BARSKA 525 Power 70076 Starwatcher

[Moonwalk]

Hey guys, I'm totally new to this, someone gave me a reflecting telescope as above for free but it's missing the eyepiece and the finderscope. I started looking into getting the missing pieces and what they would cost me, but apparently there are many different options. The same telescope is listed on Amazon for $100 and comes brand new with 3 eyepieces SR4, H12 and H20 and a red dot finder. Am I correct to assume it would cost me more than $100 or about the same to get these missing parts alone? Are there better components I can get instead of the standard ones it comes with and is it worth investing in them, or is this telescope basically a piece of junk and I shouldn't bother, just skip to buying a better one? I'm obviously a novice, but wouldn't want to get stuck with something too basic once start to get more into it. What would you do? Appreciate any piece of advice!

[RobertI]

Personally, if you have a bigger budget, I would not bother with this scope, the main problem being the horribly wobbly looking mount and tripod. If you did want to experiment you could buy a low power eyepiece like the BST Starguider 25mm and just try sweeping the Milky Way and some bright objects and see how you get on. You can always re-use the eyepiece on a better scope later.  

But the best option IMO is to get a scope like these which are much more capable:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/sky-watcher-heritage-150p-flextube-tabletop-dobsonian.html

Hope that helps. 

Edited February 5 by RobertI

[Cosmic Geoff]

As Robert suggests, this is a very entry level low quality telescope. The suggested max magnification of x525 is a joke.  If you buy three eyepieces of good quality and a red dot finder, expect to spend at least $150. Your money would be better spent on a complete outfit of better quality, as suggested. 

Edited February 5 by Cosmic Geoff

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

As others have said, the scope isn't worth investing in, and the original eyepieces are not very good at all. SR-4 stands for symmetric Ramsden 4mm, which has a tiny field of view, poor colour correction, and terribly short eye relief. The Huygens eyepieces (H12 and H20) are also generally poor quality, with very limited field of view. Finding object is very hard with such a small field of view, even with a finder scope. Getting one of the 150mm scopes listed above is a much better investment.

[Moonwalk]

Thank you all so much for the feedback. After giving it some more thought and doing more research I think I have my mind set on Dobsonian Apertura AD8. I keep reading this is the best telescope there is for a beginner. Do you guys agree? Any reason to rather buy a different one within this budget?

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, Moonwalk said:

Dobsonian Apertura AD8

Looks like a GSO, so it should be good. The equivalent over here is the StellaLyra 8" which I know some people here have and think it's really good quality. I have the 12" version and the optics are superb.

The 8" Dob is recommended for a number of reasons, the main one being the performance for the price. You won't get much better!

[Louis D]

If you want to replace those stock eyepieces one for one, you'll first need to measure the focuser/diagonal to see if it is 1.25" or 0.965" inner diameter.

You can get a full set of replacement 0.965" eyepieces direct from China on ebay UK here.

You can get a full set of replacement 1.25" eyepieces direct from Amazon UK here.

The optics will be the same for both.  Only the barrel diameter differs.

As others have said, they aren't all that great, but they're cheap and they will put up an image, albeit with very narrow apparent fields of view and very little eye relief.

If you're in the US, you should be able to find equivalents on ebay, Amazon, and even AliExpress.

Edited February 8 by Louis D