Purchasing Astronomy Equipment.
Buying
anything today with high technology components seems to be full of risks and
unknowns. Starting out to buy new gear
for amateur astronomy is no exception. I
guess that I have made more than my share of miss-steps and poor decisions. I usually want to go for the best, but buying
the best in amateur astronomy means two really negative things. First, the price
of quality very quickly pegs the price needle deeply into the “red”. Secondly, and even worse, you just can’t buy
what you want when you want it. The delivery lead-time for a new AstroPhysics 160mm
refractor is currently running at least 6 years, for example. Essentially all high quality manufacturers
are running multi-month product waiting lists.
So I did
what I guess most new hobby astronomers do, I buy something that looks good and
is affordable and available. I then proceed to learn
the basics with the new equipment and I continue to read about the products and
better understand the marketplace. As I
feel the need for better quality, I then upgrade the equipment, and re-sell
inferior equipment on the used equipment markets. This is a pretty expensive way to go, as I am
continuously upgrading to higher quality and unable to recover the full price
of the equipment I have previously used.
A more
reasoned approach would seem desirable. Why
not study the equipment and the markets more thoroughly, talk with others and
buy the highest quality available for your particular price points, and do it
the first time right, and only once? But
this too breaks down. Until you really
get into amateur astronomy, it would be particularly difficult to appreciate
how much you and your family are going to enjoy the avocation. I suspect for some [maybe for many] astronomy
will not really remain captivating for everyone, and if you have make the big
jump on the 1st step you might end up with expensive equipment being
unused and collecting dust rather than light.
My
equipment comparison and recommendations presents my personal opinions
regarding these key pieces of equipment:
Mounts I recommend both
Takahashi mounts and Paramount ME mounts
Telescopes I strongly recommend
Takahashi Telescopes
Support
Systems I recommend Particle
Wave’s Monolith portable pier
CCD
Cameras I recommend
Finger Lakes Instruments cameras, and digital focusers for Astronomy
I try to
use my equipment as often as the weather and our other commitments permit. I have worked my way up both the quality and
price curves, and I have sufficient time to permit me to enjoy astronomy even
with its requirement for late nights spent with the equipment. You might want to stop short of my
recommendations if your circumstances or interests are different.
March, 2007