Suggesting a beginners telescope

[physixlover]

Can you recommend me the telescope for beginners
Is Skywatcher Heritage 76 mm is good for beginners

thank you

[Waveform]

Can you recommend me the telescope for beginners
Is Skywatcher Heritage 76 mm is good for beginners

thank you


Only a personal opinion.

But to sum up in one word...no.

If you are on a limited budget (as most of us are) look at a set of binoculars or even put a few more dollars in and look for a good used 6 or 8 inch Newtonian.

If you are interested in Astronomy don't have a first bad experience and turn yourself off.
The 76mm will do very little to spark your interest.

[DrMik]

Waveform is right. Get yourself a good astronomy magazine and look in the small ads. You can pick up a decent 6" to 8" (150 mm to 200 mm) Dobsonian for little money, probably less than a new 76 mm you mention. (Dobsonian is the type of 'swivel-based' mounting a Newtonian can come with).
The smallest reflector you can get that would be useful is a 6" DON'T GET anything smaller.

[Chronos]

Agreed, you will become quickly disappointed with anything less than about 6". Second hand scopes in this size range are available at very reasonable prices with a little patience. A good set of binoculars is a price point effective investment. As a plus, you can use the eyepieces with your scope for a very nice wide field view. A good deal considering wide field eyepieces generally cost about as much as a good binocular.

[physixlover]

thanks for the posts ,Do you recommend me to take a reflector or a refractor telescope

[Chronos]

Reflectors are cheaper.

[Waveform]

Yes, count me in here also.

Reflectors are cheaper and also you usually get more aperture for a given amount of money.

In essence the old cliche; 'more bang for your buck'.

[DaveC426913]

I started with a little refractor and was pretty disappointed with it until I scrounged together a couple of hundred bucks and got a reflector. Much better.

Rule 1 of telescope shopping:
Magnification is nothing; diameter is everything.

[russ_watters]

FYI, guys, that scope the OP asked about is a very inexpensive 3" tabletop dobsonian. It's not bad for the money and if $75 is your budget, it is a good buy. http://telescopereviewsuk.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/sky-watcher-heritage-76/

You'll want a 2x or 3x Barlow to go with it, though.

[DaveC426913]

FYI, guys, that scope the OP asked about is a very inexpensive 3" tabletop dobsonian. It's not bad for the money and if $75 is your budget, it is a good buy. http://telescopereviewsuk.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/sky-watcher-heritage-76/

You'll want a 2x or 3x Barlow to go with it, though.

I'd say the general consensus is that the budget for a scope starts at well over that. Below that, any scope is worse than useless. Better to do without until your budget grows than be disappointed in your skygazing experience and give it up.

As for Barlows, my experience is: forget it. More heartache and disappointment.

[MotoH]

My 2x barlow plus a 12.5mm EP works excellent for any star and planet viewing.

Of course I have a 4.5in mirror. I will be upgrading shortly to a larger aperture because I want to be able to collect more light though.

[russ_watters]

I'd say the general consensus is that the budget for a scope starts at well over that. Below that, any scope is worse than useless. Better to do without until your budget grows than be disappointed in your skygazing experience and give it up.

As for Barlows, my experience is: forget it. More heartache and disappointment. I disagree with both points.

About the Barlow - often a longer focal length eyepiece with a barlow works better than a shorter focal length eyepiece: wider field of view and better eye relief. I often use one with a 15mm eyepiece instead of a 9mm eyepiece alone for planetary viewing.

Regarding the size, an awful lot of people (including myself) start off with an awful 60mm refractor. This scope has substantially better optics at half the price of what I started with.

Just my opinion.

[DaveC426913]

This scope has substantially better optics at half the price of what I started with.


Oh. I didn't realize that you knew it had high-quality optics.

[Chronos]

You can buy a nice preowned reflector [~6"] for a couple hundred, or less, with a little patience. That is a enough scope to give you a good idea if, or what direction to go if you get more serious.