Beginners Telescope?

[Twinx]

My boyfriend is really into astronomy and we went out yesterday in the New Forest and took a look at the stars with a range of binoculars. I really wanted to get him a starter telescope or something for christmas but really have no idea what kind of telescope or brand is best. I'd like something that is affordable. My dad has an expensive Meade telescope so for anything more complex we are happy to use that. I just want him to have something that we can transport somewhat easily as its likely we will use it whilst out in the forest. 

The kind of things we want to see is; 

Clearer look at the stars

See the rings on Saturn/other planets

Sorry if I sound like a total novice, I have no real understanding of telescopes and don't want to buy something which is totally useless. He doesn't know anything about telescopes either, he just loves space so I'm sure he will be ecstatic with anything given how excited he was looking through some porro binoculars last night.

Some of the ones I have looked at are;

Celestron starterscope

Celestron powerseeker

Bresser Arcturus

Celestron Astromaster

Skywatcher Explorer

Skywatcher capricorn

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Knighty2112]

What kind of budget are you looking at here? £100 or £200 or more?

[Twinx]

3 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

What kind of budget are you looking at here? £100 or £200 or more?

Probably 100-150 mark. 

[Knighty2112]

OK, I would avoid the Celestron Astomaster scopes as the stands are not great, and worst of all the finderscope (Starfinder) fixed to the tube is totally rubbish. I know because I owned two of them and they are now in the loft not been used at all. I could forgive them the poor mounts for the price I paid for them, but not the Starfinder which was impossible to use to align anything up . Celestron do a 70mm Travelscope, which I used for a few years to get back into astronomy, and is very portable with its own backpack. Only slight downside to it is the mount, but with care you can use it OK, but it can easily be fitted onto a sturdier camera tripod quite easily. At a dark site you will see quite a few things, but magnification will be limited due to around 140x which will allow you to see Saturn still, but I saw plenty of things OK with my little 70mm Travelscope. 

Another starter scope that others recommend too is the Heritage dobsonian telescope. Never used it myself, but you can get a 130mm one which will allow for maximum magnification of 260x, and also see fainter objects due to the higher light gathering power of the mirror over a 70mm lens. Don't know how easy it is to lug it around to use, but easily transportable in a car none the less.

Hope this helps a little.  

[Twinx]

3 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

OK, I would avoid the Celestron Astomaster scopes as the stands are not great, and worst of all the finderscope (Starfinder) fixed to the tube is totally rubbish. I know because I owned two of them and they are now in the loft not been used at all. I could forgive them the poor mounts for the price I paid for them, but not the Starfinder which was impossible to use to align anything up . Celestron do a 70mm Travelscope, which I used for a few years to get back into astronomy, and is very portable with its own backpack. Only slight downside to it is the mount, but with care you can use it OK, but it can easily be fitted onto a sturdier camera tripod quite easily. At a dark site you will see quite a few things, but magnification will be limited due to around 140x which will allow you to see Saturn still, but I saw plenty of things OK with my little 70mm Travelscope. 

Another starter scope that others recommend too is the Heritage dobsonian telescope. Never used it myself, but you can get a 130mm one which will allow for maximum magnification of 260x, and also see fainter objects due to the higher light gathering power of the mirror over a 70mm lens. Don't know how easy it is to lug it around to use, but easily transportable in a car none the less.

Hope this helps a little.  

Thanks so much  I had seen about the astromaster stand being poor. Will take another peek at the travelscope! 

[Joseki]

Just been outside testing my New-to-me Heritage 130p.  It's fairly easy to carry about one handed whilst the scope is attached to its base (no need for a separate mount). I can imagine transporting it in a mid sized sports bag.  Its a lot of scope for the money (I have hopes for it being my camping scope) . If that's too big there's also a heritage 100p model (under £100). 

[Jimtheslim]

When you say you want it to transport it easily, do you mean on foot or in a vehicle or both? A 90mm refractor would be well within budget as long as you didn't mind taking the scope out of the mounting rings and collapsing the tripod (with a bit of practice this becomes second nature and takes about minute).

I started with a Skywatcher Evostar 90mm on an equatorial mount and found it was a great way of getting into astronomy. Although aperture is king when it comes to resolving detail and reflectors offer great aperture per £, a decent refractor is very beginner friendly and doesn't require collimating like a reflector. With my 90mm refractor the rings of Saturn were very much visible as was the Cassini Division. Jupiter shows it's main equatorial cloud belts and Great Red Spot. Galaxies and nebulas were more of a challenge with a smaller refractor, but not impossible at a good, dark site. Stars are simply points of light, no matter how big the scope.

 

[Putaendo Patrick]

As John above says, the Heritage 130 is a great little scope which punches well above its price.

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

Knighty's idea of a small refractor would also work very well. In this case, however, I would recommend the Skywatcher Startravel 80. This is available on two types of tripod mount, and personally i think the simpler Alt-az is better. Several suppliers seem to be out of stock of this model, but if you look around you should find it.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p6427_Skywatcher-StarTravel-80-AZ3-complete-telescope---rich-field-fiewing.html

Both would compliment a bigger scope, they are easy to set up and easy to transport and store.

[Charic]

Welcome to the SGL Twinx

Binoculars are  just fine for starting out in astronomy. If you choose/have a pair with a wide field of view like 7x50 or 8x40 or similar, then you may see more Stars, even whole constellations, but to see stars clearer or closer for detail may be an issue, because of their distance from you, their just points of light.

If all you have now is binoculars, that's fine, as  most telescope owners will still have started or purcahsed some binoculars to have at hand when out observing.
As for whats best for a beginner, then can I suggest you avoid one of the scopes you mentioned, the Celestron Powerseeker, especially the 127EQ? I have one, in the back of a shed! and  compared to my present Skyliner its just not worth the aggravation and setting up for visual use astronomy ( by visual use, I mean you don't intend to photograph anything- Yet?)

If its a secret present, then your going to have to work out for yourself, from the ideas presented to you,  making up  your own mind, as to what to buy? If its not a secret, then both of you could visit here? http://www.hantsastro.org.uk/index.php or visit one of the local shops in your area to size up whats available?

Looking at the Hants site, its clear they have a working setup, but more to the point, you might be able to get to see through their scopes to establish what they can achieve as regards to seeing things clearer/closer/better.

I would also recommend my own scope as an ideal beginners scope, full of praise and easy to use, but not so easy to carry far, unless you have  access to a car, and maybe carry a section each, him the base, you the scope ( its doable?)

Its not an easy task finding the right telescope from scratch, especially when buying for someone else, enjoy the process!

[Astro Imp]

You say in your original post your dad has an expensive Meade, from this it would seem that he is an ideal person to quiz as he probably started out with a less complex instrument and is in a good position to offer sound advice.

[andyb505]

Plus one on the Skywatcher Heritage 130p. Bought mine as a complete novice two years ago and have not looked back. Easy to use and transport and gives great views of the night sky.

[Rhushikesh-Canisminor]

I have skywatcher 90mm Refractor with EQ2 mount (my profile photo is with the same scope)and it does work very well. It works really good for planets and double stars and under clear skies, it's surprisingly good for galaxies and nebulae for its small size. I can carry it around using public transport, although it took some time to get used to it. Mount is kind of wobbly but okay for beginner.  Reflector does give more aperture but I find the quality of image through refractor is better! Telescope handling can look tough but if done seriously then it hardly takes one whole night to get hang of the scope, just be patient about it. A 10x50 binocular might just go well complimentary with it.

All the best!