Sky at Night Magazine

[yaffle]

Hi All,

I'm eventutally sick of the clouds and late nights, so I'll selling up, I have:

Skywatcher 120 (f1000) on an EQ5, complete with finder scope and twin axis motor drive.Comes with 25 and 10mm EP and diagnonal, all in exellent condition, which I paid £475. Offers around £300.

Bits and Bobs (all in suitcase sized Alum Carry case):

Orion 9x50 straight through, correct image finderscope.
Lumicon Oxygen Filter.
Erect image diagnonal.
2x Barlow lense.
Orion Filter kit - Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Variable Moon filter and a 'Skyglow' light polution.
Additonal EP's = 40mm, 32mm, 20mm, 15mm, 12mm, 6mm and a 4mm (nothing fantastic quality wise, but all OK) in tube holders)


I'd obviously prefer to sell the Scope along with the bits and bobs all together to save me the hassle of trying to sell seperatly. Its all in mint condition and would make someone a great complete setup.
I'm open to offers for the whole lot but I would have thought £450 which is alot less than half the original purchase price would make a nice bargain for someone?

Also, one last thing!

Skywatcher 90mm Mak, which comes in a carry case, red dot finder and a 25mm EP, also in excellent condition. Offers on this one....

I can be contacted on 01782 761821 or 07869 162675. E-mail Alastair.deakin@live.co.uk

Item location Stoke On Trent and of course any inspection is welcomed - You can even try em (if we ever get a clear night!)

[lukeskywatcher]

I cant believe you are selling up cuz of the weather. Honestly i think you will regret it if you do. Dont let the cloud better you. You will miss so much on those nights when we have clear skies.

I understand your frustration and have come close to selling my gear. But i know i would regret it if i sold it.

Astronomy is a life long hobby (in fact it is a way of life rather then a hobby). OK we may get a couple of yrs when it never seems to be anything but cloudy. That is what makes the clear nights so special.

[yaffle]

Thanks,

But by the time you subtract bad weather, gotta be up in the morning and social events of life I can count a couple of nights when 'all has been right' and scoping has been a 'go' - turned out to be a hit and miss for me! I still haven't used the first set of batteries in the motor drive yet!

Mind you, still keeping my 25x100's and telrad just in case :)

[brianb]

[quote]I understand your frustration and have come close to selling my gear. But i know i would regret it if i sold it.
[/quote]
Maybe ... but those living near you would rejoice in the clear skies that selling your kit would attract![;)]

[astro_baby]

I almost did the same about 9 months ago - believe me unless you REALLY need the cash you'll regret selling it. Astro gear pricing is increasing now and it may be in a year or so's time all that gear will have gone up a lot. If your struggling to find things why not consider a GoTo upgrade to get the most of the good nights you do get.

Believe me I only got out about 10 times in the whole of last year but on the odd occasions when I dont have social activities, kids, work AND its cloudless its diamonds out there.

[pulsar]

I agree with paul and astro baby think carefully before you flog your gear.
Just imagine how bad you'd feel if we get to see LCROSS hit the moon and we have perfect skies and you've no gear. I know i'd be gutted. By the way i've been trying to get my sister to part with her newtonian for a couple of years now and she won't budge even though she's not that interested in astronomy but she did raise that point about being able to see something when it happens. Even if it means looking at the comet or asteroid that gonna splat us. So please think it through who knows [u]YOU[/u] may discover a comet one day.[:D]

[astro_baby]

My sis has a Newt as well pulsar - she has a Sky-Watcher 150 on an EQ3-2. She doesnt us it that much either but she wont sell it for the same reason I decided not to sell mine. It may not get much use but when it does WOW!

[pulsar]

Exactly my point Astro_baby. I'm lovin' ya more and more[:D]

[lukeskywatcher]

As Brian said "Damned if you do and damned if you dont". As Astrobaby said "you (we) may not get much use of our gear but when we do...........WOW".

I'm prepared to sit out the carp weather we have for those odd WOW moments.

Glad you are keeping your 25X100s. They are big enough to stil give you WOW moments.

[astro_baby]

To reinforce my point - after months of non-use my Sky-Watcher 200 finally got to leave the local area last night for a night of very good skies down at Worthing.

It was reassuring to see the recent GoTo upgrade and HEQ5 rebuild worked flawlessly and the scope as usual was a dream. The last time the 200 got a proper outing was in November - thats almost 5 months past. Saturday made up for all the disappointments of the weather and the fact that on some clear nights sice November I have had other commitments. The views of Saturn were fantastic and I learnt a boatload about Synscan in operation - it has its foibles as you know.

I also got to use the Baader 5m Hyperion under a decent sky ( very happy with it ) and also got to give the 26mm Sky-Watcher SWA EP a test out (also very happy). It was very cold and the powertank suffered a fatal collapse after about 4 hours bring the session to a premature end BUT - it was worth every minute of the wait since November to get the big blue beastie out and in use.