To ask about Cheap telescopes

[girlontherun]

I'm looking for a cheap starter telescope for a Christmas present, something that can fascinate us and help us decide if we want to invest in a more expensive better one

obviously though I'd like a cheap good one, but I literally have no idea where to start, what to look for or anything! If anyone has any experience I would be highly grateful

Well there is cheap and there is cheap. Anything that comes from a toy shop or gadget shop etc is the wrong end of cheap. The optics will be useless, and will probably have no tracking mechanism.

To make it worth buying you need to look at a specialist shop, or at the very least a photography supplier. The cheap ones there are probably not what you might be thinking of as cheap.

N.B. Being able to track the stars is important - they move! At magnification they move quite fast. And not just a left right/up down but on an arc. The best types have a motorised drive which keeps the stars in sight - you can get great long exposure photos. Obviously you are looking at quite an investment for that.

The alternative is to start with binoculars which are easier and can also be used for birdwatching - we have a telescope but it's quite a pita to set up.

We have a semi decent one. I think from memory it was about £600 a few years ago. Its a right PITA. You have to be serious about it because it needs calibrating and also needs to adjust to the temperature if you are taking it outside. As a result it is used mainly as a clothes horse.

Agree that tracking is very important. Things move so quickly.

Another vote for starting with binoculars.
Easy to use, portable, immediate results when you point at the sky.

Do not buy a cheap one at all.... Seriously don't think you can short cut this.

You need to visit First Light Optics and speak to them on the phone, best shop in the country.

Ask about

SLT 127
Celestron 4GE
Skywatcher 200

Do not buy one from Amazon, Jessica, pc world..

Visit stargazerslounge.com

Expect £400 as an outlay on a starter setup...

You have a choice of optical power or tracking.... You won't get both at this level.

All the best.

We bought a mid priced one from Jessops. It is fairly useless tbh. I wish we had just bought DD some decent binoculars instead because it takes up too much room in our tiny house.

Mid-priced from jessops?

A mid priced proper scope is £1000+ and then you'll need a mount...

No offense but what jessops sells are plastic toys, they hurt Astronomy more then help as they piss people off and turn them off stargazing.

Maybe binoculars on a stand would be the best place to start OP

We bought a Celestron 127 as a starter, can't remember how much it was, but it was expensive enough for that size. Tbh, bigger would have been better.

But, I've seen the moons of Jupiter through it - magical.

If you go the binoculars route, how about a tripod to mount them on? I don't know about anyone else, but I can barely keep them still enough to look through!

A tripod is a must for binos

I don't mind the 127, I like that it makes newbies use an eq mount.

My first scope was a 10inch dobsonian, looked like I was having my coffin delivered

Gemma

Ours is a skywatcher dobsonian. Its blooming enormous and heavy.

You will need a book or something otherwise you won't be able to make head nor tail of it IME.