amazon

[mikeDnight]

My worst astronomy purchase was a brand new TV NP101 IS from VentureScopes in 2007. It cost an absolute fortune and yet gave some of the worst planetary performance I've ever had from a refractor, and was outclassed in terms of definition and contrast by a 102mm F6.5 Vixen ED doublet costing a fraction of the price. I kept it for a year then sold it. OK, some might argue a TV NP101 isn't a planetary scope, but Televue claimed otherwise in their spectacular adverts in S&T. It was a sweet RFT though!

[RobertI]

I think my worst astro purchase was two nights at Kelling Heath Star Party - totally clouded out and not a star in sight! 😆

Edited September 18, 2023 by RobertI

[RobertI]

11 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

My worst astronomy purchase was a brand new TV NP101 IS

This thread could get interesting….. 😉

[Mandy D]

That would have to be my Daystar Solarscout. It has never showed anything beyond a dull red disc, with no hint of corona, flares or surface granulation no matter what settings I have tried. The Sun just wobbles around like a misaligned Polaris as you try to focus the thing. Worst astro purchase ever.

[Stu]

Mine was a Tak Sky 90 which I sold a lovely FC-76DC for. I was trying to find the biggest aperture for grab and go/carry on purposes and for widefield views. In reality I found it much too bulky and whilst it was decent on planets, the edge performance and field curvature for widefield just wasn’t what I was hoping for. Sold for a big loss, and a number of years later I found a replacement 76 which if I have any sense I’ll hang on to…. 🤪. My Genesis gives me my lovely flat widefield views, though not for carry on.

[sojourneyer]

I am hoping it does get interesting and bring some laughs....

Sadly, I do not have two bad experiences with Amazon.. but three.

Next one is tomorrow.

[Elp]

My worst astro purchase was the first... Because it led to the second, then the third, then....

 

[Piero]

Mm..

- my 12" f6 Lukehurst dobson (bought new) was very disappointing. After substantial redesign I am very pleased with it (it is a favourite one), but oh boys how much effort and time spent on it..

- a Lunt 50mm bought used. Nothing wrong with the telescope, but I simply did not get on with it and didn't find the views particularly impressive given the small aperture. It was sold almost immediately without regret.

- Vixen LVW 42mm. Bought new and was not particularly impressed by the views. Sold. Same for a Baader BCO 10mm and Vixen NLV 30mm.

- TV plossl 20mm (lenses assembled incorrectly, still have it) and nagler zoom 3-6mm (too much play in the central column, returned).

 

I've also had some excellent gear on my hands though. Just thinking about my current telescopes, Docter, Zeiss Zoom, VIP Barlow, Vixen SLV 5mm, Vixen HR 2.4mm, etc.

[sojourneyer]

22 minutes ago, Stu said:

Mine was a Tak Sky 90 which I sold a lovely FC-76DC for. I was trying to find the biggest aperture for grab and go/carry on purposes and for widefield views. In reality I found it much too bulky and whilst it was decent on planets, the edge performance and field curvature for widefield just wasn’t what I was hoping for. Sold for a big loss, and a number of years later I found a replacement 76 which if I have any sense I’ll hang on to…. 🤪. My Genesis gives me my lovely flat widefield views, though not for carry on.

My gosh Stu, that from a Tak telescope. Wow.  I think a 90mm is a perfect grab and go size. Under 10 lbs.   So sorry to have heard about your experience and the big depreciation on your scope when you sold it.  At least mine were returns. 

[sojourneyer]

Elp, reminds me of the song "where have all the flowers gone":. Oh, When will you ever learn? Oh, When will you ever learn?

[DirkSteele]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

My worst astronomy purchase was a brand new TV NP101 IS from VentureScopes in 2007. It cost an absolute fortune and yet gave some of the worst planetary performance I've ever had from a refractor, and was outclassed in terms of definition and contrast by a 102mm F6.5 Vixen ED doublet costing a fraction of the price. I kept it for a year then sold it. OK, some might argue a TV NP101 isn't a planetary scope, but Televue claimed otherwise in their spectacular adverts in S&T. It was a sweet RFT though!

Venturescope!  That is a blast from the past.  I bought a lot of my EPs from Ninian back in the day when I sitll spent a lot of time at my parents on the southcoast and kept my scopes there.

 

Quite surprised by your experience with the NP101.  I have read many reports that suggest it does given up something to the best in terms of planetary performance but not to the degree you experienced.  Did it take a knock in shipping?  Sounds like these things are ultra sensitive to collimation of both sets of lenses and then then needing a trip to Tele Vue to be fixed.  Not ideal if you are the other side of the pond.

[ONIKKINEN]

Skywatcher EQM35-PRO, for imaging use with a VX8 which from the golden throne of hindsight was obviously never going to work (and it didn't!).

Another notable mention would be the Celestron 84wh LiFePo battery pack which had some of its plastic bits disintegrate after the first night and generally would not provide reliable power to anything. That one advertises 3A output, but it shut itself off frequently when powering the aforementioned EQM35. The worst part is that it has some not-so-smart circuit that automatically decides whether power is output or not, and it has a current limit on the low end as well. As a result it was not useful for even powering an LED flat panel because it decided to cut power after 5s due to low load.

Didn't use it for several months and in the end it simply broke itself. Now i can no longer recharge it because presumably the same automatic circuit has soiled the bed, this time for good, and no longer accepts a charge.

[DirkSteele]

I will throw the cat among the pigeons (and I am not talking an SCT!) and surprise some of you.  It is my 180mm LZOS triplet.  Why?  Certainly nothing to do with the quality of the scope.  Its awesome.  Its because I never use it.  It has not seen starlight in several years and I expect the cost per observing session with the scope is still above £1,000 (there is a good reason why I have not reviewed it depsite owning for 10 years).  It is just too big and heavy for the mostly quicker looks I find time for, especially with a young family.

 

However, unlike every other piece of equipment listed on this thread, one day it will transition to my best purchase.  I will eventually move out of central London, it will get a permanent home and be ready to use at a moment's notice!

Chris North going in for a look.  He liked it a lot.

Edited September 18, 2023 by DirkSteele
added image

[Ratlet]

16mm ovl wide field eyepiece.  The eyepiece that taught me that my low standards have limits. 

[woldsman]

William Optics Zenith Star 71. The optics were terrible because the tube was misaligned with the focuser. Shelled out to try & get it fixed but just ended up with an even bigger loss. Won’t say where I bought it. Only saving grace was the reducer flattener which did work. 

[Sunshine]

2 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

It is my 180mm LZOS triplet.

Wow, I simply cannot fathom having such a scope and not using it! 

[Sunshine]

Nothing to do with the scope itself in terms of quality, but I would have to nominate my CPC1100, I owned it for a short six months and in that time it tried to kill me twice while navigating stairs. We all know about aperture fever, but I was consumed by aperture stupidity considering I had to move the scope up and down two flights of stairs for sessions. It had to go before my wife would find me at the bottom of the stairs, dead and under the thing. 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Sunshine

[NGC 1502]

4 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

My worst astronomy purchase was a brand new TV NP101 IS from VentureScopes in 2007. It cost an absolute fortune and yet gave some of the worst planetary performance I've ever had from a refractor, and was outclassed in terms of definition and contrast by a 102mm F6.5 Vixen ED doublet costing a fraction of the price.

As suggested in another post, perhaps this scope had suffered a whack during transport. I once bought a second hand TV85 from someone I trust. When I tried it the collimation was way off.

All TV refractors have their lens cell secured to the tube with 3 locking screws. If the scope suffers a sharp knock, the lens cell can shift relative to the tube.  If you’re careful it’s a DIY fix. The sealant on the heads of the 3 lock screws must be removed and the screws slightly slackened. Using an artificial star, or defocussed real star, the cell can be nudged into alignment, then the 3 screws tightened.

The above wouldn’t stop me buying a TV refractor because I think they’re great. But there’s better ways to secure a lens cell to the tube. My very early model Vixen 80mm f11.4 lens cell simply screws onto the tube. The cell incorporates 3 pairs of push-pull screws. Simple and precise.

[Mr Spock]

A Vixen Porta II mount. Even with a small scope it was like jelly. After only a couple of uses one of the slow motion controls broke. It went in the skip.

[Paz]

My worst purchase in terms of poor judgement was getting 110mm straight through binoculars that I have never used in the field other than an initial session to check collimation. I realised that observing straight through just doesn't work for me and I prefer telescopes so it is still in its case over 5 (or probalby closer to 10) years later as I just haven't had the time to sell it.

My worst experience using an item is the Televue 32mm Plossl. I bought this to improve on my generic 32mm plossl  and because it allows loads of infocus for binoviewing etc but, for reasons I still don't understand, it produces so much field curvature that put me off and it never gets used.

[Elp]

14 hours ago, Elp said:

My worst astro purchase was the first... Because it led to the second, then the third, then....

 

Tbh it was actually third time lucky for me (kind of). The first after much research on requiring aperture and focal length was a National Geographic 114/900 Newtonian. I tried hell and highwater to get it to work, collimation, took all of it apart and back together, the primary didn't budge much, the secondary was held on with flimsily mounted spiders and bolts so it was prone to dislodge at the slightest movement of the scope, couldn't even get a view of the moon. Gladly managed to return it as I stated one fixing bolt to the fork mount was missing (which it was), they took it back and it likely went straight to the scrap pile never to ever see the light of a star.

Second time was better with a Skywatcher Capricorn refractor on an EQ1 mount, and I learned not to like the mount and tripod (you learn better through experience right?). The scope wasn't too bad, moon looked decent if yellow, and I managed to see the Venus Mars conjunction (was it?) and even managed a blurry eyepiece projection image of it.

So more research later the third was my WO Z61, a scope of such usefulness I still own it many years later. Excellent both visual and photographic, I've used it for planetary (yes you can use it visually for this too as it give small but very sharp detail), lunar, solar (WL and HA with appropriate solar filtering), galaxies, DSO, it's excelled at everything.

Edited September 19, 2023 by Elp

[StarryEyed]

Sky watcher 80f5 shortube. The worst telescope I've bought. After all the mods of stopping down blackened edges reseating lens tunning the focuser adding a 32mm Televue plossl I took it to the Canary Islands and it gave me one of the best views I ever had of the night sky. So good it took my breath away and in the process became the best telescope for the money I ever bought. Wouldn't have had those two nights if not for an 80f5.

[mikeDnight]

15 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

Venturescope!  That is a blast from the past.  I bought a lot of my EPs from Ninian back in the day when I sitll spent a lot of time at my parents on the southcoast and kept my scopes there.

 

Quite surprised by your experience with the NP101.  I have read many reports that suggest it does given up something to the best in terms of planetary performance but not to the degree you experienced.  Did it take a knock in shipping?  Sounds like these things are ultra sensitive to collimation of both sets of lenses and then then needing a trip to Tele Vue to be fixed.  Not ideal if you are the other side of the pond.

No, its collimation was perfect. It just ran out of steam easily. On its own it could be quite convincing, but when compared alongside other good refractors like Vixen and Takahashi it simply lacked definition. I knew its days were numbered when my friends Vixen 102ED revealed divisions in Saturn's rings akin to the grooves on a vinyl record, while my NP101 gave a soft view showing only A&B rings and Cassini's division - not really a test for a 4" refractor. Saturn was high in the sky and the seeing conditions were excellent. When a Skywatcher ED left the NP in the dust I sold it immediately. Optically its star images were almost identical either side of focus and ronchi lines were straight indicating no SA. May be with the quad design and short F ratio requiring powermates and short fl Nagler's at the time to match the power of the other scopes there was just too much glass in the way?

[sojourneyer]

Now for another winner!

Another Amazon Warehouse purchase - a like new Svbony 30mm Plossl.  How could anyone say this is like new and I love the way it was packaged

All that gunk is on the inside of the lens. 

The Twilight 1 mount rated number two. This is number 3.  Number 1 will be tomorrow

Edited September 19, 2023 by sojourneyer