Beginner looking for telescope recommendation

[shiveley]

Okay, I haven’t had a telescope in a number of years and am hoping to get back into it while also introducing the concept to my kids (daughter 12 and son 10).
If you were a beginner with a limited budget, and ease-of-use and well-rounded functionality was a primary concern, which of the following telescopes would you ultimately choose and why?
 
Celestron NexStar 4SE Computerized Telescope
 
Orion StarBlast 6i IntelliScope Reflector Telescope
Celestron NexStar 130 SLT Computerized Telescope Celestron NexStar 127SLT Mak Computerized Telescope
Meade StarNavigator 102 Computerized Telescope

[rowan46]

welcome to sgl. of those listed I would probably choose the orion starblast first as because of its apparture it will see furthest. next on the list would be the 127 mak its got good optics and is a better fit on the slt mount than the 130 reflector if it was a choice between those 5 the star navigator wouldn't come into play too narrow a field of view and a smaller apparture. The nexstar 4 is a nice scope but the 127 mak is much better the 4semount is essentially a redressed slt mount a good enough mount but you are paying for the fashion statement.

[Grant]

Welcome to SGL.

Please use font colours that are legible against the dark background colours we use. I've modified your post to ensure it's readable...

Thanks,

Grant

[jonathan]

The Orion Starblast looks like a pretty decent scope for the money, nice and compact.  You will need a low table to place it on or use a small stool so that you can see in the eyepiece without stooping down too much.

I wouldn't read too much into the 14,000 object database boast on any of the goto scopes, you'll be lucky to find a few hundred objects that are of any interest or that are even visible with such a scope (there are a lot of stars and objects that look like stars, but most will be just a little white dot through these scopes).  You should be able to see some very nice clusters, double stars, planets, moon, and nebula.

[Astro Imp]

I think you will find that other than the Orion you will need to invest in a power supply of some sort as from reports on this forum they don't perform well using the supplied battery pack.

I would be inclined to give serious thought to the Orion anyway as of the scopes mentioned it has the biggest aperture and alignment is a tad easier.