Just starting to look into getting a telescope predominately for the kids but will probably use it a little for myself as well, just looking for a cheapie to see if it will be used and spending up to $200ish but if I can find something suitable or used for cheaper then I would be more than happy.
Came across this one on gumtree but as I have only just started looking I dont really know what I am looking at.
Sometimes it pays to spend a bit more and then if it doesn't get used there is still a good resale value. Lots of cheap stuff out there because it has no resale value.
The absolute best value in astronomy is a Dobsonian reflector. They're cheap and their solid wooden base is much more stable than the wobbly tripods you get with other designs.
At the $40 price it said it would probably have one use, to teach someone not to buy cheap scopes!
At 76mm aperture it will not show much, just the moon, the rings of Saturn will be visible and some bands on Jupiter. For deep sky, only the brighter objects and not much detail in those! Only good thing I can say about these little 76mm altaz scopes for beginners is that at least they are not on an EQ mount.
Save your cash and wait for a good second hand 8" dob to come up for sale or get a brand new one.
Providing it's collimated correctly, you can get nice views of the brighter planets and the moon. But it probably has a lousy finder, and that mount will be difficult to use on anything else. I suspect you'll have a tough time with it - but then again, $40 is only the price of a bottle of Scotch.
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