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The other thing one should consider is - do you want and need to own your gear - or is the most important factor using great gear?
Let's say you spend $15,000 over several years for excellent gear, then eventually sell it and get back inflation adjusted $5,000 (worse case) . So all up it cost you say $10,000 over ten years (not including travel costs to dark sites nor pricing any value on your time to set up and break down the gear with each use).
Your serious alternative would be to ask if I instead spend $1,000 a year instead of simply utilising the most high end gear available, gear which is permanently set up and managed , in pristine dark sites the world over - will I derive better outcomes (definitely yes) and get more satisfaction. The last point really comes down to asking what drives your pleasure. Is it building your own gear, is it purchasing and setting it up or simply operating it? If you are happy not to build your own gear - again I ask do you want to directly control a $10,000 kit you own, on the say 50 nights a year you may hope to get really good dark skies - or spend $1,000 a year for say ten years driving around a $250,000 kit in perfect dark skies practically any time you wish - with no set-up overheads for you?
High end, remote control observatories in some of the best locations in the world are worth a serious think. Jase got some stellar results with them on a very small budget - a few hundred dollars I recall (at something between $20 - $40 per hour).
Worth a think maybe?
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