If you'd bought a Christmas Trash Scope, advertised in terms of magnification of course, and were going to sell off to the next chump in line, what would be a moral way of selling it?

Should you advertise it properly, in terms of aperture and focal ratio, or regurgitate would the original department said?

On the one hand, selling it based on its magnification is misleading, and hence why it is a sign of CTS, but then advertising it properly ignores the fact that the telescope was crappy enough to be sold on the basis of magnification.

One advantage to selling it based on its magnification, because it would test the buyer. Any responsible buyer would know to avoid telescopes sold on the basis of magnfication and if they haven't done the research to realise that, they deserve to get bilked out of a few bob.

Keep it. Use if for comparison tests with a real scope, so you can clearly demonstrate to newbies exactly what you mean by "Christmas Trash Scope."

Mine looks pretty cool - blue tube, wood tripod, etc. - so it's fine as long as you don't actually look through it...

did

I may be too prone to feeling guilt, but I would probably advertise it honestly--tell the buyer what it can and can't do. Offer the info that it is not adequate for your needs. Anyone who is interested in a scope that is first and foremost cheap will probably still bite. I would hate to feel that I might have killed someone's genuine interest in astonomy by starting them out with a scope that will only disappoint them. On the other hand, the shopper looking for just a cheap scope should buy it from you--he'll save money and not patronize the purveyors of such junk.

p.s. Just noticed this is post 700. Glad it's not fluff.

I think I would keep it. I have an old Tasco around here (somewhere) that I loan out to the neighbor kids and I use the wooden tripod to hold my binoculars. Also if you have no other scope at this time it is certainly better than nothing. I actually had a good time with my old Tasco, with its 8,000,000 power and promises to see the grains of sand on Mars.

Obivously, I wouldn't propose bragging about the quality of the eyepieces of the sturdiness of the mount when in fact they're crap.

I say give it to your church, The Salvation Army, Goodwill, or other charity for them to use or sell. You can take the tax writeoff and they won't know enough about it to lie or mislead.

__________________
It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker