Cheap Telescopes
We see so many people searching for cheap telescopes but do they really know what they are letting themselves in for? Unfortunately when it comes to telescopes ‘cheap’ all too often equals ‘cheap and nasty’.
Those cheap telescopes you see at department stores should be avoided at any price. They are made of inferior materials and are so hard to get a focus on anything with, that they will only turn you off your budding interest in astronomy. It is incredibly frustrating seeing well meaning parents buy these things for children when by talking to someone knowledgeable they could actually have a much better telescope for not a geat deal more in price.
Its largely the same with the cheap telescopes you see on ebay. Steer clear of any supplier talking about 200x magnification or somesuch. Telescopes (good ones) are not sold on their magnification power, they are sold on their ability to resolve detail in whatever it is you are observing.
The key to resolution is aperture and the quality of the optics, the more of each you have the greater the ability of your telescope to produce a good result.
Now if you are price driven and need to find a cheap telescope without the nasty quality, take a look at the bagains from Amazon we’ve listed on this site, you’ll find some decent refractor and reflector telescopes which won’t break the bank.