Bresse r Classic 70/350 refractor

[devdusty]

Does anyone have any experience or comments about this telescope?

It retails for only 97pounds,so I was suggesting it as an Xmas present from my grown up children.It looks fairly compact and besides astronomy I could use it for terrestrial use.

Thanks

Chris P

[heliumstar]

What do you want to observe?

[devdusty]

I want to observe stars fainter than magnitude 3.5, double and variable stars,brighter deep sky objects, and the moon and brighter planets.

I would also use it for birdwatching and long distance terrestrial viewing.

It would seem suitable for both these hobbies.

Chris P

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have a variant of this scope in use as a finder (or I assume it is a variant). It is at least a Luxon-branded 70mm F/5 refractor, with basic R&P focuser, and the same three, rather dreadful eyepieces. The EPs are plastic Huygens designs, with very small FOV. Replacing these with cheap and cheerful Plossls will make a world of difference (I inserted a 20mm Plossl costing 15 euros in it and was pleasantly surprised). The Bresser comes with a 90 degree Amici prism which is handy for terrestrial work, and for wide-field astronomy, but fails at high magnification (even the very good 2" Amici prism I have does that). For higher magnification a star diagonal would be needed.  For planets it is not a particularly good scope,  but for looking at larger DSOs it is rather nice, a bit like using 15x70 bins, but with the option of selecting a higher magnification as well. In its role as a 14x70 finder it is great, as I can often spot the target I am after in the finder, before getting a better look through the scope. The tripod supplied with the Bresser looks better than the one that came with my Luxon, but that isn't saying anything.