Scope for a 7 year old?

[crazyjedi]

Hi

A friend of mine asked for advice about which scope would suite a 7 year old boy. He has no experience and would most likely be aided by his grandmother who also has no experience.

My usual advice for a beginer scope is a six inch dob or EQ muounted similar. However..... In this instance i'm leaning more towards an Alt/az mounted 70mm Frac, simply to keep the cost down (children are notoriously fickle and may lose interest) but also for ease of use and speed of set up.

The idea of Bins was rejected with the thinkin that wobbly views through hand held bins may speed up the loss of iinterest

What does everyone Think is the best way to go??

[oldfruit]

I think that your thoughts about a refractor with an alt/az mount are sensible. To give absolute novices an equatorial mounted scope would probably not be such a good idea as it would creat difficulty for both parties.

That said you can sometimes pick up a small dob on ebay relatively cheaply and should they lose interest it should be easy to sell.

[ollypenrice]

I agree, small refractor. The ST80 has a wide field to make finding things easier and a second hand camera tripod would hold it well. False colour will not upset a seven year old and the scope will stand knocks, do daytime service and packaway small for taking on holiday etc. I would go for the fast, short tube option to help a child keep things steady and findable. FLO have them at about 85 pounds.

Olly

[Stardust]

Keep it simple with an alt-az frac.

Will need to be a reasonable quality camera tripod that has a fluid head, I've tried with pan a tilts at the cheap end and it doesn't really work.

[crazyjedi]

Cheers guys. Sounds like we're all thinking in a similar way. I'll let you know the final outcome

[Astro_Baby]

Take a look at this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/117804-sorry-yet-another-any-good-thread.html

[ollypenrice]

Keep it simple with an alt-az frac.

Will need to be a reasonable quality camera tripod that has a fluid head, I've tried with pan a tilts at the cheap end and it doesn't really work.

I really don't think a fluid head is absolutlely necessary for the short, light ED80. I use a Manfrotto friction head with heavier gear on it than that. However, a fluid head would indeed be nice!

Olly

[crazyjedi]

Take a look at this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/117804-sorry-yet-another-any-good-thread.html

That thread ran and ran eh?

It seems like the opinions and reasoning are concurring with ours too. i Honestly cannot imagine buying a telescope from a supermarket!!!! I think the Alt/Az frac is going to win the day - simply on ease of use, price and simplicity.

Does anyone have any specific idea's on a good model that's readily available here in the midlands? The Skywatcher Evostar scopes look reasonable, any others??

[Capricorn]

Try the Sherwood site, Binoculars, Telescopes, Night Vision, Astronomical Telescopes, Bird Watching Binoculars - Sherwoods-Photo.com ,somewhere in the W Midlands as I recall, have a good name. Their web site shows the Evostar range. The 120 looks good but a bit more costly then the 102's.

Did notice that they are all (Evostars) on equitorial mounts, usually an eq3-2.

[crazyjedi]

Yes Sherwoods was the first shop that i could think of. (it is where i got my scope from)