TelescopeChoice.com

Beginners Telescopes for Christmas

In a rush and trying to buy a decent telescope for a beginner this Christmas? I’d still recommend you read my articles or the page here on telescopes for beginners but if you are really keen to cut to the chase on some recommendations, here are my picks for Christmas:

Please note if you live outside the US you might find these scopes are not shipped to your country, in Australia for instance you would be best to talk to a local supplier like Telescope.com.au. You can however get the budding astronomer some amazing Astronomy Books and DVDs shipped to Australia at prices that cannot be beaten. With exchange rates as they are and no GST on imports of up to A$1,000 its never been a better time to get Astronomy Books from Amazon for Australians!

If you live in or near a city, have limited storage room or need a telescope to just grab and use on a whim I’d recommend a refractor of up to 90mm aperture:

If you live in a good dark sky location or are going to travel there often with your telescope, I’d recommend a reflector of up to 130mm:

If on the other hand you live in a good dark sky location, can lug a bit of bulk around the yard and don’t have storage concerns then I’d go with the biggest Dobsonian I could manage:

Why do I recommend Amazon for USA based purchasers? Simple, you have peace of mind and speedy delivery as well as highly discounted prices, its unlikely you’ll do better than this at other sites or in the shops!