Can You Find a Quality Telescope for Under $100?

[Someone502]

Could i even get a good teloscope for less than 100$ or are they a lot more then that.

I'm guessing i can't but meh?

Thanks

 

[tony873004]

For $100 or less, I'd go with binoculars. Telescopes in this price range are pretty cheesy, but binocs in this price range are decent. With binoculars, you can see a crescent shape from Venus, Jupiter's moons, barely Saturn's rings, but if you didn't know what they were, it wouldn't be obvious to you, Saturn's moon, Titan, and lots of Moon craters. You can also see about 10 times as many stars as you can with the naked eye. It will bring some asteroids into view if you know where to look.

Two years ago, Costco was selling Celestron GT114's Telescopes for only $160 which I thought was a great deal. It's computer controlled and points where you tell it to point. Haven't seen telescopes at Costco since then.

 

[Phobos]

If you're just starting out in astronomy, I'd recommend binoculars too. (maybe 7x50...the bigger the second number, the better)

But perhaps you can find a used telescope cheap. Many people buy a telescope when they start out and then realize the hobby is not for them.

 

[Chronos]

As Phobos noted, pre-owned telescopes can be had for ridiculously low prices if you are persistent. They tend not to wear out so you're not giving up much more than that new telescope smell.

 

[turbo]

If you want to stay under $100, try to look for binoculars at tag sales, etc. You can use BOTH eyes, and integration is a BIG advantage, and you can usually get 7x50 binoculars pretty cheaply. I paid about $80 for my Nikons at an LL Bean sale, and they are the best astronomy investment ever! A good set of well-corrected, well-coated binoculars can be the nicest, most portable wide-field optics you can own.

 

[Mariko]

This may be kind of obviouse but have you tried looking on ebay?? Last time I looked there were telescopes going for about 100$ for what would normally be about 300$ good luck!