Krys

Great guide, Warthog! As a newbie, I figured out from posts here that the EPs are every bit as important as the primary, but did struggle to make head or tail of it all, this really does help.

I've the plunge and decided to go for a Celestron Skyscout 90 refractor as a first scope (heard good things about the optics, seems reasonably portable, for good price) and and been looking at the specifications.

The scope is f7.3 (90mm aperture, 660mm focal length) and comes with 10mm and 40mm EPs, but don't know the type. I don't have much in the way of budget, so instead of getting a 6mm and 15mm (as the guide suggests) I am thinking of using the included EPs with a decent 2x barlow which would give me comparable ranges (5mm and 20mm) to those recommended.

My real questions are:

* Are the EPs included with the SkyScout 90 any good? Obviously, I'm not expecting miracles, just something that's actually usable either by itself or with a 2x barlow for planetary viewing.

* I've heard a lot about "cheap" EPs being a waste of money, but am not sure what counts as cheap. TAL Barlows seem to go for around £40, and Televue for £85!

But I have also seen Skywatcher for £12 - £15, and SW is usually regarded as a decent brand???