Well, I finished the scope with the used 4.5" f/8 optics and they surprised me. The images were quite good. Clear and quite sharp. They passed the star test well and the views of Jupiter were very good. I will put a smaller secondary in and I had to modify the spider by putting in thin vanes made of steel banding to get rid of the thick original vanes. I'd say it was worth the money. I made a stable and portable Alt-Az mount from iron pipe and a home made low profile focuser.