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personally i treat all the optical equipment (camera's, eyepieces, OTA's, etc.) with care. every so often i will give the glass a wipe over with a microfibre cloth, otherwise it'll stay as is. when cleaning i will strip the barlows and eyepieces down as far as i can and clean them as well as i can, but this i really only do this if it's dirty enough to be annoying.
for travel, all my optical equipment has their own case, which is a tight fit with foam to ensure there is very little vibration. and it all fits fairly snuggly in the boot of the car. if left setup, the OTA is covered with a towel at all times, and the dust covers only come off when need be. also if left setup, i will always store the OTA facing down (so north, on the EQ mount), and locked. if possible i will at least move it under cover when i go to bed, otherwise it gets covered with a tarp. my OTA and eyepiece/camera box each have a large pack of the silica gel in them, to help absorb any latent moisture.
all in all, i don't take great care with my equipment, but i've got it setup so that i don't have to! the biggest thing is when i clean the bits and pieces, but that doesn't take long, and i don't do it all that often (prolly due for one now though!)
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