Good beginner telescope?

Question

I'm looking at a Meade ETX 80 I think it is. It's got an AUTO object finder, meaning it actually moves by itself. It's got a tonight's best tour, and its $300. Anything with that kind of stuff for a little bit of a cheaper price?

Answer 1

That is a pretty good price--I doubt you'll find anything cheaper that is of similar quality. If you are just beginning, the auto finder is great, since you don't really know where anything is yet. I've heard great things about the ETX line. The person above me is right though, you may want to get the ETX 90 if you are up for spending more money.

You can always look for used telescopes on ebay - I think that they have a store specific to used telescopes.

Answer 2

That is probably the cheapest telescope with the auto feature. You are paying about $100 for the optics and $200 for the computer controlled, motorized mounting. But an 80mm telescope is pretty small and will not give you much of a view. You could get a bigger telescope for less money if you gave up the auto feature (the telescope suggested in the above answer has a motor but not a computer controlled object finder), but that would require you to learn the sky and find objects yourself, which can be a challenge for a beginner.

Answer 3

In this price range you're paying mostly for the electronics and next to nothing for the optics. Its computer will be able to point it at lots of things, but the aperture is so small you won't be able to see them...not good. You would be much better off looking at a manually operated telescope with good optics, such as a Dobsonian reflector, for example these from Orion:

http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemID=334&itemType=CATEGORY&path=1%2C3&KickerID=860&KICKER

Don't buy from eBay: all the scopes sold there are pure junk! Buy from a telescope store.

Answer 4

This telescope looks pritty good.