Telescope - buying advice

[Bangers]

Considering buying a telescope as a gift, budget is £500. I know absolutely nothing about them. Any recommendations please?

[barneygumble]

Considering buying a telescope as a gift, budget is £500. I know absolutely nothing about them. Any recommendations please?

I did this over ten years ago, so the advice is a bit hazy in my memory, but IIRC correctly the best bang for buck would be a dobsonian reflector telescope. I got an 8 inch one. You get amazing pictures of the moon through it - you need sunglasses it is so bright. If you are more interested in planets, you might be better with off with a refracting telescope - these will magnigy less for the money, but are better suited at giving you a picture of a planet for reasons I don't recall. And I think the reflector should be better for galaxies and stars (assuming the same spend, I think).

Ah, here's a decent quick guide:https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/a...r-first-scope/

[Matt M]

I can recommend Rother Valley Optics who I've found to be super helpful if you wanted to have a chat about options.

[guinea]

Considering buying a telescope as a gift, budget is £500. I know absolutely nothing about them. Any recommendations please?

What does the recipient want to look at?

[Bangers]

What does the recipient want to look at?

Guessing a 50/50 split between daytime use and night use.

[reggie747]

Guessing a 50/50 split between daytime use and night use.

You know her name yet ?

[Rinaldo1711]

You know her name yet ?

😎

[guinea]

Guessing a 50/50 split between daytime use and night use.

These use cases aren't really aligned.

You'd be better off with a spotting scope for daytime/scenery viewing and a telescope for looking at the night sky.

Or a good pair of binoculars which can cover both applications a bit easier.

[jwg663]

Good thread, OP.

It's definitely something you need to look into

(Groans welcome!)

[Phil Lee]

If you want to do double duty you’d be better off with binoculars. Spotting scopes are very different from Astro scopes.

[sundial]

Binoculars are suitable for both day and night use and £500 would buy a superb s/h high end bino ... Remember that when buying a bino you are acquiring TWO telescopes (one for each eye) which will provide you with a 3D image (when set up properly) ... a telescope is not a 3D imaging instrument

No telescope is really fully suitable for both day and night use

If buying as a gift for someone else, he / she really needs to try them before you purchase ... there is no 'one size fits all' when buying a binocular or telescope ... best to visit a dealer .. or if you are serious about buying an astro telescope, attend a local star party organised by a local astronomy club ... where you will be able to try various types of astro observing 'scopes.

If buying new binoculars, avoid cheap Chinese models ... most are 'very average' and not worth buying ... and many are made in the same factory regardless of brand name

If unable to visit a dealer and in urgent need of a good binocular, consider buying a Pentax 6x21 Papilio ... it's a safe buy .. wide field of view and excellent close focus ... and ££reasonable ... I have lots of different binoculars but the Papilio is one of my most used because it's so compact ... and it's close focus for observing butterflies / dragonflies is amazing.

Other TZ-ers also use the Papilio

dunk