Suggestions for best buy child friendly scope

[Hawksmoor]

A friend of my daughter now resident in Australia has requested my help via Facebook. She wishes to buy a scope for her husband's birthday. They have two small children and Dad currently spends time with the kids looking at the night sky. He has never used a telescope but is quite keen to use one with his children. They live in an area with low light pollution. I have not been advised of a budget but would suspect somewhere between £75 and £200 would be about right.

Robust, versatile, easy to use and maintain, and with a capability to provide good views of the moon, star clusters, bright nebula and the big four planets. Your suggestions particularly from those with experience of children using scopes under supervision would be welcomed.

[Captain Caveman]

I bought the Skywatcher Heritage 76mm reflector for my boy for Xmas. THe mini-dobsonian mount is very simple to use, but I tend to point it for him and he looks. It works well together, but now I'm more into the stargazing than him!

You haven't stated the age/maturity or concentration span for them.

They will mainly get a buzz out of the moon and planets and some impressive star clusters like the Pleiades. In the 76mm you can make out Jupiter and just about its 4 moons but certainly no detail. The moon is impressive but still doesn't fill the field of vision with the high mag eyepiece

If they are a bit older than my boy then the Heritage 130 would work well (£130), but if really young then the Infinity 76 is supposed to be good as it swivels on a base rather than a mount and they can even hold it in their laps

If the budget is over £100 then a reflector may work better as it will magnify planets and the moon to nice detail and you wont have to worry about aperture as much for deep sky objects, and it looks more like a " real telescope" !

Hope that helps

[Matt 82]

Most telescopes will be child friendly if all they're doing is looking through the 'scope once a parent has set it up.

Skywatcher Dobsonians get recommended for everyone who asks about getting a scope and your case is no different. What to bear in mind though is that some of them can be pretty big.

[Hawksmoor]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. Very helpful! My friend's oldest child is nine years old so probably will suggest a Skywatcher 150mm Dob. I have never used a Newtonian telescope or a Dob mount (I have a Mak and a refractor). Your comments confirmed my original thoughts that a Dob would be easy to use but having never used one was reluctant to make a recommendation based on no hands on experience. best regards George

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I am building my kids a 4.5" mini-dob, which would act as a table-top scope. A 130 would still be manageable for kids, but I had a little 4.5" scope with rotten mount lying around, so why not convert it.

[sunshine185]

My 10 year old daughter throws my 200p around like there's no tomorrow, "found plaeides dad", " found beetlejuice dad" she thinks its great.

[Rigel-7]

I would recommend a SkyWatcher Heritage 130 dob. It folds up into a small box, simple to use, it's a decent aperture and best of all if you want to upgrade you can sell it for a good price! There is one on eBay going for more than the buy price at the moment (the Brian Cox effect). You can get them new from £120.

[Hawksmoor]

Thanks everyone