Help buying a starting telescope for my dad

[RD52169]

Hi everyone,

Over the last year or 2, my dad has developed an interest in space/planets/stars and things.

(He loves Brian Cox and all his shows too lol)

Well it's his birthday in just over 1 month and I would like to get him a telescope...

Iv tried researching about what to look for and the different types of scope, however I don't really understand any of it...

I know there are different scopes such as reflectors and refractors and I have read many things about these but I still don't understand, is one of these types of scope better than the other for viewing a particular thing?

My budget may seem quite small at £70.. But I have seen telescopes (refractors/reflectors) on ebay and amazon well within this budget.

Such as:

Celestron Powerseeker 76/700 Reflector Telescope

Skywatcher Mercury 607 Refractor Telescope

And

Danubia Pluto Refractor Astro Telescope

Does anyone know, are these any good?

It will probably be used for seeing planets and comets and the moon, maybe stars and star clusters

Or could anyone recommend any other telescope?

I appreciate any advice anyone can give

Thank you

Rob

[paul mc c]

Hi Rob, for that budget would you not consider a nice pair of binoculars,there would be lots to see and may spark his interest even more.

[peeceeTal2M]

look for a tal1vnewtonian telescope great optics on these and built like a tank but easily managed by one person to set up and take down i had one of these for years before upgrading to a tal2m.

[damnut]

Another vote for a nice pair of binos. You would have some budget left for a copy of 'sky&telescope pocket star atlas'. You can see an awful lot with binoculars, and the atlas will help guide him round the sky.

[Mark62]

Don't think u can go wrong with the advice given binoculars for me too

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RD52169]

Thank you for the quick replies,

My dad has a few decent sets of binoculars and a weird monocular too (a little hand held thing he uses for bird watching)

PeeceeTal2M mentioned a tal1vnewtonian scope.. Would it be worth the cost or would the binoculars be better? (Sorry I don't know what binoculars he currently has)

Also, one possibility is that I get him something as a joint present with other family members, if I did this, do you know of anything that would be a step up from binoculars and a decent telescope for him to use?

I don't mean to sound obsessed about getting a telescope, I just want to improve his experience

Thank you again

[rwilkey]

Hi Rob, avoid Danubia, they are of poor quality.  For the objects you mention you need at least a 90mm to start with, but over your budget here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/skywatcher-evostar-90-az3.html

As someone else has suggested a pair of bino's would probably be best.

[happy-kat]

As a simple to use starter telescope there is the skywatcher heritage 100p which is just out side your budget. £89.00

The money is on the telescope rather than the mount so you sit it on a table outside to observe. Very portable telescope and easy set up and get using. It can be mounted on a tripod as well.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-100p-tabletop-dobsonian.html

If he gets into the hobby he could buy better eye pieces for example.

There is a video on this thread and lots of user reviews dotted throughout the pages.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/208138-skywatcher-heritage-100p/page-1

[happy-kat]

If he already has binoculars then I would not but him yet another pair.