Scope for a 12 year old Lad

[adamsp123]

I have been asked by a friend at work on what I would recommend as a telescope up to £400 max for a 12 year old boy.

I have fished out a set of the Philips Astronomy books I had plus a old set of binos that are gathering dust and given them to my workmate to hand on.

I feel at that age nothing too heavy or complex to set up, I well know how frustration can set in very quickly and spoil the hobby so a decent grab and go probably is best, plus some of the money will be needed for accessories

I have some ideas but any input from you guys would be most welcome.

BTW I have given out all the dire warnings on ebay rubbish etc and they are going to let me OK the final decision.

Pizza Pete

[Kai]

I recon this will fit the bill

Homepage - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube

Easy to set up and use with a bit of apeture , leaving plenty of money to spare.

[red dwalf]

what about this, the Skywatcher Explorer 130P SupaTrak AUTO,

i have one which i bought for the kids, an 8 year old 11 and 13, they ( and me ) find it very easy to use and set up and can also track objects, i`ve had great views of the Moon, Saturn and the Orion nebula amoung others and it`s only £175 new from FLO can`t be a bad buy.

[Southern_Cross]

I personally wouldn't recomend a GoTo for a first scope, half the fun is finding your way around the sky and becoming familiar with it for the rest of your life. Unless you go and do what I did and move to the other side of the planet where all the constellations, star names, fuzzy bits etc all have to be learned all over again and the moon and Orion are both up side down! Anyway I digress....

How about a SkyWatcher Explorer 130PM.

5.1" mirror, f5, parabolic primary, 10mm and 25mm EP's (and 2x Barlow) supplied, red dot finder all on an EQ2 (motorised) mount for around 200 quid.

Or

SkyWatcher Explorer 150-P.

6" mirror, f5, parabolic primary, 10mm and 25mm EP's (2x Barlow) supplied, a 6x30 optical finder all on an EQ3-2 mount. Also (it says) it has an SLR camera connector, all for around 290 quid.

Orion make some excellent instruments also, Lots of good choice out there for sub £400.

Also make sure you buy a sealed Lead Acid 12V Battery rather than using a bunch of AA's or other such batteries to power anything with a motor drive... oh, and make sure you have a suitable charger for it.

Hi Adamsp123,

A very good idea to advise them NOT to go to flea-bay, toy shops, Dixons etc, as so many people have done, for a plastic lens refractor or chrome plated plastic mirror reflector all with huge pretty colour photos of M42, M31, Jupiter and Saturn splashed all over the box with "up to 600x magnification!!" written next to a Mount Palomar photo of the crater Copernicus, all designed to part the unwary of his/her hard earned cash for something that will be a huge disappointment and put an enquiring and inquisitive young mind off astronomy forever. They should be made to put photos taken through the thing in the box on the outside of the packaging and should not be allowed to use stock library photos of something that the "scope" is unable to come anywhere close to producing.....

Errr....sorry about that last section turning in to a bit of a rant but I feel strongly that these things should be taken off the market or at least sold honestly as what they are, a toy which is totally useless for anything astronomical what so ever.

Cheers

SC

[barkis]

I would go for a 6" f5 Dob. Nothing too fancy, just a scope that can easily be re sold without losing too much money.

This may seem a pessimistic approach, but I am being practical.

At 12 years old, the lads attentions will soon turn to other things.

A 6" f5 scope is adequate enough to show him enough of the popular targets, to test his enthusiasm. It will serve as a teaching aid, and if the boy has fortitude and stickability, he can then progress to a more substantial instrument. Nothing to lose, but a lot more to gain.

Ron.

[John]

Another vote for a 6" dobsonian here. It will show really nice views of lots of things. I've tried to use a GOTO with my family and they lost interest as I was fiddling with the 2-star alignment. A motorised EQ is OK but it does put the eyepiece at some awkward angles at times.

John

[adamsp123]

Thanks for all your ideas.

I was thinking along the lines of a dob or one of those SW supatrak auto scopes, because I think a GEM mount may be a little too frustrating for him judging by what I have been told, but there is a little time left before he decides. My main concern he didn't go for a Tasco or ebay rubbish job.

I will see what he thinks, maybe I'll get to meet him and get a better idea.

Again cheers

Pizza Pete

[albedo0.39]

I'm going to plump for a dob as well. This is the sort of scope that requires minimal fuss to set up and also (as mentioned) teaches you lots about the sky.

In saving all that money, perhaps a semi-decent set of binoculars wouldn't go amiss ?

Good luck with your choice

[dweller25]

I'd go for a 6" Dob too.

[WebSentinel]

Hi Pete,

I bought a 70mm Bresser from Lidl's for under £60 and it's superb (see moon mosaic taken with it using a EOS 400D - below) although, I used my Celestron diagonal and Badder EPs and the finder scope that comes with it is absolutely pointless!

It came with an eq mount and both together are super light weight.

It's absolutely perfect as a grab 'n go for both adults and children and the optics are really very good.

It's certainly one of the cheapest ways to introduce someone to astronomy. That and 'Turn left at Orion'.

Cheers, Steve

[Reggie]

Does the lad use computers at home and/or games consoles much? If so I'd consider a goto and have stellarium as a back up as well just in case the books and a moving a dob don't hold his interest.

Perhaps getting him out to an astro meeting where he can look at scopes first may give you an idea of which way he would lean before you commit any cash.

[pmesquita]

I would go for a 6" f5 Dob. Nothing too fancy, just a scope that can easily be re sold without losing too much money.

This may seem a pessimistic approach, but I am being practical.

At 12 years old, the lads attentions will soon turn to other things.

A 6" f5 scope is adequate enough to show him enough of the popular targets, to test his enthusiasm. It will serve as a teaching aid, and if the boy has fortitude and stickability, he can then progress to a more substantial instrument. Nothing to lose, but a lot more to gain.

Ron.

I totally agree. The perfect choice for kids to begin enjoying astronomy

[kniclander]

can you actually get a 6" F5 dob?? the e/p would be about 2 foot off the ground

if you go for a small frac on an alt/az mount, it can also be used terestrially which can be fun for a kid (and it looks more like a scope should look)

[oceanheadted]

If you are thinking of going down the alt/az route, I bought a evostar 90 for my daughter (it got me hooked instead). In retrospect I would think the faster refractors such as the startravel would be better as it has a better field of view and is a bit more child sized. I'm sure a red dot finder would be something to look for /budget for as an add on as they are a lot more intuitive. It's very diffucult making sense of what you see in the sky / through the finder and through the scope. 400 quid gets you a lot scope in this market!

[gliderpilot]

Is there anything good on the second hand webpages? There always seems to be a bargain here and there.

I would also advise on a pair of quality binoculars on a decent mount, say 15x70. These are superb bits of kit: wide field of views, correct image, easy to setup, to find objects, yet enough legs to show considerable detail.

Mark

[oceanheadted]

Mark, do you have any reccomendations in that department? My dad is talking about buying some big binoculars, the Meade ETX 125 (with its computer control) he has is proving a bit too clever for him,

cheers

Alan

[adamsp123]

Thanks again for the ideas, my recommendation to him was going to be either a Dob or one of those new? skywatcher AZ goto mount with either the 102 refractor or the one of the reflector options.

Most of you seem to fall into one of these choices so that makes me feel more comfortable with my recommendation but who knows it is his pick in the end.

[gliderpilot]

Alan,

My first "big" binos were 15x70 Strathspey and they were very good value. I also now have a pair of Konus 20x80 which are also optically very good but getting heavy. Now I use 15x50 Canon Image Stabilised (excellent but £££) A google search should find each of those suppliers.

A key point to consider is the need for a mount, you need something to relieve the ache in your arms, image shake and to hold the things steady when you refer to notes and charts. A camera tripod would suffice but either a parellelogram or mirror mount is my preference as you cannot look to the zenith with binos on a camera tripod.

Sorry if the reply has deviated from the thread.

Mark