Opinion on this telescope for an amateur?

Question

My boyfriend has wanted a telescope for a while. I purchased this on an impulse buy and am wondering if it's worth the money.....

Galileo 700mm x 60mm Astro/Terrestrial Refractor Telescope
Three Removable Eyepieces:
6mm = 117x/351x
12.5mm=56x/168x
20mm=35x/105x

Also has a 3x Barlow lens. And the Galileo Triology CD Rom Set which includes the Galileo Planetarium,Instructional Telescope Video, and Britannica Touch the Sky - Touch the Universe.

And has the Mars Eye Electronic Locator which uses the red dot to find things.

I paid 89.99 plus tax. Worth it or can I find something better for my money? I'm willing to spend up to $150 and this said it was normally $149 and was on sale.

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

That would be an OK telescope for the price. But it wil be dissapointing. It is an OK beginers scope but for 50 or 60 more you could get a better Reflector (note: not a refractor). What you have would be OK for viewing the planets and the Moon. To really get your moneys worth I would suggest getting better eye pieces. But these would cost quite a bit ($30-$130 or more) so I would just get another telescope.

If you want to view stars and nebulae and galaxies I would go for a Reflector. The bigger the aperature (the diameter) the better, and more expensive. I would say that what you got is OK but not great.

If your boyfriend finds he likes astronomy and wants something a bit better but not break the bank then I would suggest geting a Meade ETX-125 ($500 on Ebay) or ETX-90. They have an auto guide (they follow the stars) and a computer that lets you select what you want to see from a menu and it just goes there (some set up required). And a bunch of other stuff.

If he wants the good stuff I would suggest the Meade LX90GPS or the LX200R. These are big and expensive but very nice!

I think what you got was OK for your boyfriend to try and find out if he likes it. But a relector would have been better and not much more expensive. Look on ebay for a reflector. You should beable to find a basic one for 150-200.

I would suggest that if your boyfriend wants bigger telescope to do research on what would be best.

Answer 2

You can find something better. I'd return it quickly. Generally you need at least $400 to get a good telescope but Orion Telescopes does offer fairly decent beginner scopes for about $150.

You will want to buy a reflector, not a refractor, and make sure it's aperture, the diameter of the primary mirror, is no smaller than 4.5"
That's about 114mm.

By the way, on the Galileo the 700mm x60mm is read as follows. The 700mm is the focal length of the telescope. This is the distance the light travels from the lens until the point it comes to a focus near the eyepiece. So it's almost the length of the telescope in refractors anyway. The 60mm is the telescope's aperture, which in this case is the diameter of the lens.

Binoculars may say 7x50 on them but this is a little different. The 7 is the number of times the object will be magnified, the 50 is in milimeters and is the diameter of the binocular's large lenses.

Answer 3

It depends upon what you are doing with it. That should be a better scope than Galileo ever had. But then again there is such a high range of scopes available. What you have chosen is totally fine for viewing bright objects and almost ideal for looking at the moon. If you are interested in deep sky and dim objects you need something with a larger lens or mirror. Higher magnification in a refractor means more problems with chromatic aberration that can only be countered by increasing the focal length. this soon becomes uncomfortable to pack around.
Reflecting (Newtonian) scopes using a curved mirror offer no chromatic(colour) error but soon become huge. They give very good light gathering but refractors are still king on bright objects because of their clarity when constructed right.
What you have chosen is a good beginning scope.

If your interest holds for a year and you upgrade it will have been a very good beginner scope.

It will also work nicely as a terrestrial scope if you want it to.

Edit you might want to check the program "stellarium" out. It was designed for running planetariums and is a free program. very good.

Answer 4

I think you got a good deal. This telescope will either get him interested in getting a bigger scope or he will let it collect dust. This is a good starting place. I highly recommend also buying him a copy of the latest "Sky and Telescope" magazine, available on most higher level news stands, such as Borders, etc. and include it with your gift. Or better yet, use your extra money to buy him a one year subscription. This magazine is the greatest for the budding amateur astronomer. Oh, and by the way, throw the 3X barlow in the trash or else save it for a bigger telescope. It is worthless on a scope that small. On the other hand, it might be useful in viewing "heavenly bodies" through the windows of the girl's dormatory........just a thought.

Answer 5

Don't do it! Those cheap refractors will disapoint the hell out of you. Look for a 4 or 4.5-inch reflector on ebay - write me for more details, I know a lot about this but don't have time to write right now. Buying a first scope will be much more successful if you research first.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Black-4-5-Telescope-F-8-8-With-R-A-motor-Drive-NR_W0QQitemZ150063611005QQihZ005QQcategoryZ28181QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Answer 6

i bought a $250 refractor, very disappointing so i took it back and bought a 6" reflector off of eBay for $300, much better

Answer 7

It's a good buy for the money.

Thank you very much, while you're up.