Let's talk beginners telescopes (1 Viewer)

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jrdbrn

jrdbrn

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Anyone care to share their experiences? I am looking to buy my son (age 7) one to gauge his interest for Christmas. He loves looking at the moon and stars. We don't have a ton of light pollution. Budget is about $150-200.

There's. so. many.

Celestron has always been the brand I know, but I am open to others.
 
Kudos!!

I would suggest looking into Celestron astro-binoculars and a tripod mount. Getting the young'un interested and hooked will proportional to how easy it is to get the equipment out for just a look-see.

I have an 8" Dob that's like a piece of artillery, it's much easier and more convenient for me to take out the binos instead... Can easily see Jupiter and moons, Saturn, some nebulas and etc...even the recent comet.
 
A telescope is one of those things that you just don't skimp on if you have any desire for good results. You won't be able to grow into it and the optical limitations of a cheaper model will end in frustration and abandonment of the pursuit or spending more money anyway. You should triple your budget and get something nice to begin with.






Actually, I don't know anything about telescopes...at all. It just sounded like something one would say about beginner model telescopes.
 
Brennan77 said:
A telescope is one of those things that you just don't skimp on if you have any desire for good results. You won't be able to grow into it and the optical limitations of a cheaper model will end in frustration and abandonment of the pursuit or spending more money anyway. You should triple your budget and get something nice to begin with.






Actually, I don't know anything about telescopes...at all. It just sounded like something one would say about beginner model telescopes.
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Brennan77 said:
A telescope is one of those things that you just don't skimp on if you have any desire for good results. You won't be able to grow into it and the optical limitations of a cheaper model will end in frustration and abandonment of the pursuit or spending more money anyway. You should triple your budget and get something nice to begin with.






Actually, I don't know anything about telescopes...at all. It just sounded like something one would say about beginner model telescopes.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough....it's 100% true.

If you go out and buy a fairly cheap telescope to see if you'll enjoy it, you aren't going to be able to see anything worth looking at, and you will likely decide that you aren't interested in it.

One thing that's fairly important, especially when dealing with younger people, is looking at a telescope with a motorized mount. Everything out there in the sky is moving, relative to your telescope. There is little that is more frustrating than finding something like Jupiter, focusing on it, getting it good and clear, then stepping away, allowing your young'en to climb up to look in the eyepiece and see nothing because it has already moved out of the field of view of the telescope.

I had a Celestron 130SLT with a computerized motor mount. It was about $500, and it was a very good starter scope. It had a great view, with multiple eyepieces for different magnifications. The computerized mount allowed for you to punch in your location, the date and time, and then take a few moments to point the scope at any three bright objects in the sky. The computer would then calculate exactly how it was oriented, and then you could use the control pad to select a particular object to view and the scope would move to that object and keep it in the scope.
 
Brennan77 said:
A telescope is one of those things that you just don't skimp on if you have any desire for good results. You won't be able to grow into it and the optical limitations of a cheaper model will end in frustration and abandonment of the pursuit or spending more money anyway. You should triple your budget and get something nice to begin with.






Actually, I don't know anything about telescopes...at all. It just sounded like something one would say about beginner model telescopes.
Click to expand...

Times aren't as good as they typically are... financially :)
 
Bought this one for my son a couple years ago and he still uses it pretty regularly which, to me, says alot about the telescope. When he's 17 and still gets it out 2 years later so him and his younger brother can look at stuff.
I'd describe it as a true beginners telescope. You can see the rings on saturn and things like that with it. He raided another old one I had for eye pieces so not sure what combo of eye pieces he uses but it works. We bought him a phone mount for it to take pics but he never really got that to work very well. He would be the one for me to ask his opinion and I will if you'd like because he's spent hours and hours using it. Again....that tells me everything I need to know about it.

PowerSeeker 127EQ Telescope | Celestron

www.celestron.com www.celestron.com
 
Not certain of the brand, but the one used by Capt Stillman in Stripes had some decent clarity...
 
Pardon the stupid question but how do you know what you are looking at ?
 
saintfan-n-alex said:
Pardon the stupid question but how do you know what you are looking at ?
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I've actually wondered this as well. I have seen Saturn once. Wasn't very clear though. Looking at the moon was a lot easier. It's been a while. We have a cheap telescope set. But it's actually fairly difficult to use. If I had the disposable income, I'd definitely splurge on a nice one.
 
buzd said:
A little more than your budget, but from a discussion on another forum, this one comes highly recommended.

Amazon product ASIN B001DDW9UW
Apparently Orion's support is really good, so you might try giving them a call and seeing what you can learn.
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do you know if it works? kinda interested for my brother.

he's helped me a sheet ton and into stars and sheet.
 

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