Buying a Used 'Scope - What to Look For; What to Avoid?

[Moonshane]

hi RH

I was out last night actually observing - a rarity in the UK skies at the minute!

If you can afford the powered version of the 8" then I think this would be a superb buy. Given the portability and light gathering I think it would make an excellent purchase and one that will see you happy for a long time. the 6" would also be great but I fear you'd soon yearn for more aperture.

I am not too familiar with the electronics on the 'intelliscopes' but think they work on the basis of punch in the code (I presume you will get a list of targets in a handbook but if not they are readily available online) such as M1, NGC891 etc and it then gives a warmer, warmer, warmer, stop approach to azimuth (left and right movement) and declination (up and down movement) as you manually push the scope to its position. I am not sure about linking to a pc and this (in my view) just adds more paraphernalia to carry and keep dry and safe.

do remember to 'manage your expectations' regarding what you can see visually; there's a world of difference between a galaxy with the eye and with a camera/long exposures. the amazing thing is that you can see light from something millions or even billions of light years away!

[Rols]

i'm glad i read this one Hutch, same position as you really,just trying to get my head round the right decission, and get to 50 posts so i can go see whats on offer!

your thread made a good read, and as your questions were much the same as what i had wanted to ask it filled some gaps.

[pvaz]

You say that you turned off the automation to force learning how to push to the right section of sky. Does that mean that now you have experience that you don't use the automation so much?!

My goal from day one was to learn my way around the sky. Only reason I bought the intellisense version, was as an insurance, in case I couldn't find anything myself.

Now I only use GOTO when I'm very tired or when I get one of those rare nights with excellent seeing conditions and want to make the most of my observing time.

Bare in mind once you use a chart and star hop manually to an object a couple of times, you end up memorizing the position. Then you can look up and pick the spot in seconds, anywhere, naked eye, with binos or scope. At that point, it's actually faster then turning on the GOTO, aligning, and punching the codes.

[Chris H]

Pretty much same for me too, went for the XT10i over the Skywatcher Skyliner 250p because I wasn't sure about my ability to find faint DSO's. I used to use it a lot but now maybe only 10% of the time, but it's there if I need it.

[rabbithutch]

Can the intellisense feature be purchase separately and added later, if found to be desirable?

I realiz(s)e that this is a question to ask of vendors but thought you might have some experience (besides I like talking with folks sharing the same interests over talking with someone wanting to sell me something ).

[brantuk]

Only one exception to that Hutch - the guys at FLO regularly meet up with us at star parties and such like. They also do good discounts for forum members along with excellent personal service. Very dedicated bunch of astronomers they are too - a chat with them is more like chatting with your astro buddies

[matt c]

Can I add also that it's worth checking the age of a reflector, because mirrors that are maybe 10 years old or more may soon need resurfacing. It would be a pain to say buy a 12"+ scope and then find out that actually it's losing a fair amount of light due to a deteriorating mirror surface.

I'm apologies in advance if this has already been mentioned

[pvaz]

Can the intellisense feature be purchase separately and added later, if found to be desirable?

I realiz(s)e that this is a question to ask of vendors but thought you might have some experience (besides I like talking with folks sharing the same interests over talking with someone wanting to sell me something ).

No. The base is different and comes with 2 special sensors that tell the intellisence controller how you are moving the scope.