what brand of telescope is best?

Answer 1

The major brand names in amatuer telescopes are Meade, Celestron and Orion. Any of these are well made and offer many different telescopes for the beginner.

Answer 2

There is no one brand of telescope that is the best overall. Companies like Takahashi make very high quality optics but they are also very expensive. Astronomers often say that Takahashi is Japanese for "empty wallet". However there are lots of other brands that make telescopes not up to the level of quality of Takahashi, but are by no means bad. It all depends on how much you want to spend.

If you're interested in obtaining a telescope, then I recommend visiting the forums at http://www.cloudynights.com and talking to the people there. There are lots of people there who know a lot about the topic and are happy to help newcomers make a good choice.

Answer 3

Twizard has it pretty good. Those are great brands, I used a Jason from late sixties up to early 80's. (same one) You see the ancients did not have the fancy scopes we have today. When I was a lad, I dreamt of having a clockdrive with the circles. Now they are computed driven so you dont really need all the RA and Dec stuff. Read my profile for background.

Telescopes are used and purchased depending on how you are using it, visual or photo. Refractor of 60mm or larger is good and reflecting from 3 or 4 inch or larger.

Answer 4

A good resource for information on telescopes is magazines on astronomy and can be purchased at most major book stores! These magazines will help you in making an educated decision.

There is a lot more then just telescopes in these mags.





Below is one respectable Company that sells telescopes.

Hope this helps!
Bruce


http://www.celestron.com/

Answer 5

Best for what? There are many types of telescopes and many different uses for them. When amateur astronomers argue this question, they're generally talking about telescopes in the $5000 and up range. I'm rather fond of Starmaster (http://starmastertelescopes.com/truss-scopes.htm )myself.

Answer 6

I have a meade LX200GPS8" SCT, and I admit that I'm not out every night with the scope , but I have had my problems with the soft wear that came with meade autostar suite, and I had recent usage to a Celestron 11" SCT(the coarse focus on the celestron is more superior to the meade),if I had to do it all over again, I would buy the Celestron.