Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato1
If I were you, I'd be looking here and at Ebay for a second hand 6" or 8" dob. Kids have a habit of losing interest quickly. Alternatively any sort of short focal length 80mm to 100mm refractor, would be good - it will always be handy for the bigger brighter objects, even if he gets a bigger telescope later. And if he abandons the hobby, it is still useful for looking at things during the day
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Good advice on the short FL 80-100 refractor. They are quite cheap yet surprisingly effective. My 80mm f5, which is usually my guider scope is also my grab and go on an Alt\Z tripod. No collimation required, easy setup. One of those and a few EPs will get you started for probably a few hundred dollars and will always be useful for even land based viewing with an erecting diagonal.
The ED80 is a similar scope but with special glass elements to reduce chromatic aberration (coloured edges). Very good for imaging but also quite expensive by comparison. For the afficianado it is the way to go but for starting astro nuts a bit of overkill IMHO.
And if the bug really bites and you get an ED80 or similar later then the 80f5 becomes a guide scope anyway, so no loss.
And they hold their value quite well.
My 2c's anyway
