Telescope Reviews: Beginner's Scope Buying Guide

What follows is a work in progress. It's largely the attempt of a couple of us to put together some form of helpful guide to the telescope market. It's not complete or comprehensive. We welcome constructive input.

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Whatever the endeavor, we’ve all got to start somewhere. And the question of where to begin is frequently the most daunting question of all. Amateur astronomy is no exception to this rule, and in fact, could serve as a good illustration of how huge and complex a subject can seem when first approached. There are so many telescopes, so much gear, so much in the sky to look at, that to the uninitiated the wealth of information available can be difficult to sort through for the sake of decision making. It’s so much easier to just grab a relatively inexpensive “beginner’s scope,” and see how it goes.

And this is where many people go wrong. There really is no such thing as a beginner’s telescope as such, and those sold under this label confuse people into equating small with simple, easy, or less complicated. Small telescopes have their place in amateur astronomy, but apertures in the neighborhood of 60mm can be frustrating for the beginner. Never mind for a moment those all too commonly seen models on inadequate mounts and made of poor quality material, you need a fair amount of skill to effectively use a scope with such a limited light gathering power. And then you factor in the often very low quality standards set by some manufacturers of such scopes: unstable mounts, cheap eyepieces, and finder scopes not much better that half an opera glass. The difficulty of finding anything other than the Moon with such a telescope puts many people right off astronomy. They believe, incorrectly of course, that this is too complicated a hobby for ‘just folks.’ A somewhat larger telescope, of higher-quality construction (and not costing a lot more) would have made a better introduction. By starting out in a small way, the newbie is often headed off at the proverbial pass, and never knows any better.

Two sorts of people find themselves dealing with the issue of that all-important first telescope: the would-be beginning astronomers themselves, and those of us with more experience who are frequently approached for advice on the subject. The following is meant as a guide to the process of determining what sort of telescope might best suit a prospective “newbie,” with the aim of providing a good enough match to a specific person that the first scope does not prove to be a “hobby killer.” These are not hard and fast rules, but an illustration of the process that should be followed in order to make sure that the question of “where to begin” receives the best possible answer.

So, if there’s no such thing as a beginner’s telescope, any good sized telescope will do? Not quite. For someone totally new to astronomy, being overwhelmed by too much telescope, too soon, can be every bit the hobby killer a small, cheap telescope is known to be. A good first telescope should be (following the “Lighttrap Criteria”):

1. Affordable
2. Extremely easy to point from one part of the sky to another
3. Extremely simple to set up, use, and maintain
4. Easily portable by the intended user (of whatever age or physical ability)
5. Capable of showing fairly wide swaths of the night sky (for ease of object finding)
6. Something that can bring enjoyment for years of use as knowledge of the
night sky broadens and interests change (i.e. allows room for growth)

Sounds sensible enough, right? But which telescope covers all of these bases? That depends entirely on the beginner who will be using the scope. And to get at this part of it, ask him/her/yourself these questions:

1. How old is the potential astronomer? (Especially relevant if the scope is being purchased as a gift for someone else.)

2. How much weight can you/he/she lift and carry over short distances? (A scope that is easily moved around is a better choice than a heavier model if you have limited access to open sky - trees, nearby buildings, etc. are in your way - or if you live where the weather is on the rainy side and you need to grab the scope and get out there to take advantage of sudden opportunities to enjoy a break in the clouds.)

3. What's the budget for this purchase? (You may need to be flexible with this one, since it’s hard to set the budget firmly until you see what the market is like. But when you set a budget, make an honest effort to stay well within it, since you will almost certainly need accessories soon after the initial purchase.)

4. What's the attraction to the sky based on? (Have any specially areas of interest been mention that might guide scope selection? Is photography a goal, or at least one of the attractions?)

5. Will the scope need to be travel-worthy? (It might be necessary to get out of town for darker skies from time to time.)

6. Are the constellations and brighter stars known quantities, or is the prospective astronomer starting from scratch?

7. What sort of room is available for storage?

8. Does the prospective astronomer change interests/hobbies often? (Especially important when considering a telescope as a gift for a child. Are there lots of other hobby-related material currently sitting around unused, which at one time formed the center of his/her universe?)

9. Might the scope also see use for bird watching or other terrestrial pursuits?

10. Is sharing the views with family & friends important?

11. Is astrophotoghraphy a possible future interest?

The answers to the questions can be used flow-chart fashion to provide a guide to telescope selection. The following is an example of this, using some well-known brands and sizes of telescope. Once again, this is a guide, and not a set of rules for telescope shopping. The telescopes available to you may represent different brands. However, there are so many similarities that you should still be able to look at what happens to be available, compare that with the example below, and come away with something better than a ‘best guess’ as to what you should do.

1. How old is this person?
Small or young children (under 10 years:
- Pick from list A

Preteens:
- Pick from list B or possibly C depending

Teenagers:
- Pick from any list as appropriate

2. How much weight can you/he/she lift and carry over short distances?
Absolute minimal: less than 15lbs.
- Pick from list A

Up to 25lbs.
- Pick from list A or B

Up to 50lbs
- Pick from A, B, or C

No limit
- Pick whatever you like. (But be careful! Some of this stuff is heavier than it looks!)

3. What's the budget?
Up to $250 including shipping
- Pick from list A

Up to $350
- Pick from list A or B

Up to $500
- Pick from A, B or C

4. What's the attraction to the sky based on? (Have any specially areas of
interest been mention that might guide scope selection?)
Moon & Planets
- Pick either one of the refractors or reflectors as appropriate to other criteria.

Deeper Space Objects (DSOs)
- Pick most appropriate reflector.

Astrophotography
- The best bet would be to visit the appropriate forum here at Cloudy Nights. Even for an experienced photographer astrophotography can require a different sort of equipment compared to that of a visual observer, to say nothing of a much larger budget.

5. Will the scope need to be travel-worthy?
Yes
- Pick a small refractor on a collapsible tripod.

No
- Pick from any list as appropriate.

6. Are the constellations and brighter stars known quantities, or is the
prospective astronomer starting from scratch?
Starting from scratch:
- Spend time learning at least a dozen constellations either naked eye or with
binoculars before proceeding on to a scope of any kind. Basic star charts and planispheres are available in many bookstore and from most online astronomy sources. You can do this after purchasing a telescope, but developing a familiarity with the sky will certainly tell you whether or not you really want to pursue this hobby!

A good pair of binoculars will never become redundant. Most of us practicing astronomy use ours on a regular basis as aids to finding objects, and to just relax and take in the big picture.

A word on GOTO scopes:
While scopes capable of locating celestial objects via their own built-in computers and servos have a great deal of appeal, it’s important to remember that for the person on a budget, any amount that the telescope manufacturer spends on the computer guidance system, means that they’re spending that much less on the optics. That problem can be dealt with nicely by simply spending more money, but for the person on a strict budget, that might not be an option. Several manufacturers currently offer very small aperture scopes, often with very poor optics, that have nominal GOTO capabilities, but more often than not these are just not capable of meeting the very rudimentary criteria set forth at the beginning. What’s more, many boast large numbers of objects in their databases, most of which are simply beyond the capabilities of the limited aperture of these small scopes.

7. What sort of room is available for storage?
Absolute minimal:
- Pick from list A

Small corner in closet or bedroom:
- Pick from list A or B

Space in garage, basement, etc. available:
- Pick from any list as appropriate.

8. Does the prospective astronomer change interests/hobbies often? (Lots of
other hobby-related material currently sitting around unused, which at one time
formed the center of the universe?)
Yes
- Pick from list A or B

No (They tend to really stick with what they start.)
- Pick from any list as appropriate.

9. Might the scope also see use for bird watching or other terrestrial pursuits?
Yes
This dictates a small, fast, wide FOV refractor on an Alt-Az mount, and a somewhat specialized one at that. Refer to Cloudy Days forum for more help.

No
- Pick from any list as appropriate.

10. Is sharing the views with family & friends very important to you?

Yes
This almost mandates a scope with tracking capabilities. Many modern Equatorial mounts can accept optional axis drives, which keep objects in the field of view. Keep in mind that this adds additional expense and often more setup time and a steeper initial learning curve. The scopes in list D have been selected specifically to address the needs of those who are willing to pay more, and put up with a bit more initial learning of the equipment in order to facilitate sharing the views, and/or sketching what they see at the eyepiece.

11. Will the telescope be used for astrophotography?

Yes
This requires at minimum a good sturdy mount capable of tracking. And it very likely involves some considerable expense. For suggestions on telescopes appropriate to astrophotography, or terrestrial digiscoping refer to one of the astrophography forums, or for terrestrial digiscoping refer to Cloudy Days.
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These lists are not at all comprehensive or complete. These lists limited this to scopes that are known as really solid, known performers. In fact, one criteria for inclusion on these lists is multiple favorable reviews of them, somewhere on the web, or in print. That means that the lists are quite limited, and many scopes are not listed at all, simply because suitable numbers of positive reviews could not be found for them. So, in a sense, the scopes listed here have been “vetted” as representing good solid performers for their respective categories.

As it stands right now, no Maks or SCTs are listed. The reason for that is that the smaller ones that would nominally meet the budgetary requirements often have very narrow fields of view, and more often than not, do not handle either very low or moderately high powers very well. The larger ones tend to be too expensive for the criteria set forth here. The first 3 lists are limited to selections to under 50lbs complete, and under $500 total including shipping, since that is the category of scope most likely to appeal to the target audience for this guide. Furthermore, some scopes that would nominally meet said list criteria have been left off these lists due to having somewhat questionable performance records. Note that scopes appearing on multiple lists are not necessarily better, they just meet multiple criteria. Further note that these lists are meant only as suggestions, and that in countries other than the US, the same equipment may be marketed under other brand names. For instance, Skywatcher brand offers many of the scopes listed here in Canada.

A list= highly portable, under 15lbs, under $250 including shipping & planisphere
Edmund's Astroscan
Orion Starblast

B list = up to 30lbs, under $350 including shipping + planisphere
Reflectors
Celestron Firstscope 114 EQ
Orion XT4.5
Orion Space probe 130

Refractors
Orion Astroview 90 EQ
ShortTube 80 on either Alt-Az or EQ mount from Celestron, Meade, Orion or numerous others

C list = up to 50lbs completely assembled, up to $500 including shipping and beginning star map
Reflectors
Celestron Starhopper 6
Celestron Starhopper 8
Discovery DHQ 6"
Discovery DHQ 8"
Hardin DSH-6
Hardin DSH-8
Orion XT6
Orion XT8

Refractors
Celestron C102
Celestron C4 R
Orion Skyview Pro 100mm EQ

D list = up to 75lbs total, up to $750 including shipping, drive motors, and polar alignment scope (Often these drive motors & polar scopes are extra cost items, but all on this list meet the extended budget criteria with drives & necessary parts.)
Reflectors
Celestron C6N with drives
Celestron NexStar 130GT (GOTO)
Orion Skyview Pro 6 EQ with drives
Orion Skyview Pro 8 EQ with drives

Refractors
Short tube 80 (various manufacturers) on EQ mount with drive motors
Orion Skyview Pro 100mm EQ w/RA drive
Orion Skyview Pro 120mm EQ w/RA drive

Additional information can be found on noted scope reviewer
Ed Ting's Telescope Matrix

Note: Parents considering buying a scope for a child will want to read this post: A 9 year old decides between a small refractor with Goto vs a small Dob on the merits of using each.

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Tom Watson
Mike Swaim

Edited by lighttrap (03/30/05 12:06 PM)