8" Meade 2080 SCT telescope

Hi. Our astronomy club has a donated Meade 8" 2080 (circa 1985) with a
wedge. One of our members borrowed it and likes it so much he wants to
buy it from the club. Question. Does anyone know the fair market value
of such a unit? I don't see one available on ebay, and I don't have an
astromart account. Any advice would be appreciated...Dennis

On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:16:33 -0400, Dennis Allen wrote:

Hi. Our astronomy club has a donated Meade 8" 2080 (circa 1985) with a
wedge. One of our members borrowed it and likes it so much he wants to
buy it from the club. Question. Does anyone know the fair market value
of such a unit? I don't see one available on ebay, and I don't have an
astromart account. Any advice would be appreciated...Dennis

$500-750.

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:49:17 GMT, Terry A Haimann
wrote, in part:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:16:33 -0400, Dennis Allen wrote:

Hi. Our astronomy club has a donated Meade 8" 2080 (circa 1985) with a
wedge. One of our members borrowed it and likes it so much he wants to
buy it from the club. Question. Does anyone know the fair market value
of such a unit? I don't see one available on ebay, and I don't have an
astromart account. Any advice would be appreciated...Dennis

$500-750.

I would give rather different advice. The value of the telescope to the
astronomy club is presumably its replacement cost - I would say to sell
it for, say, 10% off the price of a new 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain from
Meade. This would be somewhere in the $2,000 ballpark. Maybe, given that
it is over 20 years old, a larger discount is in order, but going below
$1,500 - $1,000 doesn't seem to make sense to me.

If I could get my hands on an 8" SCT (in reasonable condition) for $750,
I'd jump at the chance.

Plus, since the telescope in question is *donated*, I think selling it
is a bad idea; donors expect their donations to hang around a while
(ideally, with their *names* on them) - that is how you encourage such
donations. Of course, if the club has urgent needs that money, rather
than a telescope, would serve...

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html

Dennis Allen wrote:

Hi. Our astronomy club has a donated Meade 8" 2080 (circa 1985) with a
wedge. One of our members borrowed it and likes it so much he wants to
buy it from the club. Question. Does anyone know the fair market value
of such a unit? I don't see one available on ebay, and I don't have an
astromart account. Any advice would be appreciated...Dennis

This is like asking what a pocket watch is worth. To my neighbor
$25, to the antique dealer who owns it to sell, $2500 !

Do an Astromart search if they still allow that. Several years ago
these could be had to $300-$450 because I sold a good one.
$350 was the top offer in my case. Buyer paid shipping.

The 2080's had a good reputation so far as I know - until
Shri-Unc Rodnish corrects that. Ive never heard anyone complain
about the 2080 vs C8's of the same vintage, for example.

I think $450 tops would be a proper value. But Im Quaker and
honest.

....

On Sep 23, 7:16 pm, "Dennis Allen" wrote:
Hi. Our astronomy club has a donated Meade 8" 2080 (circa 1985) with a
wedge. One of our members borrowed it and likes it so much he wants to
buy it from the club. Question. Does anyone know the fair market value
of such a unit? I don't see one available on ebay, and I don't have an
astromart account. Any advice would be appreciated...Dennis

About $300.00 depending on condition and accessories.

Unk Rod

John Savard wrote:




If I could get my hands on an 8" SCT (in reasonable condition) for $750,
I'd jump at the chance.




Hands On Optics has one right now on the showroom
floor for $500. A nice black tube C 8 on wedgepod
and tripod. I see a lot of them times is seems.....
Call Gary or Patrick at H.O.O. and ask if you
are serious.



Got to agree with ya, Selling a donated scope is NOT
right. Almost makes me wonder about the club in general.
I'm sure the person who donated it could have sold it
themselves but wanted to help others instead.
Selling off donated stuff just don't seem good
club policy. Not exactly going to encourage future donors
either if ya sell of their stuff after ya get it.
If the club does sell the guy the scope, I hope they
invest the $$$ in more astro gear that helps members.

Our club (www.NOVAC.com) has a lot of loaner equipment
books, and scopes. a LOT of people have donated nice
gear for all to check out and use. (I got to check out PST)
Thanks to those who have donated !!!!!


Kinda cheapens and sours the whole deal when ya sell
of something that was donated. The rest of the club
suffers as well in not having the loner scope available
for others to use IMHO.



Oh Well.......



--


AM

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:09:05 -0400, AM wrote, in
part:

Hands On Optics has one right now on the showroom
floor for $500. A nice black tube C 8 on wedgepod
and tripod. I see a lot of them times is seems.....
Call Gary or Patrick at H.O.O. and ask if you
are serious.

The shipping charges would probably be rather large, but as I see that I
*was* wrong about the value of an older C-8, I will indeed be looking
around more local sources.

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html

John Savard wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:09:05 -0400, AM wrote, in
part:

Hands On Optics has one right now on the showroom
floor for $500. A nice black tube C 8 on wedgepod
and tripod. I see a lot of them times is seems.....
Call Gary or Patrick at H.O.O. and ask if you
are serious.

The shipping charges would probably be rather large, but as I see that I
*was* wrong about the value of an older C-8, I will indeed be looking
around more local sources.

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html




I've seen OTA's around for $300........




--

AM

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:09:05 -0400, AM wrote:

Got to agree with ya, Selling a donated scope is NOT
right. Almost makes me wonder about the club in general.
I'm sure the person who donated it could have sold it
themselves but wanted to help others instead.
Selling off donated stuff just don't seem good
club policy.

I don't see that. It's not like they are selling it off so they can
distribute the proceeds to the members as cash. If the club has little
use for the item, but can put the sales money to better use, that should
be in the spirit of the original donation. Organizations do this all the
time.

As an example, if the 2080 isn't getting much use because it doesn't
have goto, or even slewable axes, and the club could sell it and apply
the money towards something like an LX200, what's wrong with that? It
simply enhances the value of the original donation.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:09:05 -0400, AM wrote:

Got to agree with ya, Selling a donated scope is NOT
right. Almost makes me wonder about the club in general.
I'm sure the person who donated it could have sold it
themselves but wanted to help others instead.
Selling off donated stuff just don't seem good
club policy.

I don't see that. It's not like they are selling it off so they can
distribute the proceeds to the members as cash. If the club has little
use for the item, but can put the sales money to better use, that should
be in the spirit of the original donation. Organizations do this all the
time.

As an example, if the 2080 isn't getting much use because it doesn't
have goto, or even slewable axes, and the club could sell it and apply
the money towards something like an LX200, what's wrong with that? It
simply enhances the value of the original donation.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com





Yeah, I see your point. Thinking about it,
our club has soo many members, that the loaner
stuff is always being used. For some items
there is almost always waiting list.
Mostly to brand new members, so it does help
out a lot it seems. The stuff really gets used.

That is where I was coming from.


--

AM