I wanna buy a good telescope.what do u recommend?

Question

and the important thing is i wanna but a cheap one.
i wanna buy a small and cheap one first then when i get ready i will buy a better one
thanx

Answer 1

Don't buy a cheap scope. Buy a real one - otherwise you may loose your love for astronomy.

The main two types of telescopes are the refractors (lens telescopes) and the reflectors (mirror telescopes)
Of both types you can have smaller and larger models.
If you are a newcomer in astronomy you have to make sure of your requirements.
a) stationary use in your backyard or mobile use.
b) if mobile transportable by car or in a backpack
this will give you the limits in size.
Then don't buy a lens telescope with front diameter less than 3 in (76mm) you would be frustrated
Don't buy a mirror telescope (Newton or Maksutov-Cassegrain or Schmitt-Cassegrain) with a front diameter less than 5 in 127mm

A high magnification factor is not the most important thing. Make sure you can cover a magnification from 30x to 100x
That will give you a comfortable instrument to start with.

Pay attention to have a stable mount. A good instrument is worthless if it is attached to a vibrating and elastic tripod.

Don't buy anything cheaper that 400 USD for a telescope or 700 USD for telescope plus mount - it's not worthwhile.

Answer 2

A good choice for an inexpensive, but good telescope is a 6-inch Dob, which is a Newtonian reflector on a simple alt-azimuth mounting. Don't buy a cheap telescope, that's a waste of money with the often shaky mountings, shody eyepieces and a finderscope that's useless for locating objects. Dobs are inexpensive, but not cheap. They put good to excellent quality optics together with a low-tech but effective mounting that is actually easier to use than many equatorial mounts. These mounts require you to align the polar axis with the north or south celestial pole before they can track. Also, a mount that can hold an 8 or 10-inch Newtonian steadily will weighover 100 pounds with the pedestal or tripod. A 6-inch Dob will weigh 30 pounds or less, and will go into almost any car for trips to dark sky sites. Wanna see the Eagle, Veil or Orion Nebula in all their glory? Drive to a dark site with it and the right eyepieces and filters and you'll see them in a way few people ever see today. A good Dob will let you effortless track objects with the push of a finger at 300x, yet will stop when you stop pushing it with little or no shaking. They're portable stable and from a dark site they can show an amazing number of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. A 6-inch Dob will also perform superbly on the moon, planets and double stars. Best of all, you can buy a good one for for 300 or 350 dollars, with everything you need to get started. My first real astronomical telescope was a 6-inch reflector and I still use one even though I have a much more powerful 10-inch reflector and I'm planning on acquring a 15-inch Dob in the future. Best of all, A Dob is easy to use and requires no batteries, motors or electronics to work. You can add them later so you can locate objects automatically, even track the stars automatically if you want. For sheer bang and perfomance for the buck, a Dobsonian is the way to go. Before you buy anything, I strongly advise you to find and join a local club. Try every telescope you can at the club's star parties, and ask lots of questions. The Internet has a gold mine of information on telescopes that will help you choose the best one for you. Then when you do buy one, you'll buy with confidence that you found a great beginners telescope you will still be using as a second scope when you buy a bigger, more capable instrument.

Answer 3

For telescopes, good and cheap just don't go together.

The best you can do is sufficient for seeing something and cheap.

A good telescope starts around at around $300. These telescopes are usually 4.5" reflectors, or small achromatic refractors on sturdy mounts. Slightly under $300, you can get an a Celestron 6" Star Hopper, or Orion 6" Dobsonian for $269.95 with an accessory pack.

Telescopes cheaper than that, for example, telescopes in the range of $160, cut costs by reducing the quality of the mount, and sometimes the optics.

SO you want a cheapy telescope? Ok.

You want something at least 4.5" in aperture. It should be a newtonian reflector with a parabolic mirror and if it's not a dobsonian, the mount should at least be a metal german equatorial mount. It should take 1.25" eyepieces and be a reputable brand.

So in our crap but will do line....
Celestron PowerSeeker 114 EQ: $124.95
Meade 114EQ-A: $209.99
Meade 114EQ-ASTR: $199
And things of this sort.

Avoid goto at this level.

Answer 4

Orion markets its Starblast as a kid's telescope, but it's really a neat starter telescope for anybody - http://www.telescope.com/jump.jsp?itemID=4644&itemType=PRODUCT&cshift_ck=337432982cs294636339&WT.srch=1 . If you need to go cheaper than that, you'll probably have more fun with a pair of binoculars and a star map. Get a pair with 40 or 50mm objectives, and no more than 10x magnification. The typical low-end 60mm refractor is an exercise in frustration. You can see lots of stuff with one, but if you don't already know the sky fairly well, you can have a hard time finding anything. With binoculars, you'll learn your way around the sky and be amazed at how many things you can see. Then, when you move up to a telescope, you'll already know a lot of interesting targets and where to find them.

Answer 5

When it comes to telescopes, you can never get a good one for cheap.

That said, and though I cringe as I say it, the cheap ones you buy at Walmart (brands like Tasco) for around $100 can certainly give you a taste of amateur astronomy. They will also give you a much greater appreciation for the quality you get when you can afford to spend a little more.

I owned a cheap Tasco telescope when I was a teenager and enjoyed using it to view the moon and the brighter planets. They're not much good for looking at anything else though. The worst part was the shakey mount...which made it nearly impossible to look at anything without it jiggling around.

Here's a pretty decent link for tips on buying a telescope: http://www.telescope.com/content/learningcenter/content2main.jsp?iCategoryID=23&iContentID=619&CCNavIDs=19,20,23

Answer 6

Well Edmunds had a clearance on a nice refractor with Equitorial Mount and optional clock drive. The scope was $115 and the clock drive was $25 more.

Not a bad deal.

The Mead $60 scope at Wal Mart is also not a bad deal. I mean it will show you Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon.

It will knock your socks off.

But it is a toy, understand that, a nice toy, but still a toy.

Answer 7

How cheap? You can get a 6 inch Celestron Starhopper on a Dobsonian mount for $250.00 or an 8 inch for $350.00. That is about as cheap as I would go.

Answer 8

You want as low mileage as you can get, see the service records for the life of the car (make sure they went in for regular oil changes, etc.) ask what the car was used for (cars used in long commutes have worn out engines). Have it checked by a mechanic before you buy it. Never purchase a used car without that. As far as make/model, if you go to the library and see Consumers magazine, they rate vehicles. Also, AAA has a great resource for used cars too. Do your homework, don't get taken.

Answer 9

The other guys are right - you don't want to go cheap, you'll just get frustrated. If you don't have much to spend, consider getting a good pair of binoculars instead - you can still see the rings of Saturn, moons of Jupiter, open and globular clusters, and the Andromeda galaxy.

Answer 10

don't buy cheap. I did and it was a big mistake. Don't buy department store stuff. I am also waiting for a good answer here because I have to get another telescope.