Quote Originally Posted by lrg View Post
Costs run up as you realize that it makes sense to buy decent equipment first time around rather than buy things twice.
Could not have said it better. But, I'll try...

The costs in this hobby are when you go from basic FOWLR (fish only) thru the progression to SPS. For my 55, I bought lighting 4 times!

The other issue, to me on my 215 was to make it as bulletproof as I could - and pretty much managed to do that - so that disasters could be averted.