Should I buy?

[Rashka]

I have seen a great local offer for a national geographics telescope 76/700,

but the catch is that the view finder is broken, is it possible to replace this?

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

These Nat Geo telescopes don't really have a good reputation. I wouldn't buy it, personally. 

[Stargazer33]

Ditto!

[Olli]

Depends what the price for it is but as stated above they aren't the best and not worth the trouble trying to fix it.

[Rashka]

3 minutes ago, Olli said:

Depends what the price for it is but as stated above they aren't the best and not worth the trouble trying to fix it.

It's about a £10

11 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Ditto!

lol what does that mean?

[LukeSkywatcher]

16 minutes ago, Rashka said:

It's about a £10

lol what does that mean?

It means they agree with me not to buy. 

[Rashka]

2 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

It means they agree with me not to buy. 

kk, I'll give this one a pass then, thnx guys

[Olli]

3 minutes ago, Rashka said:

kk, I'll give this one a pass then, thnx guys

I mean if you desperately wanted a telescope then £10 wouldn't hurt i guess, but not sure how much it would cost to fix it. 

[Rashka]

6 minutes ago, Olli said:

I mean if you desperately wanted a telescope then £10 wouldn't hurt i guess, but not sure how much it would cost to fix it. 

From what I see here it isn't worth it even if the finder's scope was fine.

[domstar]

10 quid? Get it. Look at the moon without a finder. Look at Jupiter too. Then get a cheap new finder. Or sell it for a tenner.

[Olli]

4 minutes ago, Rashka said:

From what I see here it isn't worth it even if the finder's scope was fine.

I'd say go for it personally knowing that its worth that much even if you do fix it and find the parts for cheap you could possibly make a profit out of it. And its better then not having a telescope at all. 

[Stargazer33]

If it's just missing the finder scope then that isn't so bad. I thought you meant that the focuser was broken! If it's only a tenner and you can't afford anything more then it may be worth a punt. You can always get a finder from Astroboot for a few quid.

The thing with this quality of 'scope is that it may put you off astronomy as the views might not be as good as you expect. If you use the Astronomy Tools under the 'Resourses' tab at the top of the page, you can select a 'scope and eyepiece and it will give you an idea of what you are likely to see of a chosen target.

[saac]

£10 as a first telescope - go for it. Have fun learning about it, use it, take it to pieces and learn how it works, experiment at making it better. When you are are finished with it you will have learnt a heck of a lot and will be either sated or ready to move on to something better. Not difficult to make a finder and have some fun doing it, it will also give you a  sense of achievement  

 

Jim 

[Rashka]

32 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

If it's just missing the finder scope then that isn't so bad. I thought you meant that the focuser was broken! If it's only a tenner and you can't afford anything more then it may be worth a punt. You can always get a finder from Astroboot for a few quid.

The thing with this quality of 'scope is that it may put you off astronomy as the views might not be as good as you expect. If you use the Astronomy Tools under the 'Resourses' tab at the top of the page, you can select a 'scope and eyepiece and it will give you an idea of what you are likely to see of a chosen target.

oh wow what a handy tool, cheers!

[Peter Drew]

Despite the reputation, they're not that bad optically, specially on low power views. National Geographic don't make them, just badge them. The magnification is low enough to not particularly need a finder, just sight along the tube. You won't get entry into astronomy much cheaper!.  

[LukeSkywatcher]

Outnumbered here. I was basing my opinion on what ive read here about Nat Geo branded scopes.

[Sunshine]

On 2018-05-12 at 15:51, LukeSkywatcher said:

Outnumbered here. I was basing my opinion on what ive read here about Nat Geo branded scopes.

My neighbour bought his daughter a Nat Geo scope, he knows nothing about scopes but somehow knew he should return it a few days later.

[barkis]

Get yourself a reasonable pair of Binoculars. 10 x 50's would be Ideal for
sky surfing. They will satisfy you more than a suspect refractor that might well exasperate you.

There's never a need to rush into buying a telescope. There are so many types and prices.
Do some homework reading books, try to decide what you would like to use a telescope for, Stars Planets, Deep sky observing, 
Double star observing. and others. Work hard, and save hard, it will take time, but if you've done your homework, 
you will be well informed as to which direction you want to go in your astronomy.
Meanwhile, keep reading these forums, there is much you can glean from here.
Good Luck
 

[JOC]

Nat Geographic and other similarly marketed, so called, beginners telescopes are often sold in brightly coloured packages which appear to promise 'Hubble' quality views of night sky objects and are often supplied with low quality eyepieces of unsuitable magnification potential and with various 'accessories' like finders and Barlows that are often to 'plasticky' to make their use easy.  Many users therefore can get frustrated that they don't get what was promised on the box and this, coupled, with often poor quality images and difficulty of use this can put folks off telescopes for life. 

However, we are only talking a tenner here.  So you take a chance, but it with the knowledge of what is above and see if you can persuade it to give you a good look at the moon, which you might be OK with, but it probably won't be suitable for many of the smaller sky objects, or you invest your tenner with about 12 more and see if you can buy a smaller 'proper' telescope like a Skywatcher 100P or a Heritage 130P - see this page https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians.html which both get good reviews and should produce more rewarding views - you many even pick one up second-hand for less.

 

[Rashka]

thnx, anyone here ever heard about a philo 40x40 telescope btw?

[Alan64]

On 5/14/2018 at 13:42, Rashka said:

thnx, anyone here ever heard about a philo 40x40 telescope btw?

Sounds to me like a 40mm-aperture telescope with a maximum magnification of 40x, made in Japan possibly, and a zoom-'scope to boot; a bit vintage.  I take it you've seen one advertised.  You'd see even less with it than you would with the National Geographic 76/700.

How much have you budgeted for your introduction to astronomy?

[Demonperformer]

As long as you go into it knowing the results will be extremely limited, it's only £10. I have never used one myself, but I would expect that you would be able to see the rings of Saturn. If so, that would certainly fire you up to get something bigger & better.

[Rashka]

1 hour ago, Alan64 said:

Sounds to me like a 40mm-aperture telescope with a maximum magnification of 40x, made in Japan possibly, and a zoom-'scope to boot; a bit vintage.  I take it you've seen one advertised.  You'd see even less with it than you would with the National Geographic 76/700.

How much have you budgeted for your introduction to astronomy?

 

31 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

As long as you go into it knowing the results will be extremely limited, it's only £10. I have never used one myself, but I would expect that you would be able to see the rings of Saturn. If so, that would certainly fire you up to get something bigger & better.

 I've decided to not get a telescope at the moment, I'll just use my binos until I got a bigger budget so I can buy a proper one.

[Alan64]

Sounds like a winner, tiger.

[barkis]

On 19/05/2018 at 09:14, Rashka said:

 

 I've decided to not get a telescope at the moment, I'll just use my binos until I got a bigger budget so I can buy a proper one.

And a very sensible decision too. You'll do well young man, you have patience,
which can be a prime requirement in Astronomy. You will learn to study,
not just give a cursory glance to your observed targets.