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spotting scope or telescope

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  • 06-12-2005 11:11pm
    #1
    Beno
    Registered Users Posts: 215 ✭✭


    I am new to this sort of thing and i am looking into buying a scope. Wasn't sure where to post but i kinde guess you know a bit about these things

    I have a great view from my house (if i do say my self) and i was wondering what type of scope would suit me best.I would use it to look at the saltiees islands 10 miles away, the neighbours back garden 3miles away and any ships that may pass my way(the QE2 came past once). Which would be better suited to my needs a spotting scope or a telescope

    I've had a look around looking at a few scopes but apart from the lense size and the magnification its all french to me. What brands do i go for and which ones do i avoid €200max
    Any help much apriciated

    is the lidl one any good?


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    #2
    slade_x
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 1,425 Mod ✭✭✭✭slade_x


    Beno wrote:
    I am new to this sort of thing and i am looking into buying a scope. Wasn't sure where to post but i kinde guess you know a bit about these things

    I have a great view from my house (if i do say my self) and i was wondering what type of scope would suit me best.I would use it to look at the saltiees islands 10 miles away, the neighbours back garden 3miles away and any ships that may pass my way(the QE2 came past once). Which would be better suited to my needs a spotting scope or a telescope

    I've had a look around looking at a few scopes but apart from the lense size and the magnification its all french to me. What brands do i go for and which ones do i avoid €200max
    Any help much apriciated

    is the lidl one any good?

    Such a telescope is best suited to looking up because of autostar and a go to drive and so is deemed an astrotelescope, you are paying more for automation and ease of observing celestial content really, for your purpose you are definitely looking at a refractor type telescope anyway which can get very very expensive for wider apertures (basically bigger diameter lenses (refractor ranges - 60,70,80,90,100,120 and 150mm) for maximum light gathering capacity - although there are other factors to consider also ie. focal length and the ratio as just a big wide diameter telescope would not serve its purpose for quality or clarity), but refractors do have a limited aperture. the wider refractor you get depending will provide a wider view and also carry better quality images depending on its focal range for distances
    you may also want to consider a good set of *binoculars*, which would server you very well also

    If it has to be a Telescope then the other Telescope that lidl offers would be more suited to your needs, i even have another telescope here with me, that i would deem a hobbyscope, its a 60mm refractor(i wont bore you with specs) which when i first started "stargazing" yeaars ago, it came in very handy to view terrestrial content ie. mountain crests, scenery and such from very very long distances, as it was way too frustrating to use for anything else other than staring at the moon, hence i invested in bigger and better.. but even such a spec telescope would match your needs, although nowadays €200 will open up a lot of very good quality refractor type telescopes for you, especially given your application

    For your budget you can pick up an excellent refractor for what you want to do and even if your needs change a quality refractor can still serve you well for other purposes, although the same can be said for a good set of binoculars

    also note for a telescope the right type of mount can be more important/ or IS more important than other factors, the best mount for you purpose would be an equatorial mount definitely, not neccessarily a german equatorial mount as you would really need it, if your not picky you can get away with whats known as an altitude azimuth (alt-azimuth) mount which is basically the typical mount for a camera tripod which has two axes of rotation, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis

    A good site to browse
    http://www.telescopes.com/
    as in product description it can give you an idea of its recommended usage

    Lidl's other offer:
    http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20051212.p.Refractor

    As for brands most will recommend Meade and Celestron, such brands you will find at the link i added above

    I have to say though i am more inclined to recommed binoculars for such a purpose
    Again on the address i provided above you can read user reviews of some of the binoculars they have to offer and also serve to inform you on price ranges

    Finally a telscope that boasts magnification should not sell you, as good telescopes arent sold for their mag spec, but the sum of their overall specifactions/ features

    Edit: typo's


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