Value of a used William Optics FLT 110 DDG Triplet APO - Forums

Topic starter

Apr 7, 2025 · Edited: Apr 7, 2025

Hi all,

I had the pleasure to buy a used William Optics Florostar 110 DDG Triplet APO that came with an AZEQ6 GT mount. It is a discontinued 770mm (f7) triplet and first tests show that it performs extremely well, even on a full frame sensor. I will post a picture, once I had the time to take one.

My question is: I don't see a long-term use with this particular scope as it doesn't cover a focal length range that I don't cover with other scopes I own. I might sell it after a while once I tested it thouroughly. I was wondering about the value of this scope and how much I can expect to get for it. It comes with a flattener with M68 connections. When it was still on the market, these were sold for 2500$ plus 500-600$ of the flattener.

Here the link to the discontinued page on Agena.

Curious to know your opinion.

CS
David

Christoph Winkler

Apr 7, 2025

Hi all,

I had the pleasure to buy a used William Optics Florostar 110 DDG Triplet APO that came with an AZEQ6 GT mount. It is a discontinued 770mm (f7) triplet and first tests show that it performs extremely well, even on a full frame sensor. I will post a picture, once I had the time to take one.

My question is: I don't see a long-term use with this particular scope as it doesn't cover a focal length range that I don't cover with other scopes I own. I might sell it after a while once I tested it thouroughly. I was wondering about the value of this scope and how much I can expect to get for it. It comes with a flattener with M68 connections. When it was still on the market, these were sold for 2500$ plus 500-600$ of the flattener.

Here the link to the discontinued page on Agena.

Curious to know your opinion.

CS
David

Hi David,

Glad to hear that you like the scope. I own exactly the same one since 2011, together with a William Optics FLT/TMB 68mm flattener and I am extremely happy. Great APO indeed !
Here is what I paid for in 2011: The APO was 2099 €, the flattener was 379€. So......

Chris

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Tony Gondola

Frequent contributor

Apr 7, 2025

If you're in the US, hang onto it a few more months. You'll probably get more than you paid for it.

Well Written

Bob Lockwood

Apr 7, 2025

Tony Gondola:
If you're in the US, hang onto it a few more months. You'll probably get more than you paid for it.

Why?

Tony Gondola

Frequent contributor

Apr 7, 2025

I expect that the prices for any imported items are going to go up over the next so many months.

Bob Lockwood

Apr 7, 2025

Maybe if they were still made, new, but being probably 10+ years old, I don't think so. As for the OP, when you decide to sell, I would just start at what you paid and go from there.

Alex Nicholas

Apr 8, 2025

if you were local to me I'd buy it in a heart beat.

Its a TMB (Thomas M Bach) designed optical system, and the FLT110 I had in 2012 was OUTSTANDING!

Easily among the best scopes I've ever owned, including other TMB's like the 80/480, and a 92SS.

Honestly - These older William Optics scopes (The Megrez 80 triplet, FLT98 CF, FLT110 (TMB), FLT132 (TMB/LZOS)) from the 2009 ~ 2012 era are better scopes than the current crop are by a long way. WO are survived purely on the reputation these scopes garnered for them…

Hilarious to think that the best scopes WO ever made were using optics that they themselves had no hand in designing (and in some cases, they didn't even manufacture)

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dnnsrttn

Apr 10, 2025

I paid €1300 in 2021 for my second hand flt110, without flattener, but with some accessoires and a flightcase. It's an excellent telescope, and if I were to sell it (which I'm not), I'd ask the same at minimum.

TiffsAndAstro

Apr 10, 2025

Bob Lockwood:
Tony Gondola:
If you're in the US, hang onto it a few more months. You'll probably get more than you paid for it.

Why?

Tariffs will make imported scopes much more expensive so driving up value of second hand scopes

Dcolam

Topic starter

May 25, 2025

Hi All,

I decided to keep the scope a little bit longer, I am quite happy with my first light, even if it was a very moderate integration of 1hr. Spring in Switzerland is not fun.

This was taken with a Canon RP full frame camera and I had problems with vignetting due to the T2 adapter. I might invest in larger threaded connections in the future.

Another weak point of the scope, is the focuser, which depending on the angle and camera load, slips. But I am very impressed by the sharpness of the optics.

I also purchased a Riccardi 0.75xReducer and I was wondering if someone already knows the correct backspacing for it?

Overall, it is a very nice scope, which I might invest in a little bit to keep around.

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Tim Hawkes

May 25, 2025 · Edited: May 25, 2025

I also have an old Zenithstar WO 110 mm triplet with a TMB designed lens. Paid £900 for it about 10 years ago. It's a fine scope originally bought for visual use. Switching to imaging I was thinking of selling it but combined with a WO flattened reducer it works pretty well at F 5.5 for imaging - so decided it was a keeper. I also improved it with a Moonlite focuser.

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