Beginner telescope advice please..

[snakey_75]

Hi everyone, newbie just joined, need some advice please. I am looking at getting a telescope for myself and the family and am looking at two but not sure which one.. the Celestron Powerseeker 60az and the Meade Infinity 600az. I've been Googling for the last few weeks and found these to have the better reviews among others. Can someone recommend one over the other? Have looked at Skywatcher as well but a little out of my beginner price range. Any help much appreciated.?

[Ricochet]

Personally I would suggest that you avoid both of those as I feel that 60mm is really too small. Astroboot currently have a "114mm Dobbo" on sale for £55, although you will also need to add some eyepieces (plus a Barlow) to the total cost. The extra aperture will make a significant difference to what you are able to observe and the table top dob base, while requiring some sort of raised platform to sit on, will be much more stable than the lightweight and wobbly mounts with the 60mm scopes.

[Knighty2112]

So your budget is around £60-£70? For that price I would avoid the two scopes you mentioned as you will quickly outgrow them as you will suffer from low magnification and lack of light gathering capabilities. A minimum of 70mm aperture would be what I would go for in a refractor, and 120mm in a reflector. Astroboot is an option, plus Gumtree have loads of 2nd hand scopes on offer, so with care you could get a better 2nd scope as your starter telescope.

For a decent starter telescope that will last you for a good while I think you need to budget more around £100 mark if you buy as new to start with. Other option is get some decent astronomy binoculars and start like that. Celestron's Skymaster 15x70 are pretty good and around the £70 mark. Sure they may not give you detailed views of the planets, but are a good stater for astronomy if on a tight budget and the moon looks great through them too. Plus even if you do still later on get a decent starter telescope, the binoculars always come in handy always too. The two scopes you mentioned would I fear quickly show their limitations, and you would most likely want to upgrade relatively quickly to overcome these if you got them.

[happy-kat]

You mention for your family, depending on ages, binoculars may not work for you as can be heavy to hold still particularly for children.

 

[Owmuchonomy]

In your position my approach would be to attend a local Astronomy club first and check out what they have in the way of advice and kit. There is a section on this forum for clubs and societies.  You and your children especially may be seriously underwhelmed by choosing from Google searches and restricting your budget thereby putting you and your family off this great hobby for life.

[johnnykikakat]

'Skywatcher' BK 1025AZ3 , its been recommended on the forum before as being nice, cheap fairly good wide views.  Theres one on ebay unused looks like its going cheap.

looks ideal for a start,easy to use so the kids can get started on it too.  if you dont like it, you could re-sell it for pretty much what you paid.

Good luck and hope you get started

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

I agree with Ricochet. A 60mm scope really is just outside of the size needed for astronomical observing. It will really cut down on the objects you can observe (you'll see the Moon). I personally think that a scope of 70-90mm really is an ok starting point. I have a 70mm scope which i use purely for solar observing. You really dont need much aperture for solar observing, so it works fine.

If you can stretch to it, the Skywatcher Heritage 130P would be a great scope for both you and the family. Its a 130mm aperture Dob for about 100 quid (give or take). Great scope. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

 

 

[Timebandit]

Hi. If it was me I would avoid the scopes you have mentioned and save a little bit more. As in the long run it will be cheaper buying something of decent performance, rather than being disappointed and having to re buy. And don't rule out buying second hand as you can get more bang for your buck. If it was me I would be looking at getting a used skywatcher 130  or 150 p(bit more aperture). A decent performing scopes for not to much cash second hand. And most persons look after there scopes, and I have bought used before and have never had any real problem. I hope this helps☺

 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi snakey, welcome. This lot will set you on the right path.

[Dave In Vermont]

Greetings and welcome to SGL - it's nice to have you & family aboard!

You've already seen that we love helping find answers to questions on all-things-astronomy. So always feel free to ask here!

Regards the suggestions given so far, I agree you would do better with something with more aperture - such as the 130mm table-top Dobsonian suggested by Paul (LukeSkywatcher). Even should this mean saving up a bit longer to afford it. The 130mm is a very well thought of telescope, in fact one of the most popular and recommended scopes in these forums. 60mm refractors are what was popular (out of lack of choices) back in the 1960's and 70's, And few people persevered in the hobby due to the lack of enthusiasm they generated. Pity.

So wait a bit, if need be. The sky will be there whenever you're ready to begin your voyages!

My 2¢,

Dave

[snakey_75]

Cheers guys, much appreciated for the info!! Looked at 70mm telescopes and willing to up the price range a bit, have looked at reflectors and have noticed that the viewer is upside down with a few of them. I may have use for the telescope on ground level so will need the viewer the right way round, which is why I have been looking at refractors. I have found a Celestron AstroMaster LT80AZ which is 80mm, what do you guys think of this? Cheers again!

 

[Timebandit]

Hi snakey. A half decent refractor will be a lot more expensive than a half decent reflector. And that's why most of us go for reflectors. As bang for buck you are not going going to beat a reflector ,and that's why me and Lukeskywatcher suggested the skywatcher 130 and 150.                                                                                                             But if you have your heart set on a refractor then the cheapest one I know of that is any quality and has a following and respectful performance at its price is the TAL 100rs. These new I think are around a couple of hundred pounds. So I suggest buying a second hand one as they do come up for around the 150 mark. Obviously you will need a mount and again a second hand AZ one would be the easiest for you to use. hope this is helpful☺

    .    

[happy-kat]

A second hand skywatcher Evostar 90mm refractor on a stand should be possible for £100 or there abouts if not less if you search hard.

[Ricochet]

The astromaster is probably ok but for astronomy any of the reflectors already suggested will be better. As an achromatic refractor you will see some chromatic abberation on bright objects like planets but it will probably be ok at f9. The red dot finder on the astromaster scopes doesn't get very good reviews and the fitting is proprietary so fitting an alternative finder will be more problematic. The eyepieces supplied by Celestron are also reportedly a bit below par but you can replace those with any 1.25" eyepiece. 

[Louis D]

Be aware that all of those long refractors on low cost mounts will be a bear to sight in on a target and then try to track it.  They have jerky movements and are very wiggly.  I'd stick with a dob style mount, even if in a table-top telescope as recommended above.

[snakey_75]

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated...  found this in Jessops, any good for a reflector? Cheers..! 

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/skywatcher/astrolux-3-newtonian-reflector-89840/show.html

 

[rockystar]

 

1 hour ago, snakey_75 said:

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated...  found this in Jessops, any good for a reflector? Cheers..! 

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/skywatcher/astrolux-3-newtonian-reflector-89840/show.html

 

The Astromaster will be better that this one - i would think; especially since you have mentioned terrestrial view also. I've had something similar and the mount delivered a very poor experience, which fortunately just made me want more, but it can very easily put people off.

Just trying to see if there is something about the LT range from celestron that makes the 80m cheaper the the 70 mm (not LT) that FLO are selling - but I can't find anything that shows the differences; maybe someone else here will know.

[Ricochet]

The LT80 looks like a Costco special. Perhaps the saving is simply in the supply method. Presumably Costco placed a large order on these and so got a good price directly from Celestron instead of having to go through a local distributor who also takes a cut of every sale. Unfortunately, all the specs available have been mixed up with the LT76AZ reflector so it's impossible to tell the difference from the 70AZ (apart from the aperture) without seeing one in the flesh. 

[happy-kat]

The CostCo Celestron AstroMaster LT80AZ is probably that price because of their buying power keeping it low.

Being f9 there will be some chromatic aberation but I have more in my refrator and it doesn't spoil the view for me.

However the specification is confusing. If it was a refractor I would consider get it, if it is a reflector I would not. The image does suggest refractor.. It may  or  may  not have an erect image diagonal  but you can  get these separately if it proved it didn't. I couldn't find out eyepeice barrel size but I would be surprised if it was not standard 1.25.

[rockystar]

Yeah, I can see the confusion now (after having re-read it) and I think i agree with happy kat: If it is the refractor shown in the picture, then this looks like a pretty good £60 telescope. However, if it is the wrong picture showing and it is actually for a 3" refractor, then I would avoid it and point you towards the LT70 on FLO's website.

[snakey_75]

This is what I was looking at... 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111870391427?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I have been looking at reflector scopes and some have the image upside down due to the mirrors (I think!), I have seen there are attachments to compensate for this, which scopes have these? Thanks for the info, much appreciated again! 

[happy-kat]

The image for the ebay link is a refractor. The description is wrong it is not a reflector.

If the image proves to not be the right way round it is easy to sort when using a refractor as you can get a right way up diagonal. Celestron's own website suggests it probably will be the right way up.

 

You should ask the seller if the telescope they are selling is exactly like the pictures on their eBay advert. If it is not then it is not a refractor that is being sold.

[Linda]

8 hours ago, snakey_75 said:

I have been looking at reflector scopes and some have the image upside down due to the mirrors (I think!), I have seen there are attachments to compensate for this, which scopes have these? Thanks for the info, much appreciated again! 

I copied this text from (sorry for the strange makeup, I can't undo it):

https://www.telescopes.com/blogs/helpful-information/18943492-image-orientation-why-is-everything-upside-down

Refractor and Cassegrain telescopes will produce an image that is upside down when used without a diagonal. When a diagonal is used the image will be corrected right side up, but backwards from left to right. It will look like trying to read a sign in a mirror. There are special diagonals called Erect Image Prism diagonals that can correct the backwards image for land use.

Newtonian Reflectors will produce an image that is upside down and are not recommended for land use. There are no ways to correct this with a Newtonian Reflector.

[snakey_75]

Thanks for the info everyone, much appreciated! ?

Think I might have to re-word my last post... initially I was looking at scopes that were too small and was told to look at bigger. I then looked at 70mm refractor scopes and found the 80mm. I know that a few of you have suggested reflector scopes but I feel that I would be limited with use of these unless I purchase extra accessories, as I have stated that I might/would be using it for terrestrial viewing as well. I am not ruling out getting a reflector, I have seen some very nice ones that I would happily pay the extra for, it's just that for my first scope, one of these would not suit my needs at this point in time. I apologize for the long post and if it sounds condescending, it is not my intention, just trying to explain myself as clear as possible. 

As I've said before, thank you all very much for your help and info,??, it has all been taken in, much appreciated and I hope to catch the bug and stay for a while!!

[happy-kat]

That Celestron 80mm refractor is not going to hang around for long at that price. If it has a glass element at the top and an eyepiece at the bottom of a slim longish tube it is a refractor.