Choosing a First Astronomical Telescope

The recent revival of interest in amateur astronomy has led to a bewildering variety of telescopes on the market, and an increasing number of retailers, many of whom are primarily interested in taking your money. It is easy for a newcomer to be bamboozled by the advertising hype and to spend money upon something that begs to be replaced after a very short time. It is best to purchase from a knowledgeable and reputable dealer.

There is no such thing as a "perfect starter scope". The one that is right for you depends upon a number of considerations. For this reason, it would be a good idea to try things out before you buy. Many Astronomical Societies hold field meetings (aka observing evenings) where newcomers can try out different kit and get advice from experienced astronomers. At the very least, you should see if you can find a review of your intended purchase.

Caveat. What follows, especially the BEST BUY, recommendations, represents my opinions, which are formed by my own prejudices. Briefly, these are that decent optics and accessories on a sturdy mount are worth a great deal more than attractive computerised kit that is under-mounted and comes with bottom-of-the-range accessories. Other people have different opinions. Solicit them, either passively from reviews, or actively from experienced amateur astronomers, either in person or on internet newsgroups and mailing lists The prices (and therefore relative prices of various options) are those in the UK .

Factors to Consider

• Budget. This will possibly be the most important constraint for a beginner. At, say, £200 you are much more limited for choice for a good scope than at, say, £1500.
• Portability. If you've got to lug it down 3 flights of stairs in order to observe, this is going to be a very important factor! If you will need to transport the telescope to a dark site, make sure that you can easily get it in and out of the vehicle. Tight fits are no fun in the dark.
• Ease of set-up. By definition, a telescope that is not used is useless. If your telescope is difficult to set up (often in the dark), it will get less use than one that is easy to set up.
• Upgradeability. Do you want a telescope that is upgradeable when you become more experienced and/or have more funds available?
• Astro targets of interest. The requirements for observing detail on the Moon and bright planets are different to those for detecting faint fuzzies.
• Astrophotography. If you want to attempt anything other than very short exposures, you will need a good equatorial mount with an RA drive at the very least.

I give more detailed advice on this in my book AstroFAQs

Who Makes Them?

A frequent question is "What is a good brand name?" Frequently a telescope from a manufacturer is branded by different companies, but is essentially the same telescope in different "livery"; in such circumstances, one cannot recommend one brand over another. For example, I acquired an Orion Short Tube 80 (without a mount) for my son. This same telescope, manufactured by the Chinese company Synta, is also sold (mounted on a small equatorial) in the UK as the Celestron Firstscope 80 EQ WA and the Helios StarTravel 80. Most of the telescopes that are targeted at beginners are of Far Eastern – usually Chinese or Taiwanese – manufacture, including those from the US "big three" (Celestron, Meade and Orion) and those (e.g. Tasco, Bushnell) that are usually distributed through non-specialist retailers. The quality of these telescopes is variable; within the same model there is often a range of quality, hence it is impossible to categorise such telescopes as "good" or "bad". However, in the last few years improvements in the manufacturing processes have resulted in a general increase in quality and consistency and these instruments can offer excellent value for money.

There are four main exceptions to this Far Eastern origin:

• Orion Optics UK. (Not to be confused with the US company Orion Telescopes and Binoculars). Now the biggest UK telescope manufacturer. Some telescopes in the Europa series are aimed at the top end of the beginner's market, as is their GEM-mounted OMC140. Orion scopes have a good reputation in the UK.
• Beacon Hill Telescopes. Another UK manufacturer whose smaller Dobsonian telescopes are suitable for beginners. They tend to be made more for looking through than for looking at (i.e. functional as opposed to pretty).
• Cape Newise Telescopes. This is a recent UK "entry", making a modified Newtonian with excellent optics. The price of these places them poutside the scope of this page.
• Novosibirsk. This is a Russian company that makes telescopes that are sold in the UK under the brand names of TAL and Siberia. These are typically very robust telescopes, with good optics, that come with a lot of accessories as standard.

Which Telescope?

This makes no pretence to be a definitive list of good telescopes. It represents my opinion of good value-for-money telescopes in each price range. There are almost certainly good buys that I have omitted owing to my ignorance of them. With new models being introduced all the time and with prices fluctuating, it is inevitable that this list will become out of date in some respects – so check the date at the top of the page.

First, there are some general "rules":

• Astronomers use telescopes primarily to gather more light. This requires aperture, not magnification. Always be suspicious if a vendor emphasises the magnification. Exercise extreme caution if the vendor advertises magnification that exceeds x50 per inch of aperture.
• Consider a binocular. Yes, I know you want a telescope, but a binocular is merely two telescopes mounted in tandem. There are some very good binoculars available in in each of the price ranges below. These give you more pleasure and less frustration than you will get from a bad telescope. Most serious amateur astronomers frequently use a binocular as well as a telescope. For the last few years, I have been using 100mm binoculars in preference to telescopes.
• The combination of good optics and a poor mount will perform poorly. A shaky mount with motion that is not silky-smooth will soon become infuriating. The not-very-old adage was that the mount should cost at least as much as the telescope; the older one was that it should cost twice as much!
• Don't skimp on eyepieces. Many telescopes are sold without them, so you should allow for them in your budget. They are part of the optical system and need to be of quality that is at least as good as the rest of it.
• Consider buying second-hand – you can get good second-hand kit at extremely good prices. See the adverts inAstronomy-UK, or the classified ads in Astronomy Now.
• Lastly, and possibly most importantly, an astronomical telescope should be a precision scientific instrument and not a toy, an ornament, or a fashion accessory. Choose your telescope, and your supplier, with this in mind.

Under £200

• Bresser Skylux 70. Very good optics on a mount that is sufficiently sturdy to hold them. These are periodically available at Lidl supermarkets at half price (i.e. £50 compared to £100). BEST BUY at under £100.
• Sky-Watcher SkyHawk-1145. This is a 114mm f/4.4 reflector with extremely good optics. It is slightly under-mounted, but is still exceptional value for money. BEST BUY at under £150
• TAL-1 4.5" reflector, pedestal mounted. Very sturdy and includes loads of accessories. IMO this Russian kit is one of the best buys in this price range. Difficult to upgrade; consider spending £60 more on the motorised version.BEST BUY at under £200
• Sky-Watcher Startravel-80. An extremely portable scope that is excellent value for money.
• Explorer 130M. A reasonable scope on a driven mount, but it is right at the limit of what the EQ-2 mount can carry.
• Sky-Watcher Skymax 90, unmounted. Worth considering only if you already have as sturdy photographic tripod or other suitable mount to put it on.
• Second hand. (see above)
• Build Your Own. It's not as difficult as you may think. If you want to investigate that possibility, click here.
• Binoculars. Either a good 10x50 (hand-holdable) or the Strathspey 15x70 (needs mounting for observing for extended periods).
• There is a lot of rubbish in this price range. Most of it is on insubstantial mounts and comes with atrocious accessories. If this is your budget and you are tempted by something else, check out the tutorial on evaluating telescopes before you buy. If you already have one, check out my tutorial on upgrading them.

£200 - £300

• Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200 Dobsonian. Basic but good; has the greatest aperture in this price range.BEST BUY at under £250
• Sky-Watcher Evostar 120 (EQ3-2). Reasonably good optics (the smaller 102 has slightly better optics). The included EQ3-2 mount handles it well, but the tripod needs to be stiffened to get the best out of the telescope. BEST BUY at under £300
• TAL-1M or TAL-120M reflector, pedestal mounted, motorised. Very sturdy and includes loads of accessories. IMO this Russian kit is one of the best buys in this price range.

• The Skywatcher Skymax 102(Maksutov-Cassegrain) is a good performer and is reasonably well mounted. Better for planetary and lunar than the 80mm StarTravel above. Both are good value ultra-portable telescopes.
• Beware cheap gee-whiz computerised scopes – they often come on insubstantial mounts and are inadequate for many of the objects in the computer databases.

£300 - £500

• Sky-Watcher Skymax 127. This is a very nice telescope and the mount is good for visual observation.BEST BUY at under £400
• TAL-150 and Tal 2M(6") motorised equatorial reflectors. Very sturdy with lots of accessories. The only telescope in this price range that has a good finderscope as standard kit.
• 8" (or larger) Beacon Hill Dob. Can be upgraded later to an equatorially mounted scope.

£500 - £1000

• Sky-Watcher Evostar-80ED2 (HEQ5 ) Superb optics on a substantial mount that can be computerised later if you wish.BEST BUY at under £1000
• Sky-Watcher Explorer 250PX. EQ-6 mounted. A very good equatorial 10" reflector which, unlike a lot of the competition is adequately mounted.
• Beacon Hill 6" or 8" equatorial reflector. Includes RA drive but not eyepieces.
• Celestron C5-5. Simple, good optics, good mount. Very compact and portable. Good range of available accessories for later upgrade.
• Meade ETX90-EC + Autostar. Even more portable. Possibly the cheapest computerised scope worth considering. You will need a tripod or pier. Lots of accessories available.
• Image-stabilised binoculars. Those who have them say that they have revolutionised their observing!
• Big astro-binoculars such as the Fujinon or Miyauchi.

Over £1000

Possibly not a wise amount to spend on a "starter" telescope, unless your middle name is Croesus. However, if you are certain that this is the hobby for you and you can afford it, try out anything before you buy.

Telescope Retailers

The following are UK retailers of "starter scopes" from whom I have purchased astronomical equipment within the last 3 years, and from whom I would do so again, i.e. those whom I can recommend from my recent personal experience. The absence of a retailer from this list does not imply that it is not reputable; the absence is more likely to be due to my not having purchased anything from that retailer.

• Beacon Hill Telescopes
• David Hinds
• Pulsar Optical
• SCS Astro
• South West Optics
• Venturescope

Reviews

There are reviews of telescopes and other astro kit at:
Sky & Telescope
Cloudy Nights Reviews
Todd Gross's web site
Ed Ting's Reviews

Also, Alastair Thomson collates observing reports from owners of small telescopes on his web site. (Starter scopes are often small.)

Newsgroups and Mailing Lists

The following are useful sources of information on intended purchases. Remember to get more than one opinion – there is a lot of information and opinion on the internet, and some of it is rubbish! However, an advantage of Usenet newsgroups and Internet mailing lists is that there is an element of peer-review in that fallacious statements and unsupportable opinions will be challenged – for this reason it is advisable to verify the information you receive in any private replies that people send you.

• Newsgroups. uk.sci.astronomy and sci.astro.amateur have reasonable signal-to-noise ratios.
• Mailing Lists: There are many at Yahoogroups, some general, such as the [telescopes] list, some slightly more focused, such as the [sct-user] list, and some concentrating on a particular telescope, such as the [80f5] list. To subscribe to a Yahoogroups mailing list, either do it on the web site or send a blank email (without the square brackets), from the address where you want the list mail to be sent, to [groupname]-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
  Subscribe to [telescopes]
  Subscribe to [sct-user]
  Subscribe to [80f5]
  Subscribe to [telescopesuk]
• You could also consult the Telescope Buyers FAQ; it's very US-oriented, but still useful.
• Fraser Farrell's excellent Buying your first telescope in Australia contains a wealth of good advice, much of which is applicable globally.

My thanks go to the following, whose suggestions and constructive criticisms have helped to improve this page:
Peter Hobson
"iciek"
Graham Wood

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