Best entry telescope for $400-600

[Cdg1975]

I was hoping some of you could give me advice on a telescope in the $400-600 range. I am not knowledgable on what brands are good now. What was good when I was younger probably are not what is good now. Any guidance will be appreciative.

[Monty]

When I began I wrote a list of what I wanted to view, how much light pollution I had to cope with, how easy was the equipment to upgrade/add to and what were the best selling scopes for my budget and then I started contacting shops for advice and quotes.

[rowan46]

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1456-12120

[sgazer]

depends what you want to look at, if you want it computerised, how long you want to spend setting up and what you're light pollution is like, but skywatcher, celestron and Meade are all good brands, skywatcher tending to be the cheaper end but still good. A good starting point would be a dob like this, which is all easy manual operation;

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-dobsonian.html

Be careful if you buy second hand and best to ask here before you purchase.

[Pete Presland]

When I began I wrote a list of what I wanted to view, how much light pollution I had to cope with, how easy was the equipment to upgrade/add to and what were the best selling scopes for my budget and then I started contacting shops for advice and quotes.

very good idea decide what aspect of astronomy you really interested in and go from there

[Keiran]

I thought that read $400600... Now thats a budget

As above, what sort of objects are you most interested in Planetary or DSO?

Does it need to be portable, how much space do you have to store it?

Do you live in a house/flat, do you have a place to setup at home or will you be traveling with it?

Do you want simple... Big aperture dobsonian, or are you considering GOTO.... or even progressing to astro photography?

For your price range you will probably be looking at a skywatcher scope. an 8" Dobsonian/10" Dobsonian, If you can store it and dont minde carrying it. They are basic, point it where you want and away you go.

Or a smeller refractor/reflector on an EQ mount or AZ mount, goto or non goto.

The more complicated the mount ie GOTO the smaller the scope.

I hope that helps