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Which telescope to buy?

Norton

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Norton

Norton

Posted
Posted

Hello, I am rather a new astronomer well... Will be soon :)

I decided to buy my self a telescope for Christmas however I am new to all of this, I do not know which one to buy and in my town two shops have each different telescopes and I have two to chose from which are:

CELESTRON AstroMaster 76EQ

OR

Danubia Merkur 60A Refractor Astro Telescope

Please help me out with the choice!

Thank you!

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John

John

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Hi and welcome to the forum.

My recommendation would be to hold back from buying a scope for a while and try and save up a little more. For around £130 you can get something like this which would provide a good start to the hobby and far out perform the Astromaster 76 by a long way in every respect:

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube

A 76mm newtonian scope is just, in my opinion, not able to provide views of any objects, apart from perhaps the moon, that will provide any satisfaction.

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Norton

Norton

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I have found another shop near me that have telescopes, is national geograthic 76mm newtonian for 115P OR for lower (the best option since i wont get much money) celesteron 70 outfit if thats right name for 99P

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PreludeToADream

PreludeToADream

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I have found another shop near me that have telescopes, is national geograthic 76mm newtonian for 115P OR for lower (the best option since i wont get much money) celesteron 70 outfit if thats right name for 99P

I think you'd be better saving your money and trying to get something online like the Skywatcher Heritage 130P. I made the mistake of getting a cheap unknown brand telescope for my first 'scope and was totally disappointed. I saved a bit of money and then got a Skywatcher 130P and was so much happier.

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Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley

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I've got agree with everything that has been said. Buying a cheaper telescope now will be an expensive mistake. The Nation Geographic telescope and the Danubia are what are department store telescopes and in the long term will be disappointing. Save a little more money and buy a Skywatcher Heritage 130 or similar.

Peter

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DOBBY

DOBBY

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Hi Norton...& welcome to the forum

why not pop up your local high road...get some binoculars from the charity shop for a tenner...& use these for viewing while you save for a decent starter 'scope

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umadog

umadog

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I second this. The National Geographic will disappoint you. There's one thing you need to understand: the department store telescope, which Peter mentions. These telescopes are always of very bad quality: the optics are dreadful and the mounts are rickety and useless. What's worse is that they can have the appearance of quality and be relatively expensive. Do not buy one. The telescopes we'll recommend are only a little more pricey but they will actually work. As far as telescopes are concerned you won't get anything worthwhile for below about 120 to 150 quid. That's just how it is. Either save up more or buy yourself a book or two and go outside and learn the stars that way whilst you're saving up. Do you have binoculars handy? Do not underestimate what you can see with binoculars if you know where to look. Books help here. If you buy a cheap and nasty telescope then you'll be out 70 to 100 quid and effectively won't have a scope at all.

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jgs001

jgs001

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I think Dobby has summed it up nicely. Get a pair of binos, about 10x50 ish... be a great starting point, easy to use, really fast to setup, and cheap, and save up for the scopes suggested. It's worth keeping an eye on Lidl's and Aldi, they often have cheap bino's for sale.

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Telrad

Telrad

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Sorry for the bump...

I think I decided to wait and hold the money up and now I have seen two nice telescopes around nice prices tho I am not sure for which one I should save... Here are the link:

Skywatcher Explorer-130 EQ2 Newtonian Reflector F/900 Telescope, UK

&

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube

IMO it would be the SW Heritage 130p :)

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Dob

Dob

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If i were you i wouldn't buy a telescope at all.

I would rather go for a decent binoculars.That's because you presumably still ain't good with "knowing the sky".Finding objects (im talking about finding DSOs) in a telescope isn't easy as it looks especially if you dont have any experience with star hopping.

If you have a dark location and good binoculars (nothing big, 10x50 will do just fine) you can have hours of enjoyment.:)

Take for example fighter pilots.They have to learn how to fly in a trainer aircraft first, and after that they can fly in a fighter.

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John

John

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What is this "6" Dob"?

6" / 150mm dobsonian - it's a newtonian scope mounted on a simple up / down / left / right mount which is called a Dobsonian after the man who invented it.

foundaplanet linked to a good one in his post above.

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TROJAN

TROJAN

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I agree with the above... save up and get a 6" dobsonian or a newtonian scope of a similar size as a minimum - That way you wont be disappointed with the views you get and will stay with the hobby a lot longer...

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