Total kit spend

[Roy]

This is a bit of an eye opener,

I thought that spending 7K on my obsession was bad enough but then I started to add up the coast of all of my other bits, past and present and gave up when I got to 19 grand.(Scary)

I never realized I'd spent anywhere near that amount, I'm in shock and off to have a lie down.

On the plus side my wife never complains about me buying astro gear

[Milliways]

This is a bit of an eye opener,

I thought that spending 7K on my obsession was bad enough but then I started to add up the coast of all of my other bits, past and present and gave up when I got to 19 grand.(Scary)

I never realized I'd spent anywhere near that amount, I'm in shock and off to have a lie down.

On the plus side my wife never complains about me buying astro gear

I want that scope

[ZOG]

After reading through this thread I feel quite happy that my total spend up to now is £2 - 2.5k

However, when you divide that sum by the amount of times I've actually managed to use the scope because of the weather or other reasons, the cost per session is, wait for it....

ASTRONOMICAL

[adamsp123]

remember you can't divide by zero

[John]

I think this thread started out looking at what it would cost to replace our current setups if bought new - the kind of thing you do for an insurance valuation.

God knows what the combined value of all the kit I've owned over the past 25 plus years would be - even more frightening - I totted up the scopes I've owned for another thread and that came to well over 20 - I wouldn't know where to start with eyepieces but it would not suprise me if the figure exceeded 100 different ones

I'm going to stop think about this now and enjoy what I've got

John

[jgs001]

One way to look at it, at least for those of us at or around that age point.... (like me)... All this kit is still a helluva lot cheaper than a Porcshe 911 RS3 ... Hmmm... Might have to actually try that one at home...

[AstroTiger]

curious, i was about this the other day

5 inch refractor OTA: £200

EQ5 Mount: £350

Red spot Finder: £30

EP: £94

PST: £430

EQ1 plus drive: £150

Meade plus mount £500 (i paid)

D1000 plus other accessories for it: £400

Toucam: £60

bins: £150

total: without using a calculator, circa 2k?

3.5 k if i include my laptop

Its taken me some 22 years to collect all that lot as well.

[FLO]

As a retailer I probably ought not to be saying this but I have noticed that the happiest astronomers are often the ones who do not spend large sums of money! They are usually out there with, say, an Explorer 130pm or Skyliner 200p, three or four Plossl eyepieces, a star-chart and a red-light torch. Traditional eye-to-eyepiece astronomy with minimal hassle.

[kniclander]

As a retailer I probably ought not to be saying this but I have noticed that the happiest astronomers are often the ones who do not spend large sums of money! They are usually out there with, say, an Explorer 130pm or Skyliner 200p, three or four Plossl eyepieces, a star-chart and a red-light torch. Traditional eye-to-eyepiece astronomy with minimal hassle.

well said! now, how much is the lunar module thingy in your avatar and when can it be delivered?

[FLO]

Trust me, you can't afford it

[themos]

According to some website, "Snoopy", the LM of Apollo-10 (aka LM4), is still out there somewhere (at least the ascent stage). All others have crashed on the Moon or burned in Earth's atmosphere (apart from ones that never went up in a Saturn V and ended in museums).

[afm038]

Scary thought so better not to think about it.

Now why can't I find some of these 2nd hand deals other people always seem to get

Andy

[adamsp123]

I started out in the mid 70's where I bought secondhand at a good price a 8.75 Newt on fullerscope EQ mount with electric drive and guidescope for £400, in todays money thats getting on for £4000!!!

Kit is much much cheaper now!

[Andrew*]

I can't believe it! I've totalled everything up and it crosses the £5k mark! Suprising to reflect on the early days (2006) when £100 was my max budget for the entire set up!

I do have a lot of stuff which is "temporary" though - things I'm trying out and will sell one or the other once I've decided which way to go.

Andrew

[ncjunk]

EQ6 770

ACP 350

Maxim DL 300

ED80 250

ST80 100

SPX + LXD75 900 (paid too much there)

Shed with rool off roof 1,250

ATIK IC16-s 350ish

ATIK filter wheel 200

Computer 150

Monitor 100

4,720

No wonder I am skint...and skating on thin ice with the missus...I think I will only be allowed to buy something else when I have used this lot for a few years!

Oh god I forgot the concrete base that cost another 600 quid (but is steel reinforced and could probably survive a small bomb)

The wife hasn´t seen the total but I do keep her informed of what I am buying. Its just that when you buy that must have software one month and then something else 3 months later it starts adding up.

Its damn good fun though..for a split second I considered selling the motorbike to buy a better camera and scope but the bike is just too much fun I would miss it. Plus there is nothing better than going for a ride on the bike in the afternoon and imaging in the night. a perfect day.

Neil C

[Tim]

As a retailer I probably ought not to be saying this but I have noticed that the happiest astronomers are often the ones who do not spend large sums of money! They are usually out there with, say, an Explorer 130pm or Skyliner 200p, three or four Plossl eyepieces, a star-chart and a red-light torch. Traditional eye-to-eyepiece astronomy with minimal hassle.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

For sale: C9.25 XLT, EQ6 Pro, GSO 8" newt, OrionOptics 6" newt, Nexstar60 SLT, WO 72Megrez, PL-130, neximage, DSI Pro, QHY8, SXV-H9, TruTech SS filter wheel, Baader LRGBC + Ha, OIII, SII 1.25" filters, 350D Modded, 400D unmodded, EOS clip CLS, T-thread CLS, plus all the power packs, adapters, side by side plate, scope cover, cables, cases, barlows, laptop, Maxim, nebulosity, K3CCD, Photoshop, Registar etc etc etc blah.

Wanted: Skyliner 200p, three or four Plossl eyepieces, a star-chart and a red-light torch

Now you are sure about this Steve? 'Cus when I had my 12" Dob (now sold) I soon got bored with it............

It's as much a kit and gadget and tools thing as much as anything else.

TJ

[rikyuu]

My total spend target when I started in Feb 08 was £100, when I bought the SLT 60. Since then I have spent about £2700 on mainly second hand equipment, although I've sold £600 worth, so the total is ONLY about £2100. Something has clearly gone wrong somewhere. For this money I should have something like a CGEM GOTO with a big SLT on it, yet I only have 2 small scopes on an SLT mount and a couple of cameras. It is a shocking expense, but I have never been captivated by such and interesting hobby before. It is addictive, which is no excuse. I need to lie down now, but I'm at work paying for all this! Here's what's been bought and sold (S) or thrown out (T).

S Celestron SLT 60

S dobs 250

6mm meade 4000 plossl

S wixey tiltometer

S wixey angle guage

S 2" 15mm eyepiece

T castors for dobs

T Meade DS2000 GOTO mount

S laser collimator

T home made wooden GOTO mount

Mintron camera

focal reducer

c-mount adapter

baader LP filter

S flocking material

video to VGA convertor

USB2 card

laptop 1 + battery

laptop 2 + upgrades

S EQ6 mount

250mm tube rings

S meade DSI camera

c-mount to 42mm adapter

42mm lens

c-mount motorised 160mm lens

c-mount motorised 120mm lens

zoom lens control box

C80-ED

Mak 127

colour and moon filters

80mm rings

celestron SLT 60

various cables

Canon DSLR 300d

2" LP filter

t-mount extender tube

motorised focuser

solar film

filter wheel and UHC and yellow filters

S filter wheel

software

Quickcam 4000

dovetail bar

3x barlow