What was your worst astronomy purchase?

[lawsio]

To answer the question properly, my worst purchase was a Sky-Water Skyhawk 1145p AZ GOTO.

The reason being is that I had the Skyhawk EQ1 for several years and loved it, had a little toolbox on wheels it fit in so I could take it to dark sky spots and up hills to get the most of the sky. I decided after a while I wanted to step up my game and experiment with goto tech so for some reason I sold my whole setup and replaced with an identical OTA but on the GOTO mount instead, and I hated it. I thought it was clumsy, ugly, noisy, inconvenient, I hated the massive synscan keypad that came with it, it drove me mad trying to align it and in the end I sold it and have mostly been using the 8" dob (which may or may not be upgraded soon despite this cautionary tale!) ever since. 

It's only very recently that I've started to trust goto tech again with the AZGTi that came with my SkyMax. It's a long road to recovery for me though!

[sojourneyer]

Ed Ting recommends the 8” over a 10” dob

[tomato]

On the ‘regret buying a big aperture’ topic when I decided to buy a Dobsonian for visual astronomy my conclusion was aperture is everything so I purchased a second hand 16” flex tube. I thought I had a reasonably sized car but I only just got it in the back for the journey home. Sure enough, it is a right PITA to get it out the garage and trundle it round on its four wheel trolley for an observing session in the back garden, but oh my the views! I still don’t regard it as a bad purchase, it does what it says on the tin, if anything I wish I had kept on saving for a Stargate.

[badhex]

I lamented this recently on another thread, but my worst purchase is probably an EQ6-R Pro. It's literally never been used in earnest, just to test everything works. It's just too big and heavy for my use case which requires taking things up and down stairs, and I've also discovered that these days I prefer the simplicity of manual alt-az mounts.

Since I could not (and still can't) imagine a scenario where I would have any scopes it couldn't handle I'd always intended that it would be my forever mount, but in fact it has turned out to be my never mount. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by badhex

[lawsio]

1 hour ago, sojourneyer said:

Ed Ting recommends the 8” over a 10” dob

I've discovered Ed recently (Through his Dob size comparison videos as it happens) and have been watching his channel the last few days. Love the guy!

[bosun21]

I don’t think I’ve made any major faux pas regarding telescopes themselves but eyepieces are an entire different story. I started out buying relatively plain cheap eyepieces and instead of doing the sensible thing and upgrading to a quality eyepiece I did it in multiple steps. The amount of money I must have squandered by going this route is not insignificant. I most definitely learned a valuable lesson.

[sojourneyer]

15 minutes ago, lawsio said:

I've discovered Ed recently (Through his Dob size comparison videos as it happens) and have been watching his channel the last few days. Love the guy!

Ed is a super fellow. and honest in his reviews. I found out about the  8 vs 10 dob when I watched his video on the Celestron Starsense 10" dob

[sojourneyer]

40 minutes ago, badhex said:

I lamented this recently on another thread, but my worst purchase is probably an EQ6-R Pro. It's literally never been used in earnest, just to test everything works. It's just too big and heavy for my use case which requires taking things up and down stairs, and I've also discovered that these days I prefer the simplicity of manual alt-az mounts.

Since I could not (and still can't) imagine a scenario where I would have any scopes it couldn't handle I'd always intended that it would be my forever mount, but in fact it has turned out to be my never mount. 

It now is your for-never mount

Edited September 21, 2023 by sojourneyer

[sojourneyer]

Here it is NUMBER ONE

I purchased from Amazon a purportedly brand new Svbony telescope.

Here is what I got. Need I say more. I got my money back plus the scope

[jjohnson3803]

SVBONY 6x30 RACI finder.  So much aberration that it was like I was looking through the bottom of a shot glass (and it wouldn't come to focus anyway).

[sojourneyer]

1 minute ago, jjohnson3803 said:

SVBONY 6x30 RACI finder.  So much aberration that it was like I was looking through the bottom of a shot glass (and it wouldn't come to focus anyway).

I had one of those as well but it did not make the top 4...😃

[Captain Scarlet]

I’ve only acquired one thing I regard as a total dud. As a beginner my starting-out kit included a skymax180 (still have it - it’s great); az-eq6 (likewise, my workhorse and it’s never failed me); and an external focuser for the skymax, a TS 2” Monorail. That focuser was so bad I couldn’t in all conscience sell it on. Its fine-focus knob was “springy”, so that the springiness was always much greater than the last bit of travel needed to get to focus. I tried to adjust it, and in dismantling it managed to effectively destroy it, so it sits in its box still, accusing me every time I come across it.

Magnus

[Stu1smartcookie]

16 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I must have squandered by going this route is not insignificant. I most definitely learned a valuable lesson.

You haven't squandered ... you researched ! Thats my line i use when trying to explain to Elena , anyway . 

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

You haven't squandered ... you researched ! Thats my line i use when trying to explain to Elena , anyway . 

Very deep research on my part 🤔.

[bomberbaz]

celestron astromaster 130eq. Purchased in the hope I could do some tinkering to make a useable lightweight imaging ota. 

Proved a fruitless chase of ambitious modifications that celestron have made nigh impossible due to use of moulded fittings.

[osbourne one-nil]

Worst astronomy purchase? My house. It's in the wrong place. 

[Coco]

CPC 800 and Eos adapter, back in the day (13+ years ago) the seller was aware of what I wanted to do but took my money regardless ... since then they are or have given the impression of being angels above others.. 

[Whistlin Bob]

At this point I'm also in the Quark club for poor purchases- I bought one second hand a few years ago, but the views I've had through it have been pretty rubbish. I've never had the chance to invest much time on it and cling on to the hope that at some point I'll get it working well.

Like a few others, my most acute moment of regret was with a purchase that turned out brilliantly. I bought my 14" dob used, and when driving back I was overwhelmed by the size and huge weight of it. First light was even worse: it took ages to set up, I couldn't collimate it, and the views through the ep that came with it were very poor. Luckily, I persisted, and once dialled in, it was the start of a love that's still going strong years later.

[JeremyS]

9 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

At this point I'm also in the Quark club for poor purchases- I bought one second hand a few years ago, but the views I've had through it have been pretty rubbish. I've never had the chance to invest much time on it and cling on to the hope that at some point I'll get it working well.

Like a few others, my most acute moment of regret was with a purchase that turned out brilliantly. I bought my 14" dob used, and when driving back I was overwhelmed by the size and huge weight of it. First light was even worse: it took ages to set up, I couldn't collimate it, and the views through the ep that came with it were very poor. Luckily, I persisted, and once dialled in, it was the start of a love that's still going strong years later.

There was a discussion on Quarks a few months ago.

Changing the setting on the control knob can help a lot. In my case, turned to the left. Puts up amazing images, but less good in central (default) position.

[Mandy D]

9 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

At this point I'm also in the Quark club for poor purchases- I bought one second hand a few years ago, but the views I've had through it have been pretty rubbish. I've never had the chance to invest much time on it and cling on to the hope that at some point I'll get it working well.

Like a few others, my most acute moment of regret was with a purchase that turned out brilliantly. I bought my 14" dob used, and when driving back I was overwhelmed by the size and huge weight of it. First light was even worse: it took ages to set up, I couldn't collimate it, and the views through the ep that came with it were very poor. Luckily, I persisted, and once dialled in, it was the start of a love that's still going strong years later.

My 200P was also bought secondhand and the collimation was so far out the centre spot was nowhere to be seen and it took lots of adjustment just to bring it into view. The seller included a Cheshire with it and told me he'd been using the scope, but I cannot see how. Again, it was one of my best purchases and now it is very close to perfect collimation, it is performing extremely well.

[pbyrne]

An ETX 105, this had more plastic than a Kardashian.

[Whistlin Bob]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Changing the setting on the control knob can help a lot.

What? It's a control knob? I thought it was for generating clouds over the face of the sun. That's what mine does!

[jjohnson3803]

On 22/09/2023 at 03:23, Stu1smartcookie said:

You haven't squandered ... you researched ! Thats my line i use when trying to explain to Elena , anyway . 

Tell her telescopes are like lady's shoes.  

 

[Elp]

53 minutes ago, jjohnson3803 said:

Tell her telescopes are like lady's shoes.  

Impractical, expensive and sit around a lot largely doing nothing?

[Zermelo]

1 hour ago, Elp said:

Impractical, expensive and sit around a lot largely doing nothing?

... but still look fabulous.

And of course, if you're talking eyepieces, you'll need a pair (once you've made the mistake of getting a binoviewer)