Scopes

[nederman63]

Since joining here I have read a lot about poor scopes, and have taken it all in, but what about good scope manufacturers, is there a definite list anywhere? I have seen loads of scopes about for sale, and half of them I have never heard of, so I was wondering what are the best manufacturers out there.

[knobby]

As a rough guide, if you can find it at a reputable store ( rother valley optics, first light optics, green witch, f1 telescopes, forgive me if I've left anyone out)

It should be on the good list...

if its on Tesco, Asda, Jessops, Argos...

Then its probably on the bad list.

I'm sure there will be some overlap but it will give you a good idea

what did you have in mind?

[sparkyjon]

if you also want telescope manufacturers , there is three mainstreams skywatcher , celestron and meade, personally i think meade are over priced rubbish these days , older meade stuff is stunning as with celestron the older stuff and top end stuff is better than the lower end, my personal favourite (even though i have celestron at present) is skywatcher , they seem to have good quality throughout their price range..

[Spec-Chum]

Don't forget tal

[Spanishfly]

Stellarvue are brilliant quality - but rare this side of the pond.

[cantab]

Skywatcher, Celestron, Meade are the three major brands in Britain I'd say. They make some good scopes but also some dubious ones though.

Then there's two Orions, the American Orion Telescopes and Binoculars that have a similar range to Skywatcher, a bit more expensive over here, and the British Orion Optics that make higher-end scopes.

TAL, Russian make, well-regarded I believe and built brick-tough. (Which is why I didn't get a TAL, I want something easily portable!)

Konus you sometimes see around. I don't think they're bad per se, just hard to see why one would pick them over Skywatcher.

Saxon you occasionally see here, I believe they're an Australian counterpart to Skywatcher, again hard to see why you wouldn't pick the cheaper British brand if you're in Britain.

Coronado (owned by Meade I think) and Lunt for hydrogen-alpha solar scopes.

At the high end, Vixen, Borg, and Tele Vue.

[E621Keith]

Stellarvue are brilliant quality - but rare this side of the pond.

Stelarvue is good, but very expensive. It's a premium manufacturer in the same class as Televue and APM.

For a beginner, look at Skywatcher (except Mercury range), Celestron (except Powerseeker range), Orion Telescope and Binoculars (Orion US) and Vixen. Synta telescope is sold under a few different brands around the world; Skywatcher in Europe, Asia, Canada, Saxon in Australia, Orion in USA, and Kenko in Japan.

These manufacturers also make a nice range of intermediate scope. At the intermediate level, there are a few more manufacturers to look out for. Revelation (GSO and Long Peng), Altair Astro/TS/APM (United Optics), Explore Scientific ...

At the top end of the market, telescope makers becomes more and more specialised. Astro-physics, TEC, and LZOS are refractor specialist. Obsession, Summarian Optics and David Lukehurst are dobsonian structure specialist. Orion optics UK, Planewave are reflector/CAT specialist. When you get to this level, you can't really compare different manufacturers from different discipline, so there is no 'best' per se.