 | | | The 80 lb Telescope ProblemTwo smart telescope offers end this week. The scope sitting in your garage can pay for most of one. | Somewhere in your garage there is a telescope you were genuinely excited about in 2011. A 12-inch Dob. A C11 on an EQ6. A big refractor that takes two people and a dolly. The optics are still fine. The mount still tracks. That is not the problem. The problem is 45 minutes to set up, 30 to tear down, and a forecast that changes in between. So it sits. It comes out four or five times a year. Most years, less. Meanwhile it depreciates quietly in the corner. I have been in this business since 1986 and I image from Toronto under Bortle 7 skies, so nobody needs to explain the trade-off to me. Under that sky a big visual scope shows you a grey smudge where a galaxy is supposed to be. A small smart scope stacking frames for twenty minutes shows you the galaxy. Aperture lost that argument to integration time a while ago. Which brings us to two offers that end in the next few days. | Ending this week DWARFLAB Draco -- launch pricing ends Monday, September 14 ZWO Seestar S50 Pro -- introductory pricing ends Tuesday, September 15 Both are live prices on the site. Nothing to enter at checkout. |
|  | DWARFLAB Draco Smart Telescope (Pre-Order)Standard Edition $1,799 $1,999 SHO Edition $2,099 $2,299 Save $200 either way. Launch offer ends September 14, 2026. This is the top end of the smart telescope category and it does not pretend otherwise. A 90 mm telephoto aperture, 300-second single-frame exposures, and two cameras running at once: a 50 MP telephoto at 1200 mm equivalent for deep sky, and an ultra-wide for the Milky Way and star trails. The whole system weighs 5.5 kg and carries in one hand. Pre-orders are paid in full at the time of the order. That is what locks the launch price in. Orders placed in September 2026 are expected to ship roughly three months from the order date, subject to confirmation from DWARFLAB. | |  | ZWO Seestar S50 Pro All-in-One Smart Telescope$1,304 $1,449 Save $145. Introductory pricing ends September 15. The S50 Pro is the version most people should have waited for. A 50 mm aperture with nearly three times the light-gathering area of the S30, a 4K 1/1.2-inch sensor, a four-element apo design built to keep chromatic aberration out of the frame, and telephoto mosaic capture that stitches out to 8K when you want a wider frame without giving up detail. Setup takes under a minute and you run it from your phone. On a Tuesday night in the city, that is the difference between imaging and not bothering. | | Two Easier Ways InNot ready to spend Draco money to find out whether you like this. Fair enough. Start here. |  ZWO Seestar S30 Pro $1,013 Quadruplet APO optics, a 4K IMX585 telephoto plus an IMX586 wide angle at 84 degrees, 256 GB on board, NFC pairing, 1.65 kg. Star trail and Milky Way modes built in. |  DWARF II with Solar Filters $449 $499 Ships with the solar adapter and filters, plus a bonus mini tripod, a $49.95 value. 1.2 kg. Deep sky, solar and daytime wildlife out of one box. |
| Trade the Heavy Stuff InWe have been buying used equipment and taking trade-ins since 1986. If your scope has not been outside since the last eclipse, it is worth considerably more as credit against a smart telescope than it is as a dust collector in the garage. What we are actively buying - 8-inch to 16-inch Dobsonians in working condition
- Schmidt-Cassegrains: C8, C9.25, C11, C14 and equivalents
- Heavy German equatorial mounts: EQ6 class and up, CGEM, Atlas, AZ-EQ6
- Apo and ED refractors, 80 mm and larger
- Eyepiece and filter collections: Naglers, Ethos, Panoptics, Delos
- Astro cameras, guiders, filter wheels and imaging accessories
In the Toronto area: call 416-783-4140 and arrange a time to drop the equipment off. We are not set up for walk-in assessments, so please call first. Once the gear is here we go through it properly and come back to you with a number. Out of town: call the same number and we can arrange a prepaid shipping label so you can send the equipment in for a fair assessment. Same process once it arrives. Either way, the trade value is applied against whatever you are buying and you settle one invoice. Want a sense of what used gear is worth right now. Current pre-owned inventory is at khanscope.com/collections/used. |
| Financing. Affirm and RBC PayPlan are available at checkout, including on pre-orders. Shipping. Free shipping within Canada on orders over $500. Exclusions apply. | Two deadlines, three days, and a garage full of equipment that is not doing anything. Make the trade. Clear skies,
Ray and The Khan Scope Team | Khan Scope Centre 3243 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario | 416-783-4140 | 1-800-580-7160 | info@khanscope.com In the astronomy business since 1986 |
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