Looking for a checklist to run through when buying 2nd hand binos or scope (1 Viewer)

[Trinovid]

...buying used binos on ebay was great fun so far. There rarely was a real "lemon" that was unfixable or just plain garbage.

I seem to have done better than many here judging from the negativity, but with all my Leica/Leitz purchases I've only had one issue and eBay returns are generally so easy, what with the scanning return codes that you can just show the post office on your phone.

I think it's great that there are a lot of members here who don't need to concern themselves with making their dollars stretch, but if I'd bought strictly from the forum approved resellers or new, I'd have less than half of the total number of binoculars I have now, and probably still be missing a couple that might be impossible to find other than eBay.

I'm with you at least in part, and will continue to buy from them, and possibly picking up deals that will be frowned upon from those who refuse to trust that they have the ability to discern the difference between a good potential purchase and a scam/piece of junk or overpriced item.

 

[Bino Steve]

The list:
1. Pick up binoculars
2. Look through binoculars.
3. If you can see through binoculars and your eyes don't hurt and you like what you see, buy binoculars.

Wink.

 

[Binastro]

The Footsie and Dow were similar a long time ago.

Now the Dow is about 4x higher than the Footsie.

I am afraid the pound has not done well since the 1940s.

Similarly, few binoculars keep their value over time.

Houses usually do better unless in flood plains etc.

Regards,
B.

 

[Binastro]

There is a big difference between an experienced user or collector of optics and the average user, who has limited experience.

Buying advice is different for each type of user.

Regards,
B.

 

[Trinovid]

Buying advice is different for each type of user.

That about sums it up nicely, different tastes, different needs.

 

[Maljunulo]

Houses usually do better unless in flood plains etc.

In many cases “value“ is illusory and simply represents the lower purchasing power of a currency.

There was a time when $20.67 US would buy an ounce of gold, but today it takes $1677.35 to buy the same ounce of gold.

Some prefer to believe that gold is now “worth more”, but others see a profound erosion of the US Dollar.

My parents bought a new house in 1941 for $3900. In 2021 it sold for $155,000. (Two car garage instead of one car, and an outdoor deck in the rear has been added)

 

[Binastro]

Because England in particular has more people per square mile than the U.S. house prices typically increase more than in the U.S.

The U.S. is rather sparsely populated.

Optics are rather poor keepers of value.

Possibly the world's largest camera collection sold only got $5 million dollars. Some time ago, but a low price.
They were housed in a climate controlled museum. About 20,000 items including the rarest existing.

I suppose the advantage of optics is that they need little maintenance, so long as maintained in a dry room.

Collecting cars or aircraft is much more demanding.

It is actually a shame that just collecting boxed optics means they are rarely if ever used.

A Minolta collector collected every possible variation of Minolta cameras and lenses.
I doubt that these did anything but lose value.

There are collectors of all things.
Miniature cars, Meccano, baseball cards, buttons.
You name it, someone collects it.

Regards,
B.

 

[Bino Steve]

Boxed Binos equals angry binos ! Look what happened to Stinky Pete in Toy Story ! Angry Angry Angry !