New Telescope for Beginner

zAbbo

Looking for information for Girlfriend, whos looking for her first time telescope. Not sure on what to get, where to get and how much to pay. Ive been looking at the http://www.astronomy.ie/ website, but doesnt give enough info on how good each telescope is.

Where are the best places to buy?

Thanks for all info

Saruman

One of the firstscopes like the firstscope 80eq is a good bet for a first time buy. not so expensive that if you dont use it much its wasted.
I have one myself, if you want i can sell it and get something bigger. Im not too bothered though.

albertw

Hi,

Originally posted by bazH Looking for information for Girlfriend, whos looking for her first time telescope. Not sure on what to get, where to get and how much to pay. Ive been looking at the http://www.astronomy.ie/ website, but doesnt give enough info on how good each telescope is.

Their website unfortunately isn't the greatest guide for telescopes or prices.

There are many guides online about telescopes. But here are three:
http://www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/viewFiles.php?folder_id=3 The latest issue of Arcturus has an article on choosing a telescope.
http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/firstscope.htm from uk.sci.astronomy faq
http://www.astunit.com/faq/binocular.htm from uk.sci.astronomy.faq

Also have a look on www.irishastronomy.org and see if you are near an astronomy club where you can go along and chat to people about scopes.

Where are the best places to buy?

Based purely on price comparisons I'd advise not to buy from astronomy.ie (www.irishastronomy.com has a price comparison).

In Ireland you have:
Andromeda Optics - www.andromedaoptics.com
North Down Telescopes - http://www.mccreaa.freeserve.co.uk/

For the UK, your best bet is to pick up a copy of Astronomy Now in Easons.

Cheers,
~Al

edit; got URLS's wrong...

zAbbo

Thanks for all the info, I`ll relay this onto my GF, and will hopefully make a more informed decision now. We got a standard email from astronomy.ie, claiming that they were the biggest and best etc. in Ireland