Ebay telescopes

[Gomanson]

Hey guys, Finally we are getting some clear nights so now I'm really itching to buy a telescope to replace my "Walmart Special" 50mm refractor. It was a tough choice between a dob and an EQ mount but I finally decided on the EQ since I'll be trying to astrophotography. I've been searching astromart and ebay and today I stumbled on a pair of telescopes that I'd like some other opinions on.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 50471&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 49876&rd=1

(notice they charge $50 to ship then, so I just tacked that on to the asking price when considering how good of a deal it may or may not be.)

The second one has a close-up picture of the motor drive. I notice the tiny knob for adjusting speed. Do most motor drives have this? I mean, for everything outside the solar system shouldn't the tracking speed be constant? If so do you think that speed is the slowest this thing adjusts to? I would hate to have to take the time to find the correct speed every time. Any comments on these auctions would help! Especially those of you with similar telescopes. Thanks!

[Starforce2]

I bought a 16" meade off ebay. By the time it got here it was a tube full of glass chunks.

[mlfj4901]

Greetings,

Personally I'd steer clear of either of these scopes. I did buy my scope of ebay, an 8" Orion Dob, but I bought it from a person rather than a ebay business.

Both of these scopes may be just fine, however, the ebay business to me equals department store. I highly doubt the seller of these scopes knows anything about them other than what they read on the box. I know they claim to have been selling scopes for 3 years, blah blah blah, but that doesn't necessarily mean they've been selling quality scopes for 3 years. One of the clues to that is they list the magnifications to include 250X.

One thing I learned early on is to steer clear of anything that listed the magnifying power. Magnification is the result of an equation between the eyepiece size and the apeture of the scope, and a 4.5" is going to have a hard time achieving 250X with clear resolution, especially in Minnesota!

Another consideration is the mount. You will need a sturdy mount, and even if the optics are okay, a shaky mount will keep you from seeing anything. I have a Galileo brand telescope (Christmas present) and the optics are actually pretty decent, but the mount is worthless, making the scope extremely difficult to use.

You can buy a good used telescope on ebay, but be careful. I know you're trying to save a buck, at least I was - and I did, but you might consider this one from Orion http://www.telescope.com/shopping/produ ... ductID=381 , it's about $100 bucks more than the ebay scope, but you'll have Orion's customer service support and the peace of mind knowing the scope you are buying has some quality to it.

Good luck and happy hunting for your scope.

-matt

[ashutoshl]

Both these scopes are short tube variety. They have a short tube but and use a correcting lens (technically a fixed barlow) to enlarge the focal length. Thus you get a longer focal length with shorter tubes. However, they use short focus primary mirrors which are very hard to figure and may not be upto the mark. Mirrors with f/5 or shorter are very hard to figure and hence costly. I would not be very comfortable with the optical quality of such a short focus mirror unless they carry some good name brands on them. Another thing is that they use a fixed barlow (just ahead of the secondary mirror) to increase the effective focal length. I would doubt the achromatic quality of this lens. You will most likely get false color even though this is a reflector because of the fixed barlow.

Finally, I suggest go for a Dob (6-8") rather than an EQ of this price. I don't think you will be able to do any astro-photography with this EQ. The mount needs to be really sturdy, heavy and the gears have to be machined really well for anything longer than 3-5 mins.

[borbital]

How about the refurb's that Meade sells on ebay. It looks like they refurb their own scopes and resell them. Has anyone picked one up? I looked at some of their negative feedbacks and some say the "small blemish" were dents and some had broken glass etc. Not sure how they handled it afterwards, but I'd suspect they would send out replacement one.

StarForce2 - was yours from Meade's ebay store?

[Jon Hickman]

Meade uses ebay so that they don't have to handle individual transactions. Their 2nds and refurbs are covered by a warranty and usually involve no damage to the optical system (altho, some may NOT include original eye pieces). Regardless of the care with which you handle your scope, you will pick up nicks, dings and so on along the tube over time. From a viewing perspective, it makes no difference whether you atart with the dings, or you cause them. Meade's 2nd store offers good scopes. However, you may not be getting the best possible price.

Astromart (www.astromart.com) is an on-line swap site which has a strong, positive reputation amoung the ametuer community. You set up a transaction directly with another am. to purchase their used equipment. If you do your homework and wath the site for several days, you can get a good handle on going rates for used equipment and pick up some nice bargins.

[alancwilson51]

I am a newbie on MAS but have a lot of experience on EBay and I would steer clear of almost any product on EBay anymore. There are a lot of people bidding that do not understand the basic principle of an Auction. YOU decide how much you are willing to pay and then DO NOT bid above that amount! And always add in the shipping. If anyone is charging more than 35-40 dollars for shipping anything lighter than 50 pounds they are "making a profit". Many ebay sellers are now doing every thing they can to clear a profit. EBay has raised rates so much that the stock traders are talking about how much the business is suffering in the U.S. They are still expanding to international markets but the stock is not doing as well as it used to do.
Alan

[Buzzygirl]

I am a newbie on MAS but have a lot of experience on EBay and I would steer clear of almost any product on EBay anymore.

I have to agree with this assessment. I haven't bought any astronomy-related gear off eBay, but I've done my share of looking. I would estimate that 95% of the 'scopes sold on eBay are junk (or close to it) and not worth what people are bidding on them.

You will occasionally run across something worthwhile on eBay (like an AP or Tak scope) but in almost all instances where I've followed those auctions, I saw people bidding way over the actual value of those items.

Then again, if people are willing to pay what they are bidding, well, it's their money! P.T. Barnum was so right.

[alancwilson51]

Yeah buzzygirl is so right! EBay seems to be where the fools are bidding anymore but it is also such a conveinentplace to look so I watch a lot of stuff and occasionally see a deal. I bought a 800mm lens that has been used for astrophotography in the past on the Bay last Dec. 23rd off a 3 day auction for only $130. It should have gone for $400+ but the short listing insured that few people would find it along with the right before Christmas timing. It makes the 3rd Christmas in a row for a great deal for me off the Bay. I have not tried it in nighttime use yet but have gotten spectacular results from it for terristrial objects. A native 16 power and I can increase it to 32x. I hope to find a converter for the T mount to allow an evepiece to be used with it so it will become a large aperture telescope. I have the heavy duty tripod for it but it is still a little hard to control.
EBay is a good place to sell things these days if you know what you are doing. I never defraud anyone. i always describe exactly what I am selling and it's condition with large, clear, sharp pictures and answer all questions. When I ship something, i charge the actual rate and packit correctly. I mostly sell photo and computer stuff with some misc. household thrown in the mix.
Alan.

[Starforce2]

are u goow with building computers?

[alancwilson51]

Starforce asked if I am good at computers and I am but I would once again state that you DO NOT want to buy ANY computer component from EBay They cost more, no warranty to speak of and most of the actual reputable dealers who can offer warranties have abandoned EBay in favor of there own web sites and marketing. Once again the increases in fees on the Bay have caused this along with their TV ads which have brought in a lot of new bidders who do not understand the site and are not reading all the details. Details take time and it is so much more fun just to find it and bid to WIN! I know because I did the same thing back when I started but learned quickly to READ the details. I also think the TV ads have brought in a bunch of people who were out to make a quick buck and move on, not that I am saying there are a lot of con artists operating on EBay but don't bid on anyones auction if they have less than 100 positive feedbacks.
Alan.

[Bill Bynum]

It was a tough choice between a dob and an EQ mount but I finally decided on the EQ since I'll be trying to astrophotography.

I a fledgling astrophotographer and novice (maybe novice+) observer and am far from the best guy to talk about this. I am also an opinionated loudmouth - so I'm gonna anyway.

[soapbox mode on]
Please reconsider making astrophotography a criteria in getting your first "real" telescope.

Taking pictures through a telescope is ADVANCED astrophotography. Mounts purchased with "Beginner" budgets are almost never up to the task, regardless of where you buy them. A DC motor bolted to a pot-metal head can be made to work OK for brief exposures (after a lot of effort), and visual work, but it "bottoms out" on usefulness pretty darn fast. I learned this the hard way with a Synta EQ3 mount that caused me hours of indigestion before I gave up got a better (and much more expensive) mount.

That being said, you do NOT need a wad of cash to start astrophotography. Start out with a plain ol' SLR camera and a sturdy tripod and a relatively short focal length lens. Film or digital - doesn't matter as long as you can open the shutter for a while. Take some star trails, constellation pictures, planetary conjunctions, sliver moon shots (my favorite!) and aurora pics. Practice getting critical focus, developing/processing, composing shots, the hat-as-a-shutter trick and get familiar with taking pictures at night (which suffice it to say is a lot different than shooting in the daytime).

Once you are getting good results with a plain tripod, try a telephoto lens and a barn door tracker. There are folks (NOT me) at MAS who've done stunning work with just that.

As far as satisfying that gottagetmewunadose itch, let me add my voice in endorsing the 6 or 8 inch dobsonian. They are outstanding scopes for starting out. Rock solid mounts, large aperture for bright views, introduce you to the sky via star-hopping (most of them anyway) and great bang for the buck. I still use and love my "little" Orion XT8 dob, even though I am a confessed equipment junkie. (My lovely bride has now inititated a one-in-one-out policy on optical tubes...)

[rbubany]

Well said, Bill. I couldn't agree more - having "been there and one that".

I just wanted to mention a little about the camera. It needs to be able to take long time exposures. This means a cable release of some kind, and manual operation (no batteries).

If you don't have a completely manual camera, go to a place like www.keh.com and look for an old pentax or minolta. They can be obtained pretty inexpensively. Another source is www.rugift.com selling very good brand new Russian cameras for a song. I have one and can vouch for its reliability.

[mlfj4901]

Greetings,

Here is a telescope on ebay I would consider purchasing if I were in the market.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 28181&rd=1

Another one, good deal but you might want to ask about shipping costs... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 28181&rd=1

Just what I've seen tonight.

-matt

[mlfj4901]

Greetings,

Someone on the cloudy nights forums did a review of one of the "ebay scopes" that permeate ebay.

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?it ... 105&pr=2x5

Great review, glad I never bought one.

-matt

[mlfj4901]

Greetings,

In case anyone is interested, there is a 10" Hardin on ebay right now for about $250.

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Reflecting-dobso ... otohosting

-matt

[Starforce2]

how about a modified 12 free shippin?
http://cgi.ebay.com/DEEP-SPACE-HUNTER-1 ... dZViewItem


I bought my eyepeices and moonfilter from this guy.

[mlfj4901]

Greetings,

That's the same guy that's selling the 10" Hardin. If I knew I could make enough money off of my scope, I would consider upgrading.

-matt