Welcome To Telescope Reviews!
Imagine being able to look up to the night sky and have everything brought hundreds or thousands of times closer to you, imagine being able to see the intricate details of the moon, planets and star constellations. Imagine being able to look at distant landscapes as if they were right in front of you. Well that’s just two of the many benefits that a telescope will offer you!
I’ve been using telescopes for over 6 years now and have loved every minute of it. I’ve mostly viewed the night sky and seen some amazing sights, if you are here at our website then you are probably looking for telescope reviews and the right model for you.
There are a lot of factors to consider, but let’s start with the basics…..
One thing that should be noted straight out the gate, is that with telescopes you get what you pay for, if you want anything decent then you are going to need a decent budget, maybe $400 upwards to start. Smaller, cheaper scopes will certainly get you started but don’t expect too much!
My first telescope was cheap and although I was able to see the moon closer up, for everything else it was pretty much useless. It’s worth spending the extra money. If you are gonna go cheap on a telescope then you might be better off buying some binoculars. Cheap telescopes will often provide a poor viewing experience and distorted images.
If you have a budget of $400-$800 then you might want to look at 60mm refractors and reflectors scopes, they will be a good place to start and offer you a good viewing experience. Over and above that price point you can start to look at higher quality and high tech telescopes that are motorized or even computer controlled so they can track stars and constellations.
Magnification – This is something that’s easy to get hung up on, many people want to go for the biggest magnification they can but this isn’t always the best option. If you walk into a shop and someone tries to sell you a telescope that’s $200 but they keep telling you its 400x magnification they are talking bull. There’s no way any low or mid range telescope could provide any worthwhile viewing experience at that magnification level.
At a lower magnification of say 32x, you can still see a lot. You will be able to see some great detail on the moon on a good viewing night, plus see Jupiter, Saturn and the rings. The image will be quite small, but crisp and sharp. If you can afford a 50x magnification then you will get a larger image and slightly more detail.
Once you get into 100x + you will be seeing a lot more detail, but it’s important to remember that with a basic telescope the more magnification, the dimmer the image gets and possibly you will even experience fuzziness due to atmospheric turbulence.
After a hot day for example over cities the heat rises and can cause your telescope image to ‘swim’ in and out of focus. A high magnification will accentuate this problem. So whilst magnification is important, it’s not everything at the lower end of the price range!
Refractor or Reflector? – These are the two most common types of telescopes and probably you will begin with one of these, so let’s look briefly at how they work…..
A reflector scope uses a primary mirror and a secondary mirror to bounce the light that comes through the lens. It’s a very simple concept and therefore cheaper to buy. A 4.5” reflector would be considered a good ‘starting’ scope.
A refractor scope is the most commonly thought of, but unlike the reflector scope, it does not have an open end, it’s a sealed tube! There is a lens at one end that concentrates the light straight into the eyepiece on the scope body. You will normally find the refractor will be a better performer and 60mm is a good size to get started with.
When it comes to actually purchasing your telescope you are better off looking at a specialised online or high street store. There are some great discounts available online but make sure you know exactly what you’re getting, you can also check out the USA magazine ‘Sky and Telescope’ to find some good suppliers.
So there are the basics to get started. Feel free to look around our telescope reviews and find the perfect telescope for you and we hope you enjoy your telescope as much as we enjoy ours!