I have owned for twenty years. I thought this would be a good time to write an extended-use report on that magnificent telescope.
Some people buy a fancy car to celebrate finishing graduate school.
I wanted a telescope. My car was too tiny for a big tube, and buying and operating a van or truck was costly. The clincher came when a local telescope dealer announced that Celestron had given him a chance to sell a new C-14, with unusually good optics, to some valuable customer. He offered it to our astronomy club members at low street price, and my hand went up first. It was an orange-tube model, with Celestron's big fork mount.