Worst Beginner Telescope to Buy?

[domstar]

On 01/05/2017 at 11:09, cloudsweeper said:

And that, for me at least, was a 130 Newt on an EQ.  Awkward to aim, awkward to look through - it gathered dust.  I later "took off" with a cheap 70mm frac on an AZ -  that got me fired up!

Oh yes exactly this. Borrowing my nephew's Newtonian (I guess 150mm) on an EQ mount with an awful finder and a ten minute tutorial on youtube nearly put me off for good. Luckily, once a year Lidl sell a 70mm refractor, and look at me now! Checking the weather forecast every day without fail.

[tooth_dr]

My first scope was a Seben reflector from Ebay, it was £50.99 delivered, and came with a couple of EPs and a barlow.  I lived in a raised area overlooking Belfast, and I used it for terrestrial as well as looking at the moon and planets.  In fact my first view of Saturn was through it, and it literally blew me away, despite the incredible flimsy mount that moved even when your eyelashes touched the EP cup.  A few photos with my mobile phone through it and I knew astrophotography was for me.  A few months later I graduated and started work and bought an LXD-75 6" Newtonian from Lidl.  A fantastic scope and mount with Goto Autostar for at that time £399.  I then progressed to an EQ6 a couple of years later.

 

I certainly wouldnt recommend the Seben scope, but it did get me interested.  I also bought an ST80 on an EQ1 TT mount, and it's rock solid compared to that.  At £99 it's a fantastic starter scope, but like me at that time, you see the big tripod, and long tube and this it'll be the best!  I was out two nights ago with the ST80, and had some excellent views of Jupiter and the belts.

[Geoff_L]

48 minutes ago, domstar said:

Oh yes exactly this. Borrowing my nephew's Newtonian (I guess 150mm) on an EQ mount with an awful finder and a ten minute tutorial on youtube nearly put me off for good. Luckily, once a year Lidl sell a 70mm refractor, and look at me now! Checking the weather forecast every day without fail.

We started with one of those -- £50 of Lidl's finest! When my wife suggested it, I did some quick research that suggested the OTA is reasonable but the mount and accessories not so good. To be honest, the mount head isn't too bad, but the tripod is jelly-like. The supplied H20 and SR4 eyepieces are toys. The barlow and the "erect image extension" nearly useless. We also had to fix the finderscope as it didn't have an O-ring (but a small elastic band does the job). Still, it gave us the thrill of seeing the Moon, Saturn and some asterisms through our very own 'scope and got us started.

[triton1]

The one my brother in law bought me from the shopping channel "zennox" I think it was,the plastic tube was held to the mount with a course thread wood screw lasted 5 mins before I threw it in the bin.It was the last frac I ever used should have put me off Astro for life but research paid dividends aswell as SGL and I'm still here.

[spillage]

8 minutes ago, triton1 said:

The one my brother in law bought me from the shopping channel "zennox" I think it was,the plastic tube was held to the mount with a course thread wood screw lasted 5 mins before I threw it in the bin.It was the last frac I ever used should have put me off Astro for life but research paid dividends aswell as SGL and I'm still here.

I am sure my first was zennox a 76 x 700. Yes it was a rubbish mount with a fork head that was faulty to begin with and the cheapest of cheap eyepieces it was second hand and a free gift.

The first time I saw a pin head sized saturn and it's rings through this thing it made my jaw drop and was enough to get me hooked. 

I still have it collecting dust in the corner of the bedroom.

I would say this is a very difficult issue as many people just have an interest and see a cheapish scope and go for it. Yes it will put many off but I am sure its enough to get most who an interest get started.

[John]

A few years ago the "Sky & Telescope" magazine got about a dozen really low cost scopes together for a group test with the aim of finding out if they had any merit as an introduction to astronomy. The results showed that most of the scopes were actually capable of delivering decent results considering their cost and size. A couple of the scopes were really poor and virtually unusable. 

The accessories supplied and most of the mounts utilised left more to be desired which comes as no surprise at the retail prices that the scopes are offered at although the report also noted that the prices being asked for the scopes varied widely with some retailers asking 2 or 3 times as much for exactly the same scope.

 

 

 

 

[Geoff Lister]

This was my first 'scope, bought in 1986 to see Halley's comet. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, with no research. This Tasco 3T has H23, H12.5 & H6 eyepieces, a 6 to 18mm zoom attachment a x2 Barlow and a moon filter, all 0.965" diameter mounting. The 3" diameter mirror with 700mm focal length gave me adequate views of the comet. Had I delayed purchase, I would have had 76 years to do the research before the comet was again visible.

The little finder scope is OK, the screw wheel at the top of the rod gives fine control of elevation, and that's about all you can say in its favour.

However, it did its job at the time.

[Louis D]

23 hours ago, Geoff Lister said:

This was my first 'scope, bought in 1986 to see Halley's comet. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, with no research. This Tasco 3T has H23, H12.5 & H6 eyepieces, a 6 to 18mm zoom attachment a x2 Barlow and a moon filter, all 0.965" diameter mounting. The 3" diameter mirror with 700mm focal length gave me adequate views of the comet. Had I delayed purchase, I would have had 76 years to do the research before the comet was again visible.

The little finder scope is OK, the screw wheel at the top of the rod gives fine control of elevation, and that's about all you can say in its favour.

However, it did its job at the time.

It actually looks the business compared to a lot of today's offerings.

[John]

On 08/05/2017 at 00:47, Geoff Lister said:

This was my first 'scope, bought in 1986 to see Halley's comet. It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, with no research. This Tasco 3T has H23, H12.5 & H6 eyepieces, a 6 to 18mm zoom attachment a x2 Barlow and a moon filter, all 0.965" diameter mounting. The 3" diameter mirror with 700mm focal length gave me adequate views of the comet. Had I delayed purchase, I would have had 76 years to do the research before the comet was again visible.

The little finder scope is OK, the screw wheel at the top of the rod gives fine control of elevation, and that's about all you can say in its favour.

However, it did its job at the time.

That looks like the same vintage as my Tasco 60mm refractor Geoff. Like your scope, it "did the job" and got me hooked on astronomy

I managed to scrape together enough dosh for one of Astro Systems (Bedfordshire) 6" newts for Halley's comet so got a decent view of it despite the underwhelming apparition.

 

[kiloran]

I would say anything that took the full budget and left nothing for accessories, or had a dreadful finderscope. Without a good finder you'll quickly get frustrated and the hobby will be over for you.