For the future - all this old equipment?

[Carbon Brush]

Strange title. But it got your attention.

In the distant past there wasn't a lot of astronomy gear bought new, or moving into the used market. There wasn't much new stuff being made, and it was expensive.

Recently the mass market stuff has been coming out of China. Some good but some just about worth it's scrap value.

Prices are rising (for us) now because of the ££ exchange rate, increasing UK taxes, and the Chinese no longer working for 2 bags of rice a week, and no pension plan.

So what will we see in 5 years?

Loads of 'first time' scopes on sale that have hardly been used because interest has faded?

Loads of 'advanced' scopes on sale because we have all got fed up of the increasing light pollution?

Can the astronomy retailers continue to get the sales of new kit they have enjoyed in recent years? Or will the market be dominated by 'recycled' kit.

Will the retailers move into refurbish & repair, rather than selling only new stuff?

The battery in my crystal ball needs replacing. So, anyone got any thoughts?

[E621Keith]

Ummm.... I thought the lounge would be a more appropriate place to discuss this, but here is my view. The Chinese will continue to produce better and better kit. Established brand such as Synta will move up market, whereas the budget end will be taken over by smaller companies. After all, telescope making is not a simple process and fabrication technology takes time to develop.

The bottom end budget scopes are usually of such poor quality that they will fall apart in less than 5 years. The market for entry level instrument will continue to exist, because they simply won't survive long enough to enter the used market.

The advance end will continue to grow. There are people who always want larger aperture, bigger image circle, flatter field and less aberration. Otherwise, we would have stopped at a C8. The Western and Japanese company will have to continue innovate in order to stay ahead of the Chinese.

This drive progress and we will all benefit from better instrument at lower price in the future. Bottom feeder like myself can pick up very good equipments with a modest budget when the high end upgrade to something even better.

[Demonperformer]

This drive progress and we will all benefit from better instrument at lower price in the future. Bottom feeder like myself can pick up very good equipments with a modest budget when the high end upgrade to something even better.

My thought exactly. Can't wait for the new EQ7/8 (or whatever they are calling it now) comes onto the market and all the HEQ5's and EQ6's start coming onto the market cheap ...

[Carbon Brush]

Yes this would be better in 'the lounge' but it was slip on my part. Mods, if you read this, feel free to move it.

Here's another one to throw into the predictions equation.

For moderate money, you can already buy a scope with better angular resolution than the UK sky. Similarly, you can buy more light gathering than is worthwhile in virtually all of the UK. Do we need anything better?

Wobbly mounts can be improved for photo work by guiding. So why get a hernia lugging the EQ7/8/whatever instead of the HEQ5? The goto mounts seem to work OK and should have reasonable life before repair.

So, will us 'bottom feeders' will continue to enjoy the cast off kit purchased by the 'must have new' people?

Or as the 2nd hand kit gets better, compared to the fixed quality UK sky, will there be more bottom feeders and less new kit bought? Add into this the UK economy not really recovering in the forseeable future keeping purse strings tight.

I've never been good at predicting what will happen in the next few weeks, let alone years.

[angusb1]

I'm also hoping for a cheap EQ6 when the new mounts come out

[Demonperformer]

If only