Hot telescope! cheap price + good quality, no-tax outside CA
- Thread starter kedingzhang
- Start date
dud
Diamond Member
- Feb 18, 2001
- 7,635
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I've never seen a GOOD scope for less than $500. Run away from scopes that promise 500 power or 500x. The general rule-of-thumb is 40-60 power per inch of aperture. With good quality optics a 2.4 inch refractor is only useable up to about 140 power max. The more aperture the brighter and crisper the view. If you do not wish to pay for a quality scope consider a pair of quality binoculars. A year ago I was looking for a "giant" pair of Celestrons and found that they could be found pretty cheaply (around $300). Thats like putting a pair of 90 mm (3+ inch) telescopes in your hand.
The reflector scopes should be ok for moon viewing (useless for terrestrial viewing). Stay away from those cheap refractors, often you'll find a clearer image just using your naked eye.
rockyct
Diamond Member
- Jun 23, 2001
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I would agree that less than $500 won't get you a great telescope but it doesn't mean you can't get a good starter scope. For $200 you can get a 114mm Dobsonian telescope from Orion. It may not be great but it's decent enough to know if you like the hobby.
I do agree that if a telescope is advertising the maximum power, you are better off with a pair of binoculars for the same price. Only when the telescope is very cheap do they advertise the power. The best thing to look for is the size of the mirror, which is usually around 60mm for very cheap refractors (the standard looking telescope) and 114mm for cheap reflectors (the one where you look on the side near the top).
this is a spammer post by a guy who logs in with different user names to spam his crappy site.........
well, the good telescopes are usually over $500... damn expensive!
i rather take the cheaper ones at an acceptable price with the enough power.
i rather take the cheaper ones at an acceptable price with the enough power.
This looks like a kids scope, but it's actually a pretty decent piece of equipment.
Orion Starblast
scopereviews.com review
Another opinion
And while I can't link to it, the starblast got a good review in the last Astronomy magazine.
Orion Starblast
scopereviews.com review
Another opinion
And while I can't link to it, the starblast got a good review in the last Astronomy magazine.
I don¡¯t think so.
The relationship between the quality and the price sometimes are not in direct proportion. Search is the shopping skill; and the skill + information = valuable. Let me give you my experience.
Last night I bought three text books (individual income tax; financial reporting; and marketing) from bn.com the total is $320.90 (free shipping) the difference between bn.com and my school¡¯s bookstore is $34 +shipping. The same text books but I save money.
I was buying fish oil from Chinatown store $8.99 for every 100 counts until one day my friend let me try Costco; and I found out there was only $7.25 for 300 softgels! The difference for 300 sofrgels fish oil is $19.72, can you image that the same fish oil?!
I did some researches form webs; finally I paid $129.76 to get a 15x70 giant binocular form opticvalley.com which is priced $289 at other web store. The same style, same magnification power even the same color attracts my boyfriend.
The internet let us shopping on line became comparable; any information that we got just check it out.
You're misunderstanding him. He's not saying there's a direct proportion between cost/quality. We've all
gotten great deals here and at other forums, on great quality stuff.
He's saying that any telescope that advertises a power in the scope's name or on the box, is bound to be a
piece of junk. And that is true.
Anyone who knows anything about telescopes knows it's all about aperture. And there is no way a 60mm
objective can obtain 600X. Just ain't possible. I have a 279mm scope, and it can't hold 600X.
Even the finest figured optics in the world can only do about 50-60 times the aperture in inches. For a 60mm
scope, that's a max of about 141X. And then only in perfect seeing, which is pretty much never. And a scope
that could do it couldn't be produced for under $100, like the one above. It'd take a master optician, like
Roland Christen for a refractor, or Carl Zambuto for a reflector, many hours with expensive materials to
make such a perfect optic. Mucho dollars.
Now, for under $500, Orion does have an 80mm apochromatic scope that is reputed to be a fine example.
It's the first quality APO to break that price barrier. But even then, that's for the scope itself only. No finder,
no mount, no tripod, and I don't think even any eyepieces. But even an 80mm will max out at under 200X
before the image turns to mush.
No, virtualgames0 is correct. You should run away from these sorts of bargain bin, department-store-type scopes. They're probably responsible for turning more people off of astronomy than all other reasons combined. The mounts tend to be flimsy and unstable and the optics are mediocre at best. This is one area where the saying 'you get what you pay for' really does matter.
If you're looking to get into observing and only have $100 or $150 to spend, you'll be far better off with a good pair of binoculars than you will with a unstable telescope. A good set of binoculars is something I recommend for everybody starting out in the hobby. If nothing else, they'll help you learn to navigate the sky.
If you have $200 or $250 to spend and don't want a set of binoculars, take a close look at the Orion "Short Tube 80". If only department stores would carry this telescope instead of the crap they sell, I think far more people would stick with the hobby. Hands down, this is the best bang-for-buck refractor available.
If you have $300 to $400 to spend, you can start looking at Dobsonian reflector telescopes. These offer the largest apperture for the buck, hands down. $400 will buy an 8-inch or maybe even a used 10-inch Dobsonian with a few accessories. Dobsonians are wonderful because they are large aperture and the mount is easy to learn (beginners have enough to learn without having to learn how to align and adjust with an equatorial mount). And, as I've said before, Dobsonians aren't limited to beginners. They're available in all price ranges from around $300 all the way up to $25,000 30-inchers.
arcas
If you're looking to get into observing and only have $100 or $150 to spend, you'll be far better off with a good pair of binoculars than you will with a unstable telescope. A good set of binoculars is something I recommend for everybody starting out in the hobby. If nothing else, they'll help you learn to navigate the sky.
If you have $200 or $250 to spend and don't want a set of binoculars, take a close look at the Orion "Short Tube 80". If only department stores would carry this telescope instead of the crap they sell, I think far more people would stick with the hobby. Hands down, this is the best bang-for-buck refractor available.
If you have $300 to $400 to spend, you can start looking at Dobsonian reflector telescopes. These offer the largest apperture for the buck, hands down. $400 will buy an 8-inch or maybe even a used 10-inch Dobsonian with a few accessories. Dobsonians are wonderful because they are large aperture and the mount is easy to learn (beginners have enough to learn without having to learn how to align and adjust with an equatorial mount). And, as I've said before, Dobsonians aren't limited to beginners. They're available in all price ranges from around $300 all the way up to $25,000 30-inchers.
arcas
I never trust "Hot Deals" by newbie posters that refer to a no-name site! Most of the time, it's a spammer. And their products are no more reliable than they are.
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