Beginners gift telescope

[PurpleK]

Hi I'm buying my brother who's 24 a starter telescope for Christmas. He's gotten very interested in astronomy lately and has been looking at mars etc over recent weeks.

My budget is quite low, £40 but could maybe go up to £50 if it's worth it. I'm from the UK so does anyone have any ideas?

[KP82]

SW Heritage 76 is probably one of the only very few beginner scopes that would fall in your price bracket. Honestly you would be better off turning that £50 into gift vouchers (e.g. FLO vouchers) and give them to your brother so he can use them for his future scope purchase.

Edited December 5, 2020 by KP82

[Tiny Clanger]

7 hours ago, KP82 said:

SW Heritage 76 is probably one of the only very few beginner scopes that would fall in your price bracket. Honestly you would be better off turning that £50 into gift vouchers (e.g. FLO vouchers) and give them to your brother so he can use them for his future scope purchase.

I second all of the above, and add this.

There are major problems at the moment (and have been for many months) for retailers to get hold of stock, as most reasonably priced telescopes are made in China. The pandemic has caused delays all down the line , and very little is in stock . There's a helpful page here

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

where you can see the heritage 76, but (at the moment) the delivery date is 15-20 days ... I've found FLO estimates of delivery pretty accurate, and if you buy now, you reserve one of the instruments they expect to arrive from China within that time, but there can be no guarantees, and there are only 20 days 'till xmas ...

If you can find one in stock elsewhere snap it up. Best avoid anything sold in the £50 ish price range by catalogue stores, big camera chains or amaz. , they are more toys than telescopes. If you can't find a heritage 76 anywhere, and don't like the voucher idea, how about some binoculars and/or a book or a planisphere ?  Philips 2021 stargazing month-by-month guide to the night sky is £6.99 (sometimes discounted online ) and is a decent little book to guide observing through the coming year.

Heathetr

Edited December 5, 2020 by Tiny Clanger
errant apostrophe crept in somehow

[PurpleK]

I really appreciate both your guys' help, do you have any binocular recommendations or other astronomy gifts apart from the guide? The guide does look like a very nice little gift too!

[Tiny Clanger]

The planisphere can be bought from many bookshops, here's an AZ link

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Planisphere-Latitude-51-5-North/dp/1849074852/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=planisphere&qid=1607188803&sr=8-1

for a little more , there's a glow in the dark one, which may or may not be better, I've no idea, but it sounds a fun gimmick ...

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Glow-Dark-Planisphere-Latitude/dp/1849074844/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=planisphere&qid=1607189054&sr=8-3

As for binoculars, it's a huge topic, and has it's own section on here. I took the advice of one of the members via their website, specifically this page

https://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php

I spent £70 on the Opticron 10x50s which are recommended on there, and am very pleased with them, but the Olympus 8x40 suggested at the top of the list are £55 on amazon which is closer to what you want to spend.  Handily the 2021 guide book I mentioned (I've bought one as a gift, and naturally have had a peek inside before wrapping ... ) has a 4 page section on viewing with binoculars , so get another relative to get him that if you've maxed out your cash on binoculars !

Heather

[Zermelo]

1 hour ago, PurpleK said:

I really appreciate both your guys' help, do you have any binocular recommendations or other astronomy gifts apart from the guide? The guide does look like a very nice little gift too!

Apart from the Philips guide mentioned by Tiny Clanger, this one is often recommended for beginners:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/1108457568/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3V4FBNGNSZPOH&dchild=1&keywords=turn+left+at+orion&qid=1607192126&quartzVehicle=36-523&replacementKeywords=turn+left+at&sprefix=turn+left+at%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1

[KP82]

3 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

As for binoculars, it's a huge topic, and has it's own section on here. I took the advice of one of the members via their website, specifically this page

https://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php

I spent £70 on the Opticron 10x50s which are recommended on there, and am very pleased with them, but the Olympus 8x40 suggested at the top of the list are £55 on amazon which is closer to what you want to spend.  Handily the 2021 guide book I mentioned (I've bought one as a gift, and naturally have had a peek inside before wrapping ... ) has a 4 page section on viewing with binoculars , so get another relative to get him that if you've maxed out your cash on binoculars !

Heather

The Olympus 8x40 DPSI is probably the best binoculars for £55. The only thing to remember is that it isn't sealed, so if your brother uses it during a cold winter night for stargazing, beware the water vapour could build up inside when he brings it into the warm living room. 

[Tiny Clanger]

8 hours ago, PurpleK said:

I really appreciate both your guys' help, do you have any binocular recommendations or other astronomy gifts apart from the guide? The guide does look like a very nice little gift too!

Some interesting options here https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-christmas-2020-gift-guide.html

Also a torch or headtorch which gives out red light is a good astro accessory, the red light doesn't ruin your eye's adaptation to the dark as a normal white light does.

[Ricochet]

Stretching your budget even more, Argos have the 10x50 version of the Olympus DPS-1 listed at £60, if you can find a store close enough to your location that has it in stock. I've looked through the 8x40 version of the DPS-1 and I was pleasantly surprised at just how good they are for such a cheap price, so they are definitely worth considering.

For a new user who will only have one instrument a Skywatcher Heritage 130p or 150p would usually be my suggestion, but as these are both way out of your budget and out of stock everywhere the previously suggested voucher idea is a good one if you think your brother would really prefer a telescope and he would be able to afford the rest of the cost himself. 

[PurpleK]

Out of curiosity, how is this deal 

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bresser-spotting-scope-at-lidl-3615990

[PurpleK]

And how do the celestron telescopes such as this compare to the heritage first mentioned 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/celestron-firstscope-signature-series-moon-by-robert-reeves.html

[Tiny Clanger]

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/product-recommendation/bresser-spotting-scope-20-60-x-60/p38143

Don't do it !

Teeny toy tripod, 45 degree angle at the eyepiece end ( comfortable astro use needs 90 degrees ) , doesn't look as if you can use different eyepieces. It's a toy.

6 minutes ago, PurpleK said:

And how do the celestron telescopes such as this compare to the heritage first mentioned 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/celestron-firstscope-signature-series-moon-by-robert-reeves.html

The main difference is that it doesn't have a 'finder' to help line it up, which will make it quite a bit harder to aim with any accuracy.

It would be a much better buy than the Lidl one though, and it is in stock ... but it's still less useful than the Olympus binoculars would be , and they would cost less !

I understand and appreciate the urge to get a telescope, but honestly, I doubt either of these would be very much use after the first 5 minutes, whereas the binoculars would continue to be useful if your brother pursues the hobby further.