Recommendations for the best entry level telescope?

[BranOT]

My wife is planning on getting me a telescope for my birthday, and I would like some input on various entry level models.  My budget at this point in my life is between $100-200.  I realize that there are reflector, refractory and many other types, but I really want something that is easy to use, as I know at least one of you have been in the same boat.  I live in the city of Pittsburgh and will have to travel a an hour or so to get away from the light pollution.  Any suggestions you have will be appreciated and I thank you for reading my post.    

[baggywrinkle]

Have a look at the Skywatcher and Celestron table top reflectors. Very simple and get good reviews..

Or look on the 2nd hand market. most astronomers look after their kit well and it would be in generally good condition.

[BranOT]

Have a look at the Skywatcher and Celestron table top reflectors. Very simple and get good reviews..

Or look on the 2nd hand market. most astronomers look after their kit well and it would be in generally good condition.

Thanks Baggywrinkle, I will most definitely check them out! 

[BranOT]

http://www.opticsplanet.com/celestron-firstscope-76-tabletop-firsthttp://www.opticsplanet.com/celestron-firstscope-76-tabletop-first-telescope.html-telescope.html

I found this Celestron entry level reflector, and it seems reasonably priced.  Has anybody used one of these?  Thanks

[Kirscovitch]

The link you posted doesn't seem to work. What kind of scope was it?

[ronin]

From what I could see the link was meant for the 76mm table top scope. Personally I would not recommend it. It is nice and small but it is also f/3.9 meaning very fast and I think it would need almost daily collimation and xome very good (=costly) eyepieces.

My preference is towards refractors so how about the Powerseeker 80 on an EQ mount.

Little puzzled as there seems to be 2 of them on the Optics Planet site, one at $125 the other at $170, and the less cost one has a motor. Admit that the mount does not look that good and I half suspect the prices are the wrong way round.

The refractor will require less (no) maintenance, a reflector will need collimating at intervale so you need a collimator, guess $35 area.

Be careful of some reflectors they have a focal length of 1000mm but a tube length of about 550mm, These are a Bird Jones design and are best avoided, The actual design is sound, but it needs a good set of optics to perform right and they are not built with good optics to magnify the focal length.

[Qualia]

It's a simple answer: refractors: they look cool, they look like proper telescopes and will do what you are asking them to do. Especially white ones

But hang on...!!

For now we'll leave price out of the equation and just look at the scope.

When looking around at your new potential purchase, the general precept is that aperture rules and so you'll find that if a beginner asks 'what should I buy?' 99% of those answers are going to suggest the biggest Newtonian (reflector) you can afford and carry about, and more than likely a Newtonian which is Dobsonian mounted rather than GEM (EQ) mounted, simply because the former mounts are a lot easier to use, a lot easier to set up and are a lot, lot cheaper, so in effect you're putting more money into the optics and less into the mount which is essential for a stargazing observer.

Most beginners want to see a little of everything and at a decent price. If you are looking for faint DSOs like globular clusters, nebulae or galaxies you need dark skies and you need aperture and lowish magnification, these will be necessary to get as much light as possible to your eye and to get as wide a view as possible. Newtonians excel at all these factors and because of their light gathering capacity, they are also outstanding scopes for viewing the Moon and planets.

But lets suppose you just want to get high detail of planets and you want to split double stars and do some Lunar and Solar observations (with the correct filters in place). Well, now, you don't really need big fields of view, nor maximum light collection, but perhaps some really tasty crystal clear views at higher mags. That's when the refractors enter the story.

I don't believe there are 'entry level telescopes'. At a given price, there are good ones, and not so good ones. Here, then, budget is important and then to keep on asking questions here at SGL about the particular telescopes you have in mind. I know you're in the States, but do check out First Light Optics, for you'll get an idea of very reasonably priced decent/excellent scopes which may help your own search. With this said, although many small aperture telescopes come highly recommended, if you start small, say with a 3" or 4" or 5", you may soon be wishing you had gone for that 8" or 10". So have a serious, serious think about this as well.

Recall, a decent 8" dobsonian reflector is about the same price as an unmounted decent 4" achromatic refractor. So, not only think about your budget, but have a serious think about what you'd like to be seeing over the next year or so, and really question your choice of a refractor as a first time telescope. I'm not saying a refractor is a bad choice - far from it - but just one you need to contemplate and understand.

After you've got your scope with its supplied EPs you will probably want to get a couple more eyepieces, but do that after you've practiced a little. That way, you'll be able to make a much more informed enquiry and decision. But, if you do decide to buy a Newtonian, your telescope will require collimation. So, you will need a special tool to do this, so you ought to budget yourself for a Cheshire as well.

Another thing to look out for - and I think this is really important - are astronomy sketches. If you have a look at the type of telescope from which the sketch was made this is the kind of thing you will see when observing from a telescope of similiar aperture. From time to time folk do crop up here who are very disappointed with astronomy-stargazing, they thought they were going to see colourful swirling galaxies and nebulae, or those wide and super bright globular clusters seen in the photos, only to see a fuzzy in grey, a planet the size of a pea. So, make sure you're informed. There's a post in the beginner's section here at SGL about what you might be expected to see with a small aperture scope.

If possible, really try to get along to a local astronomy club and look through the type of telescope you think you may purchase and see if the view, size and weight meet your expectations. Most stargazers will be only too happy to help.

It's probably not necessary to say, but just in case, I'd suggest that you buy your first set up from a specialist telescope shop that can provide advice and an ongoing service  – not from ebay and not from some supermarket or photographic store where the staff will generally have no knowledge of what they are selling.

I hope this helps and please don't hesitate in asking more questions

[cantab]

http://www.opticsplanet.com/celestron-firstscope-76-tabletop-firsthttp://www.opticsplanet.com/celestron-firstscope-76-tabletop-first-telescope.html-telescope.html

I found this Celestron entry level reflector, and it seems reasonably priced.  Has anybody used one of these?  Thanks

I have Skywatcher's equivalent, the Heritage 76 (which you won't find readily in the USA). It's a nice little scope, easy to use and stable - though only as much as what you put it on! It's capable of wide-angle views which makes finding stuff easier. The views are OK for starfields and clusters, though the edge of the field shows seagull-shaped stars. It'll bring in some deep-sky objects, though they'll be faint. Where it's not been so great is on planets; to sell the scope so cheaply, the high-magnification performance is compromised. Jupiter's two main bands were scarcely visible with the supplied eyepieces, though they were clear at higher magnification.

Orion also do a version, the Funscope. I'd advise this over Celestron's; the Funscope comes with a finder and better eyepieces. If you want to spend Not A Lot Of Money, the Orion Funscope's the one to go for. Of course, if you're happy to spend the full $200, you can get something considerably better.

[BranOT]

Thanks for the great info.  I checked and there is an astronomy club in Pittsburgh, maybe a member will have one of the scopes you recommended so that I could try before buying.