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New beginner scopes

saturn4me

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saturn4me

saturn4me

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Hi everyone.Could anybody advise me on any beginner scopes to avoid (due to being badly made and poor quality).Im thinking in the £150-£200 region.Im wanting a beginner scope and have a fairly good idea of good ones in this price bracket but want to know if there are ones to avoid.If so which ones?.Many thanks.Mark.:)

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Ad Astra

Ad Astra

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Rather than list the rotten stuff - let's focus on the good stuff instead (a much shorter list!) :)

I teach this stuff for a living (lucky me!) and everyone starts out with a 150 - 200 mm dob. This is also the scope I've been recommending to new folks for literally decades. I think it is your best buy for many reasons:

1. Light weight, and easy to set up. No winding, no batteries, no cables or computers, no levers and gears. Just point and enjoy the view. A 150mm dob is easy enough for a 10 year old to set up and use. Setup time is 1 minute or less.

2. Great value. You aren't paying for extras you may never use. You pay for great glass and a simple mount. The price of a 6" (150mm) computerized "GoTo" scope can be up to $1500, but for $300 or so, you can get the same aperture and views in a dob.

3. Rugged. I have 12 in service on three campuses and some have been in use for 13 years now - teens use them 40 nights a year and you still can't tell the old ones from the brand new ones!

4. Learn the sky! Computerized stuff is great - but a dob and a star map will help you learn the sky much faster than any computerized gizmo ever will. When you are ready for a bigger, badder scope that will do lots more, you will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the job -- and enjoy it all the more for that!

Good luck, and let us know if you have more questions!

Dan

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JamesM

JamesM

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Mark, I would first recommend that what ever you buy, ensure that you buy it from an astronomy retailer and not Ebay, camera shops, newspaper classified etc. Astronomy retailers are typically astronomers themselves and know about the kit they are selling and as their customer, you can access this knowledge for free which is worth every penny extra you pay compared to say camera shops who can't help you if you need further advice or help.

If I list you the dodgy makes but forget one, you might interpret this 'one' as being a good scope to buy. What I will do is recommend the makes you SHOULD buy which at your budget would be Celestron, Skywatcher and Meade. A dobsonian scope (newtonian mounted on a rotating alt/Az base) will give you the best value scope with the largest aperture. Most of the money has gone into the scope itself and not on extras like GOTO or equatorial mounting. If you click on the First Light Optics badge at the top of the this page you can see what your money will buy. In my personal opinion, there is no such thing as a beginner scope, only one that works and to to that end I would recommend that you get hold one of a dobsonian scope with 8" aperture. It might mean saving a little extra but with this aperture you won't be disappointed with the views. Anything smaller, will mean you will want to upgrade quicker and that will mean wasting money when you could have had the above scope from the beginning. Others may disagree but I always advocate giving a new interest a good start which increases the chance that you will sustain it over the longer term.

Hope that helps.

James

(Must learn to type quicker as young Dan got there first!)

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John

John

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For your budget a 6" dobsonian (around £180 new) makes an awful lot of sense. An 8" is even more fun but you would need to find another £90 or so.

But do allow some £'s for a good guide to the night sky, a red torch and perhaps a red dot type finder which makes pointing the scope to the right place a lot easier many find.

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saturn4me

saturn4me

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For your budget a 6" dobsonian (around £180 new) makes an awful lot of sense. An 8" is even more fun but you would need to find another £90 or so.

But do allow some £'s for a good guide to the night sky, a red torch and perhaps a red dot type finder which makes pointing the scope to the right place a lot easier many find.

Good advice mate and that echoes what a lot of other people have said about a dob too.Looks like i'll be getting a dob:D.Thanks again.Mark.
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saturn4me

saturn4me

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You'll see a great deal with an 8" Dob. It's a really nice sized telescope which gives wide fields of view lacking in larger scopes. Take your 8" somewhere dark and you'll be blown away at what it can show you.

Thanks for your advice umadog.Its funny really because when i was thinking about getting a scope i was looking at a reflector and never thought about a dob.But having spoke to lots of people im drawn to a dob now especially because they are thought of so highly.Again,many thanks umadog.Mark.

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