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Would This Be A Good Starter Telescope?


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I have recently joined the forum and I have placed a post in Introductions with regards to myself and my Grandson. I have around £150 in Argos vouchers (Argos is a store here in the UK) and thought I would use them to buy our first telescope, just something to get us going. One I have looked at and read a few reviews about is the Celestron Powerseeker 80EQ Astronomical Telescope  HERE. This looks like a good starter telescope but would welcome opinions, advice on this.

Many thanks and kind regards

Craig  (Skybot)   :)

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Welcome.

The telescope itself is OK but the mount will be a bit wobbly and frustrating. The importance of a good mount cannot be overstated because if the image is jittering about you can't see it.

If there were any non astro products you could buy with the Argos vouchers then you'd have a better choice and better service and advice from an astronomy supplier.

Olly

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That looks to be very similar to the 3" F/15 refractor I first went for when I was 12. Only I wished I had an Alt.-Az mount like the Celestron you are considering. I would be lying if I said I didn't like the scope you're thinking of. May I ask how old your Grandson is? Though I'm sure with you to help out, no child is too young for using a decent refractor - which this one certainly appears to be. At 80mm, I think it's a better deal than a smalled refractor such as the ubiquitouse 60mm & 70mm offerings. An 80mm refractor is a size and capability of a telescope that has exited the land of "kid-telescope" and entered the land of "real-telescope." One that may end up growing old with the Grandson and getting handed-down.

You have my seal-of-approval, Sir.

Dave

PS: I disagree - the mount looks to be adequate. Some home-brew Sorbothane-pads can work miracles.

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Re-Write Here:

Some confusion. The mount shown is Alt.-Az. whereas Celestron says this is a Equatorial. That needs to be ironed-out. An Alt-Az shown in the picture would be better in my opinion. Less "fussy" for a young person to use.

Better sort this out with where ever it's coming from.

Dave

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The advert gives optimum magnification as 225x and maximum magnification as 675x , that is a load of rubbish,

With an 80mm scope the optimum mag is 160x in very good seeing conditions, Don't be taken in by this sort of sales hype, Suggest you try a proper astro dealer

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I agree there! I just checked out the conflicting information given by Argus. Read a bunch on their website too. Celestron has the proper info you should be looking at:

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/powerseeker-80eq-telescope

The 4mm eyepiece is a standard give-away of Celestron. It's too powerful for the scope. So you should read this as coming with one eyepiece, and one cat-toy.

Other than that faux-pas alla corporate, looks like a nice refractor regardless. The equatorial-mount appears competent and outfitted with cables for easy tracking. A little more work to set-up and learn, but your Grandson should be able to teach you how-to. :evil::grin:

Dave

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Acope looks OK, as indicated the mount is a lightweight, but no-one (should) I suppose expect EQ6 stability.

One concern is the claimed magnifications,

Optimum = 225x

Maximum = 625x

Simply put utter rubbish.

Optimum will likely be around 80x, same as a the lens diameter, and Maximum will be bewteen 120x and 160x. Will say you only really need 80x for Jupiter and 120x (if the scope delivers) is OK for Saturn and in a way that is all you need. Anything around those will allow you to see and split double stars, view clusters and most other objects.

If you get it then I suggest that you make this clear to your grandson. Those numbers are some idiot in the ,arketing dept deciding they have to claim more then the next scope.

As you seem to be "tied" to Argos and out of the various Argos offerings that seems to be about the best one.

As long as the expectations are realistic then should be a reasonable first scope, that will hopefully get used.

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Re-Write Here:

Some confusion. The mount shown is Alt.-Az. whereas Celestron says this is a Equatorial. That needs to be ironed-out. An Alt-Az shown in the picture would be better in my opinion. Less "fussy" for a young person to use.

Better sort this out with where ever it's coming from.

Dave

The mount shown is definitely equatorial.

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Well, the first image wasn't an equatorial. From the link Starbot gave, marked HERE:

attachicon.gifCelestron Powerseeker 80EQ Telescope on Argus a.png

Hence the confusion,

Dave

That mount is an equatorial, most definitely (Celestron CG-2, Skywatcher EQ1). The angle at which you are looking at the mount is confusing you. Examine the photo a little closer.and you will clearly see the counterweights,, slightly obscured by the telescope and diagonal.

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Hi Starbot, i am in  Brierfield so  not far from you, :grin:  welcome to the forum.  You may be better too use your vouchers for some reasonably sized binoculars such as these http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4558149.htm

  and save up and buy one of these  http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.htmlt

  This is a far easier scope to use and will show you many things the smaller one won't, and could keep you occupied for years. Binoculars will give you a wider field of view for star clusters etc and help you learn the night sky. Although you will need a tripod to keep them steady.

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Argos isn't a great place to buy a telescope - you'd get better support and selection from a specialised dealer. But getting rid of those vouchers does seem like a pretty good way to develop a hobby with your grandson.

The other half-decent scope which Argos have is the Celestron 114AZ Newtonian Telescope

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5067718.htm

A little more expensive, but within your limit.

It very definitely has an Alt-aimuth mount which as already noted would perhaps be easier for a youngster to use. From the photo it looks like a simplified Celestron Powerseeker. A peculiarity in this scope, however, is that it is probably a Jones-Bird design, with an internal magnifier to increase the focal length. A lot of serious amateur astronomers dislike this feature, and with certain reason.

However, for a beginner scope, and especially for a child (I'm assuming your grandson is a child) it might be a better option than your first suggestion. These telescopes have been the mainstay of Celestron's cheaper range for decades. During this time they must have sold hundred of thousands, presumably with many happy customers!

Within the Argos range (and I emphasise this), the 114 has a better aperture (diameter of tube) and should allow magnification up to about x230 in the BEST conditions, and the mount may be more stable and certainly more intuitive to use.

Outside of Argos, there is a very different and better offer.

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+1 for avoiding Argos in astro purchases. Add to that most high street shops and online bidding-bay sites too. Far better to go to a specialist astronomy retailer like FLO (see link at top of page). These are the types of beginner scope that you would be better off looking at:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

Hope that helps. :)

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Argos isn't a great place to buy a telescope - you'd get better support and selection from a specialised dealer. But getting rid of those vouchers does seem like a pretty good way to develop a hobby with your grandson.

The other half-decent scope which Argos have is the Celestron 114AZ Newtonian Telescope

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5067718.htm

A little more expensive, but within your limit.

It very definitely has an Alt-aimuth mount which as already noted would perhaps be easier for a youngster to use. From the photo it looks like a simplified Celestron Powerseeker. A peculiarity in this scope, however, is that it is probably a Jones-Bird design, with an internal magnifier to increase the focal length. A lot of serious amateur astronomers dislike this feature, and with certain reason.

However, for a beginner scope, and especially for a child (I'm assuming your grandson is a child) it might be a better option than your first suggestion. These telescopes have been the mainstay of Celestron's cheaper range for decades. During this time they must have sold hundred of thousands, presumably with many happy customers!

Within the Argos range (and I emphasise this), the 114 has a better aperture (diameter of tube) and should allow magnification up to about x230 in the BEST conditions, and the mount may be more stable and certainly more intuitive to use.

Outside of Argos, there is a very different and better offer.

It probably is a Bird-Jones. The quoted magnification with the 20mm eyepiece is 50x. 50x20=1000.mm

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Thank you for all your comments and advice.  After taking everything into consideration I have decided to take the advice given by Darkstar_1    I have ordered the Meade Astro Binoculars and something for my Grandson to use up the vouchers and we are going to take our time and find the right telescope at a later date from a specialised dealer.  Once again thank you for the much appreciated response from you all.

To Darkstar_1, I am in fact a Brierfielder myself.  My parents and Grandparents were Publicans in Brierfield in my younger days.  Small world.   :wink: 

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