Am I losing it........

or have the asking prices for old C8s skyrocketed?

See ad #368413.

Seems to me I have seen several asking prices in this range recently. Are they selling at these prices?

Dave

Hi Dave:

As an owner of a Super C8 Plus who at times thinks about selling it, I was wondering the same thing you are. In response to your question, I did a quick review of the Astromart ads and found that, over the last few months, most of the fork mounted C8's of old were for sale between $600 and 900. Similar OTA's were in the market for $400 to 500. However, more than half of them do not have a SOLD posting, which may or may not tell the whole story.

So, in answer to your question, some of them are selling for this price. With regards to the particular ad you referred to, I also have a soft spot for a piece of history. In this case, an orange tube Celestron Pacific in excellent condition would look great in my study. My brother-in-law recently paid $900 for an oversized Tibetan singing bowl (yes - a bowl!), so why not for an orange tube.

Beyond the historical appeal, the real question is whether this is good value for the money. For some, it appears to be yes, although I do think this is a debatable point. Frankly, I am someone let down whenever I use the GOTO mount of my Celestron 9.25. I have never thought of myself as old-fashioned, but in the end prefer to star hop my way to the target. So if you are someone who prefers sweating the details, a fork-mounted or polaris-mounted 8 in SCT may be appealing. Let's not forget that an 8 in SCT is still very portable, has first rate optics and when properly collimated, will give you great views.

That's just my opinion though. I would like to hear what the rest of the Celestron crowd has to say about this.

Clear Skies,

Rey Cordero