Looking for an affordable Telescope w/Camera for my kids

[aeristilheartly]

I've ALWAYS loved Astronomy and I've been considering buying a telescope for years...

The problem is I don't know which ones are 'bad' and which ones are 'good' I see Telescopes from price ranges from $30 to $3,000! Some that even come from China are like $300 and I'm kind of stuck...

I was hoping you guys could help me here pick out a good telescope that could view Jupiter or Saturn with a stable tripod (we have a lot of wind around here) and I'd like a camera too, whether it'd be attached to the actual telescope or an add on...

All together I'm hoping to spend less then $300 if possible, that's my budget...

Now this is again for my children so I don't need something Crystal clear (although if the price is under budget, I wouldn't mind) I just want my babies to be able to look out into space and experience the Galaxy & Universe with me.

Any help is appreciated, and if you have links to show what the telescopes and/or attached camera look like, I'd greatly appreciate if you'd share them so I know what I'm looking for!

Thanks!!!

[BinocularSky]

Choosing a First Astronomical Telescope

Or, as your use of "$" suggests you may not be in the UK:

Telescope Buyers FAQ

[ronin]

For a reasonably general purpose scope try the Skywatcher Evostar 90 or 102, you can choose the mount as it will be a small EQ or Alt/Az. I suspect an EQ2 but if it came on an EQ3 then better. Budget for a couple of additional plossl's. Not sure how popular the Skywatchers are in the US (I see you mention $'s). So may have to look round or they may be sold under the Celestron name.

The camera aspect - you are not going to get images with the previous. Imaging is an expensive aspect of this, starting around the $2000 or more mark for anything worthwhile.

If getting images is a necessity then I think you may be looking at a small goto with a webcam. Simplest terms - align the goto locate a planet, insert webcam, get avi file, process avi file through Registax. You are looking at planetary images only.

If kids are to view do you need a tracking scope? Simply keeps, hopefully, things in view as you swap round.