tesco telescope bargain?

haddock22

just seen this in tesco is it a good one at a good price for xmas?.Details
science tech 675 reflector telescope
precision reflecting mirror dia 76 mm
focal length 900mm
eyepiece 20mm12.5mm 4mm
barlow lens 3x
finderscope 6x25mm
includes stand
£49.97

vicsmic

Yeah I saw one last night and wondered the same!

Same scope is available from towerhobbies.com, but for 73.99 so it does seem a bargain!

Nile

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hopefulfooluk

What are you going to be using it for?

rjm2k1

It's probably ok, I bought a different one from ALDI a year or so ago for about 35 quid. Works fine, but with the more powerful lenses the grain of the mirror starts to show, but at the end of the day you get what you pay for and it will allow a casual user to do plenty of observing.

moneyman4u

hopefulfooluk wrote:

What are you going to be using it for?

To make far away things look closer?

hopefulfooluk

moneyman4u wrote:

To make far away things look closer?

Yeah no surprises there

What I was getting at is that if you are looking at things where colour definition is important, the cheaper scopes aren't as good as more expensive ones as you normally get a lot of chromatic abberration around the edge of the object you're viewing, making the colours less real. So for example, wildlife observation and identification can be harder with a scope that has a lot of CA.

If it's just for looking at the night sky it should be fine.

thor

Actually it is recommended that a reflector with a mirror greater than 150mm be used for astronomy. Patrick Moore rubbishes small scopes like this and suggests that you get a pair of binoculars instead

speedyjoe

Without looking it's hard to say but, the spec is poor, the mirror is very small, a refracting telescope of that size could be quite useful but not a reflector. Also supermarket scopes tend to be rubbish. If I had to make a bet on whether it was worth it or it was cr*p I would bet on the latter.

There has though for the past couple of years been an exception to the "supermarket scopes are rubbish" rule. Lidls have sold every November a 70mm Meade/Bresser refracting telescope which is actually quite useable. I bought one last year and it is actually quite good, given the limited aperture size, even the mount was very suprisingly good. Whether they will have them again this year is anyone's guess.

Some guides that may be useful:


http://findascope.com/
http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/articles/firstscope.html
http://www.r-clarke.org.uk/starting_astro1.htm
http://www.scsastro.co.uk/library/beginners%20telescope%20guide.pdf

twinkle48_2

Try http://telescopehouse.co.uk
they have some excellent entry level telescopes, are happy to give advice over the phone and in my experience their service is always superb.

speedyjoe

speedyjoe wrote:

There has though for the past couple of years been an exception to the "supermarket scopes are rubbish" rule. Lidls have sold every November a 70mm Meade/Bresser refracting telescope which is actually quite useable. I bought one last year and it is actually quite good, given the limited aperture size, even the mount was very suprisingly good. Whether they will have them again this year is anyone's guess.

Sadly it appears that Lidl's have decided not to sell the £50 70mm astronomical refractor this year. They do though have a 90mm terrestrial spotting scope for £99.99, which whilst not ideal for observing the heavens would certainly fulfil a casual interest. It would have the added benefit of being ideal for nature watching and so would certainly be more useful to most users. If it is of the same quality of previous Bresser/Meade optical equipment sold in Lidls then it will be excellent value for money.

Another item of note are the 10X50 binoculars for £9.99, I bought a pair last year and will be buying another two pairs this year, one for the potting shed and one for the car. Absolutely stunning quality for the money and ideal for any astronomy beginners.