Celestron Firstscope/Skywatcher heritage 75mm

[Commanderfish]

Has anyone had a look through one of these cheap kids Dobsonians?http://www.crookedimaging.co.uk/cel1stscope76-celestron-firstscope-76-mm-lens-reflecting-telescope-compact-lightweight-uk.html?gclid=COb9xPqTv8QCFaHKtAodzVEAqw#fo_c=189&fo_k=9a820a31bf1dea7e67855c22ce561d97&fo_s=gplauk

I'm thinking of getting one for my kids and we could take it on holiday. The stars are supposed to be amazing where we are going on the Algarve. It would be a shame not to have some form of scope with me.

Any other clever ideas for travelscopes, let me know.

[Peter Drew]

Yes, I've tried a similar one to this. I thought it was really good value and should please the kids, specially if you are prepared to help out. You will need something stable to stand it on. 

[Ags]

I've played with one. They are good for widefield views, but they cannot be described as a planetary scope!

In some ways they are better than a pair of 15x70s - the firstscope is smaller and lighter, you can change magnification, they are obviously more stable than a pair of bins, and you can share the views with others.

[Commanderfish]

The views of the Milky Way are supposed to be pretty special in the Algarve, a wide field view would do just fine. If the kids want to look at planets we can use my SCT at home.

I can take a couple of quality eyepieces with us too, maybe a Maxvision 24mm

[Commanderfish]

FYI, for anyone wanting to buy one of these, for 4 quid more, the Skywatcher version comes with a 5x25 finder scope and decent MA eyepieces (instead of Kellners with tiny pupils which come with the Celestron version):

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-76-mini-dobsonian.html