what is the best telescope for the money and what brand is well know for its quality?

Question

what is the best telescope for the money and what brand is well know for its quality? :)

Answer 1

Go with Meade. Start off with a low cost 2.5 to 3"" refractor with a motorized equitorial mount. Best to learn with a quality cheaper instrument and then step up to a good Cassegrain once you understand the basics.

Stay away from the low cost plastic table toys with the autostar electronics. The electronics only make sense on a higher quality instruments that can show you something.

A good beginner Meade 2.5 to 3"" refractor (objective lens width) with an equitorial mount will run you about $250.00 and $100 extra for the accessory kit that has 2 eyepieces, a star diagnal and a barlow. You can get a used one for about half that price.

Meade has an excellent site, http://www.meade.com

and there are incredible deals at the their outlet web site:

http://www.meade4m.com/4mshop/outlet.html

Answer 2

The best telescope for the money depends on what you want to do with it. Generally, refractors are the most expensive per inch of aperture, and you need a lot of aperture to see a lot of things. Aperture is the diameter of the telescope's primary mirror, or main lens. It basically translates to light collecting ability.

Most moderate sized and large telescopes are reflectors or catadioptrics. They use a large mirror in the back to collect light, instead of a lens up front, though catadioptrics have a thing up front that looks like a lens, called a corrector plate.

Most people are very satisfied with 8" Schmidt Cassegrains (a type of catadioptric) because they can be bought at a very affordable price, especially if you buy a used one, they are typically computerized, they're compact, and they're large enough to see many things.

Good brands are Celestron, Meade, Orion, Astro-Physics, and Takahashi. The last two are super high end brands that generally cater to people who are looking for specialized telescopes. There is also a brand called Parks which isn't very common but of good quality. Some European brands which have some noteriety are Zhumell and Konus but they aren't common in the US.

Be aware that Celestron also makes a low end line that you should avoid if you want something more serious. These will typically be their below $300 telescopes and in some cases, slightly above $300. The optics are probably okay but in recent years they have been putting them on less than perfect mounts. The older models of their starter telescopes are generally of far higher quality. You can still find some of their Celestron C4.5" Newtonian reflectors on very sturdy Vixen Polaris German equatorial mounts used, for a price far better than newer ones.