Best and worst Telescopes

[scouse123]

Celestron Nexstars are very good start

[Craig_Billo]

Worst scope I had was a 76mm newt from argos, was a gift when i first started to think seriously about getting a scope so couldnt express my true feelings upon recieving it. It did well for land and lunar but anything more and i was better off with my 9x bino's. Best scope is my current one lol.

The 'naff' 76mm newt is the best scope in the world now as i have passed it on to my 8year old niece as she thinks the world of it.

We all know there is prob a 'better' scope out there but like others have said the best one is the one you can use.

[cotterless45]

Don't forget that Seben sell the wonderful 8-24mm zoom ep. Otherwise they should have been named Seebin (and put it in).

I wonder how many enthusiastic beginners have given up due to buying a trash first scope ?

Nick.

[ollypenrice]

Hi,

CGE pro 1400 HD - that's a mean looking telescope!

Regards

It is and it has many virtues, but there are lots of things it cannot do. I remember the big SCTs appealing to me hugely when I was a beginner. Telescope House used to take a 16 inch Meade to Astrofest and I would have dearly loved to buy it! I still have a 10 inch SCT. But what I don't like about them is the enormous focal length which limits the field of view to what resembles tunnel vision.  A 14 inch Newt at F4 or F5 will pull in the same light, give higher contrasts and, above all, allow a far wider choice of magnifications and fields. Buy a 14 inch SCT if you know what you want to use it for, but do not buy a big SCT becausee it looks good.

There is no need to take chances on cheap scopes. There are cheap scopes, like the Skywatcher range, which are very good indeed.

Olly

[Earl]

Any cheap scope and even some of the ones you think would know better can present plenty of issues, this effects most brands.

Be aware that most retail scopes are made in China, now this is not a bad thing as they prdoce some excellent scopes for the price, there are 3 main players from what i see, Synta, GSO and Kuming.

Outside of China, Optics can cost far more, ie. Takahashi, Vixen, Borg, Pentax in Japan (note vixen do have some Chinese scopes), Orion UK, UK, TEC, Tele Vue USA. Check the price per inch and there is often more than twice the diffremce, but be aware we are talking Ford vs Rolls Royce levels of differnce.

Talk to a few dealers before making your purchase, there are some very good ones in the UK.

[Mr Spock]

Stay away from anything which advertises maximum magnification! They are nearly always rubbish

The best scopes I've had are: Celestron C9.25, Skywatcher 250mm Newt and an OMC-140.

Newts are the best value for money, but when they get large they also get bulky. Also, you need to rotate the tube if it's on an EQ mount otherwise it gets into awkward positions.

My Skywatcher 250 was a great scope, but it was such a relief when I got the C9.25. I suddenly went from straining my back with the Newt to picking up the C9.25 OTA with one hand

The best quality views came with the OMC-140, though it didn't have the resolution of the other two. The problem with Maksutovs is unless you can keep them close to outside temperatures they need a long cool down time.

[Pete Presland]

no disrespect to any owners of the following but, i would not buy another Seben, Tasco or anything that offers x750 magnification ect... i would buy Celestron, Meade, Skywatcher ect... its just a case of read as many reviews as possible, take your time to decide what you want from your telescope before buying.

[John]

Even within the Meade, Celestron and Skywatcher brands there are really good scopes and not so good ones. The ones that First Light Optics stock are a decent guide to the ones which are worth considering 

[AndyWB]

Best telescope: Hubble seems to do really well...

I heard the mirror wasn't as good as advertised, and that the eyepiece was a right pain to get to.

More seriously, for good scopes, it's probably just worth looking in the signatures of people on the forum. Few people choose to use a rubbish scope...

[Peter Drew]

I have just refurbished a generic 60mm F11.5 "Astral" refractor for a grandson. I have repaired/adjusted/modified numerous similar models with varying degrees of success, but this one seems different. Probably an early model as there is no plastic in evidence, both alt-az manual adjusters are responsive with no slop in the moving parts, the focuser is smooth and the wooden tripod is steady enough for the aperture. It is the optical quality that has surprised all who have looked through it, no sign of CA, text book star images and good for 120x. The only modification, although significant, was converting the .96" fit diagonal to accept 1.25" eyepieces.

[Jim Steele]

As others have mentioned stay clear of seban, department store, discovery channel and national geographic type scopes.

Best brands are probably Takahashi and Televue but they cost a fair bit too.

So long as you do your research, read lots of astronomy equipment reviews, and all here if on doubt you should be fine.

[Alien 13]

Telescopes are often a personal thing for example a 200p would for me be the worst possible scope i could imagine and would never be used a 60mm Tasco produces lunar images far better than my WO could ever hope to achieve without spending silly money on expensive barlows etc.

What lets most cheaper scopes down is often a very poor mount and eyepieces but there are still bargains to be had Lidl/Aldi anyone?

Alan

[Earl]

I wil say though taht a good pair of ED Binos are by far the best first investment, and of course you can get far more use out of them for other hobbies than a telescope.

[Charic]

Hi All

I know it's not as simple as that but are there any brands you wouldn't touch and which are the ones you would always consider?

Thanks

Phil

........I suppose the only two telescopes with hands on experience  are the two that I presently own. I would advise not to purchase from new the Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ Just too much messing around with the set-up, and poor final image., and several other restrictions and issues. Then there's the Skyliner 200P Great value, works well with most EP's , easy , no  set-up worries, enough said!

I will state though, as good as this telescope is IMHO, its not getting any use at present due to the extremely light nights were having  this far North during the Summer Months. But that can be said for just about any telescope system, If it's not dark enough.

[Daniel-K]

Telescopes are often a personal thing for example a 200p would for me be the worst possible scope i could imagine and would never be used a 60mm Tasco produces lunar images far better than my WO could ever hope to achieve without spending silly money on expensive barlows etc.

What lets most cheaper scopes down is often a very poor mount and eyepieces but there are still bargains to be had Lidl/Aldi anyone?

Alan

Could you elaborate on the 200p being the worst possible scope for you? I think these are excellent scopes for beginners showing globular clusters and galaxies for very little money

[avtaram]

My best scopes are the ones in my signature and the worst is the Celestron PowerSeeker 76 AZ, although its quite good if you just want to look at the Moon.

Avtar

[C7tsj]

I echo the posts above, the worst scope is one that doesn't get used.

I own a much slated Tasco. Cost £90 and 6 months in has served me well. Ready for an upgrade but I absolutely have got my monies worth out of her. At the time I couldn't afford anything bigger (baby on the way).

Wouldn't recommend it for serious stargazers but it allowed me to wet my feet. Now paddling up to my knees and thirsty for more.

Mark

[wuthton]

The worst telescope I've owned is a 10" LX200, it was such a pain to hump about and set up I nearly lost my interest in astronomy.

Best telescope, SW startravel 80. I took my first photo of the Orion Nebula with one and never looked back.

The best telescope is the one that gets used.

[leelee970]

I guess there is no real “best or worst scope”. There are many factors that will need to be included – cost being a main one for most.

For me I started out with a goto 60mm refractor (birthday gift) – this certainly sparked my interest in the night sky.

This scope was soon replaced with my 10” dob – aperture fever too hold.

But the real game changing event was not really another scope, it was building an observatory, which holds a modest 8” reflector.

I now am out at ANY opportunity (even if it is only for an hour).

Using a telescope often and keeping alive the interest far outweighs owning a well-engineered and crafted piece of equipment. (In my opinion   )

Lee

[haitch]

This seems an old thread resurrected but still holds true.

A good rule of thumb when looking at cheaper reflectors is if it looks significantly shorter than it's focal length avoid... The scopes that Seben sell do get sold under different brands but they all have one thing in common. A fast spherical mirror which they attempt to get round with a poor quality corrector/barlow in the focuser tube hence a 1400mm F/L 150mm newt in a tube that looks no more than 500mm long.

[michaeldurban]

I remember walking into a store in Durban (a rather large 'outdoor living' store)..and saw some (quite expensive) cheap

and really plastic newtonians..with the store's branding on the side of the tube..

I ask the pimply -and rather eager- shop assistant what kind of scope it was...

"It's a lunar scope sir..." he replied almost over confident.

I asked him if this meant that I could see the moon in great detail.

He looked at me rather puzzled, and said : "What do you mean the moon? This scope

is for the sun."

I guess he could tell by my alarmed and frightened expression he had made a crucial mistake..

"Lunar means the moon.." I said rather irritated.

He shrugged, looked towards his left where a young female was rummaging through some

discounted binoculars and replied: "Sorry, will be right back.."

Later I confronted the store manager about this rather uninformed and dangerous statement.

The manger just looked at me sheepishly and said that he would look into it...

Forget the rickety setups of department scopes...there are far more dangerous caveats !!!