Scope and mount regrets?

[Flame Nebula]

Hi everyone, 

I would like to hear stories about regrets after buying your scope and/or mount? These can include anything. Example my biggest regret was buying a scope without tracking many years ago. A lesson I learned and my next scope will have it, so I can enjoy high mag views without spending most of the time keeping the object in view. 

So, anything really. Buying too small a scope, or too large? Etc. 

 

Thanks 

Mark

[Cosmic Geoff]

Buyer regret after an expensive purchase is very common.  Shouldn't I have bought 'x' instead?  Did I really want a car with more electronics than a Stealth bomber?  Sometimes the regret wears off, and one comes to appreciate the new purchase, otherwise you can always sell it on.

[Elp]

Buying a cheap one on those flimsy aluminium extrusion tripods ranks highly, they shouldn't be allowed on the market. Quickly replaced with better equipment.

 

Edited February 7 by Elp

[Swoop1]

Buying my first telescope is my biggest regret.

Poverty now looms as I constantly browse the ads for new shiny stuff.

[jjohnson3803]

LOL!  Well, I don't know if I regretted these purchases, but they didn't work out and I did sell the items (at a loss, of course):

StellarVue M2C mount - beautifully machined, but no slo-mo.  And I knew when I bought it that I really like to have slo-mo, but I thought I'd give it a try.

90mm Maksutov - bought it thinking it would be my main lunar scope.  It did well on the moon, but I disliked the small FOV for other targets like open clusters.

102ED refractor - ok, this was supposed to be the grab-n-go replacement for both my ST120 and my ST80.  Split the difference, right?  Except the sucker was bigger and bulkier than I thought it would be (Yes, I read the specs before ordering) and didn't work all that well on my mounts.

Stellarvue M1V mount - a little pooter alt-az with no slo-mo, I think Altair sells the equivalent.  This one didn't work out either.

There are a few more, but I think that paints a representative picture.

 

 

 

[John]

I got over ambitious when I bought an Istar 6 inch F/12 refractor. By the time I had found a mount and tripod tall enough and strong enough to deal with the really long and heavy tube I had a setup which weighed over 50kg and with no observatory it needed to be assembled and disassembled each time it was used. Not really a practical proposition, unfortunately. I learned a lot from that project though and it was not too expensive so not a disaster by any means. If I go for a 6 inch refractor again I will stick to a focal ratio of around F/8 I think.

Another one that did not work out quite as planned was a Meade Lightbridge 12 inch dobsonian. Again it was not expensive particularly but the overall weight of the scope and mount made setup and tear down hard work and once set up the scope could not be moved around the garden easily at all, which is a disadvantage with the obstacles I have around my horizons. Having learned from that experience, my next 12 inch scope was based on an Orion Optics tube assembly and with the custom made plywood base, weighed about 20kg less than the Meade Lightbridge 12 - around the same as a chinese made 10 inch dobsonian, so somewhat more manageable.

Having owned dozens of scopes and mounts over the years, having a couple that did not quite work out is not too much hardship I feel and I did learn some lessons from those experiences 🙂

 

Edited February 7 by John

[Flame Nebula]

18 minutes ago, John said:

I got over ambitious when I bought an Istar 6 inch F/12 refractor. By the time I had found a mount and tripod tall enough and strong enough to deal with the really long and heavy tube I had a setup which weighed over 50kg and with no observatory it needed to be assembled and disassembled each time it was used. Not really a practical proposition, unfortunately. I learned a lot from that project though and it was not too expensive so not a disaster by any means. If I go for a 6 inch refractor again I will stick to a focal ratio of around F/8 I think.

Another one that did not work out quite as planned was a Meade Lightbridge 12 inch dobsonian. Again it was not expensive particularly but the overall weight of the scope and mount made setup and tear down hard work and once set up the scope could not be moved around the garden easily at all, which is a disadvantage with the obstacles I have around my horizons. Having learned from that experience, my next 12 inch scope was based on an Orion Optics tube assembly and with the custom made plywood base, weighed about 20kg less than the Meade Lightbridge 12 - around the same as a chinese made 10 inch dobsonian, so somewhat more manageable.

Having owned dozens of scopes and mounts over the years, having a couple that did not quite work out is not too much hardship I feel and I did learn some lessons from those experiences 🙂

 

Thanks to everyone so far. I guess I'm testing the water here, as I've been saving up for nearly three years (yes the old fashioned way of buying something 😆), and I've got the C9.25 in mind. Fortunately no one has used this scope in any rgrets(so far). 

[Roy Challen]

Buying? No regrets at all. Selling? Plenty. I'd have saved at least a couple of grand if I'd kept my first Tal 100 and Skytee 2.

Which means I will be keeping what I have now for as long as possible.

Eyepieces though, are a commodity to be traded for something new and shiny as one sees fit😉

Edited February 7 by Roy Challen

[Space Hopper]

6 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Hi everyone, 

I would like to hear stories about regrets after buying your scope and/or mount? These can include anything. Example my biggest regret was buying a scope without tracking many years ago. A lesson I learned and my next scope will have it, so I can enjoy high mag views without spending most of the time keeping the object in view. 

So, anything really. Buying too small a scope, or too large? Etc. 

 

Thanks 

Mark

Interesting topic thread Mark.

Some of my gear is second hand like the tripod (a BB Planet at a bargain price) and a few of my eyepieces so no regrets there.

My mount is American, and very rare over here, so may retain some resale value. Although you could argue its been superseded by the excellent AZ 100 its still a very fine mount and so simple to use and is excellent with encoders and the DSC Nexus.

I really don't need motorisation, though it would sometimes nice to have it. Motors and alt-az mounts don't always play well together though. 

But i can happily track objects manually and quite smoothly at anything up to 200x using the mounts handle. Its very smooth and doesn't really need slow motion adjusters. So no regrets there either, and although an expensive purchase,

I was lucky that at the time 10 years ago we were getting $1.70 to the UK £. So a good saving was had.

With my scope yes, one could argue that that was an extravagance. Could i get 90% of its performance from something else ? Quite possibly.

Would i buy it again if i could wind the clock back ? The jury is out on that one. But its a unique scope, very rare and sought after which i like, and something that should retain it value and resale price very well.

So, for me, no major regrets at all. Life is too short anyway to worry too much about that

 

 

[Space Hopper]

................and to add on a little bit more, if i do have a regret, it was selling my smaller 105mm LZOS refractor.

I sold it on a whim, without really thinking things through properly or planning ahead. And these scopes are no longer available.

But at the end of the day, there are other excellent options in the 90-110mm class, so all is not lost.

[WolfieGlos]

Star Adventurer 2i, and using it for DSO with an Evostar 72ED and guiding.

Whilst it did work, it just had so many issues and quirks, no GoTo, and I really should have done more research and spent on a proper mount from day 1.

[John]

48 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks to everyone so far. I guess I'm testing the water here, as I've been saving up for nearly three years (yes the old fashioned way of buying something 😆), and I've got the C9.25 in mind. Fortunately no one has used this scope in any rgrets(so far). 

Neither of the scopes that I mention were poor in any way. They were very good examples of their type in fact. It was my judgement of my needs and circumstances that was at fault.

I have owned a few SCT's and they were good too but I didn't seem to hold onto them for long being drawn to refractors and dobsonians rather more. Those are just my preferences though - yours may well be different. 

[cajen2]

I like the way people keep saying, "You can always sell it on." I've been trying to sell my Heritage 150p and innumerable EPs for ages and nobody's interested (and it isn't the price, which is lower than most!).

Fewest regrets: my Starfield 102ED - beautiful scope. My Sightron Japan mount - bought it just for grab & go but it has become my main mount, with its good payload and slo-mo controls.

Most regrets: buying "budget" EPs at first and then realising I can do so much better with a few more £. The budget ones aren't worth reselling. Buying an 8" SL dob. Great, well-equipped scope giving beautiful views but  awkward to get out of the door and down steps. I found myself not wanting to go out on clear nights....

Not living in a country which has decent astro weather is the biggest problem! 🤣

Edited February 7 by cajen2

[jjohnson3803]

I should add that I bought an AZ-GTi mount before Christmas and, with a couple of exceptions, it's been cloudy, raining, or snowing since it arrived.  I am starting to regret that one...

 

Edited February 7 by jjohnson3803

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks to everyone so far. I guess I'm testing the water here, as I've been saving up for nearly three years (yes the old fashioned way of buying something 😆), and I've got the C9.25 in mind. Fortunately no one has used this scope in any rgrets(so far). 

I have zero regrets with my C9.25. Brilliant scope 👍🏻

[JeremyS]

The only regret I have is not discovering Ethos eyepieces earlier in life. Lovely wide fields, allowing plenty of drift time in undriven scopes. They are also superb optically. I’m from the generation that thought fewer elements were better, especially for high power work. Many modern eyepieces with their improved coatings overcome this past worry. The Ethos range represents the pinnacle.

[andrew s]

20 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

the generation that thought fewer elements were better, especially for high power work

Is that just eccentric or monocentric? Regards Andrew 

[Flame Nebula]

27 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

The only regret I have is not discovering Ethos eyepieces earlier in life. Lovely wide fields, allowing plenty of drift time in undriven scopes. They are also superb optically. I’m from the generation that thought fewer elements were better, especially for high power work. Many modern eyepieces with their improved coatings overcome this past worry. The Ethos range represents the pinnacle.

Ethos eyepiece. I'll have to investigate those. 👍

[Flame Nebula]

32 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I have zero regrets with my C9.25. Brilliant scope 👍🏻

That's the kind of sentence I like to see. 🙂

[Flame Nebula]

Just now, Flame Nebula said:

That's the kind of sentence I like to see. 🙂

What mount do you use? 

[Flame Nebula]

1 minute ago, Flame Nebula said:

That's the kind of sentence I like to see. 🙂

Sorry, I think my last question went global. What mount do you use? 

[Captain Scarlet]

7 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Sorry, I think my last question went global. What mount do you use? 

lol you made the same mistake again 😁. I once caught the wrong train twice in a row wasting about 4 hours.

I think the mount question is directed at @JeremyS?

Magnus

Edited February 7 by Captain Scarlet

[Orange Smartie]

Biggest regret was buying a small (114mm) Konus reflector on a heavy equatorial mount. I never got it properly collimated and it's still languishing in a shed somewhere, 25-odd years after I originally bought it. Honestly I'm not sure what purpose it would be a good choice for. I'm glad I revisited the hobby recently, with a far more sensible choice - a Heritage 150p.

[John]

24 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Ethos eyepiece. I'll have to investigate those. 👍

You might want to review your saving regime though 😉

Tele Vue Ethos 100º & 110º Eyepieces | First Light Optics

[AustenM]

I've only taken up astronomy in the past year, and have learnt a lot from reading and experimenting. My interest was kindled by an impulse buy of a kids' NG scope on the high street. Total rubbish, but it got me hooked. Couldn't stop waiting for a clear night to look at the moon. Wasn't sure what to get next, but found a retailer in Bristol with a Celestron 76AZ for just over a £100 which seemed a good next step. The tripod isn't that steady, and the AZ action is far from smooth. However, I saw Jupiter and its main moons for the first time, and some decent moon views.  A charity shop buy of a scruffy 1980s TOWA 60mm refractor led to much dismantling, cleaning and replacement of missing components. This scope is always going to be special as I saw Saturn though it for the first time. Attempting to improve the Celestron I managed to damage the secondary mirror mount - fixed with a washer and Araldite. At this level, learning costs are manageable! 

Determining that planetary observations are my main interest helped to narrow down the next purchase. But I still took months agonising over it! Perhaps that's my main regret. I did get a great FLO offer on 6 inch dobsonian last month, but have had limited opportunity to use it due to cloud. Initial use proved this size to be the limit for me to carry and use comfortably, so no regrets there thankfully. Great views of Jupiter too.

The one thing that has struck me in Astronomy magazines is the lack of objective reviews. Camera magazines are full of lengthy reviews with regular summary tables of features, ratings etc. The best we get are usually short setup commentaries, which are not really what we need. I can't get out to night time events, so traditional astro clubs are not a viable try/see approach.  The only retail showroom with kit to try was Jessops (don't laugh!), but they've closed in Bath. Some websites are shallow re-hashes of manufacturer info; others opinionated and look down on lower end equipment. Reviews of cheap telescopes on many general retailer websites get 5*, and they either misguided, or have very low expectations. But there are some good sites, SGL included, which helped with the pre-purchase homework, and avoid buyer's regret.

Let's buy what we can reasonably afford and enjoy the kit every evening the skies are clear. Hopefully that avoids any serious regrets ... and keep us happily gazing into the skies ... and that's what our hobby is about.