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A good place to buy second hand equiptment?


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Hi everyone, I'm new here and would just like to know if there are any good places to buy second hand telescopes? I have tried the obvious (ebay, gumtree etc..) and I've also tried UK Astronomy Buy & Sell but still can't manage to find what I'm after - a decently priced 80 or 100mm APO refractor.

I live in London but don't mind taking a train over to neighbouring towns.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

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Buying second hand is allways a question of beng patient and waiting for the right deal that suits you to come along. Like looking for cars really - scopes are no different. If you carry on joining in with the forum you'll soon meet the relevant criteria to see the for sale section here as an additional source ;)

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Hi, I'm new here too, but from what I've read on here most people recommend you buy from astronomy forums rather than ebay, as you're more likely to get kit that's been looked after better.

This forum has a 'for sale' section but you have to have 50+ posts and you must have been a member for at least a month.

I've also heard good things about 'Astro buy & sell' but you've already looked there.

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I bought some equipment second hand off ebay a couple of weeks ago, the price seemed to be a bargain but the item was not as described and fortunatley the seller admitted the same so the deal was undone at the agreement of both parties.

My advice would be to buy new if you can, it costs more but at least you know what your getting and you have a point of recourse if something breaks or is not correct. Plus theres nothing like opening a box for the first time with it being all factory fresh!

I know there are plenty of good second hand sellers out there but do ask all the right questions and check then double check everything before you hand over your cash and walk away if your not 100% happy.

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Patience is the key. The UK Astro Buy & Sell website is the most active for used equipment selling and buying in the UK, there there is the SGL classifieds section, which you will have access to when you have been on the forum a month and have made 50+ posts.

The Skywatcher and Celestron ED80's and ED100's are excellent scopes and do come up for sale reasonably frequently.

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Thank you all so much for the help.

jahmanson thanks for the link, although it looks like I was just a bit too late!

The C80 ED looks great but I must say I did have my eye on the skywatcher ED for its longer focal length and 2" eyepiece socket. Do these also come up quite often?

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Yeah - since the BBC Stargazing Live program - there has been a mass uptake of new and used equipment. So long as it's not been abused then a 130P sounds like a great deal for £70 del'd. What mount is it on? (hopefully EQ3-2) ;)

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