Quote:
Originally Posted by aphelion
Hi all,
I know this may be a boring question, but I've been reading about telescopes for about 3 days now and need some human input. I'm wanting a telescope for beach and wildlife views - the house is about 400m away from the ocean with trees in between where koalas, parrots, kookaburras abound 
I've looked into refractors, reflectors etc and understand the differences.. I take it a refractor is a good terrestrial scope and a bad celestial scope, and the reflector is a good celestial scope and bad terrestrial scope? The thing is, I come across so many bad reviews of the refractors I feel like maybe I shouldn't get one- the last thing I want is a flimsy thing with lots of chromatic distortion etc..
I guess what I'm asking is how stupid is it to consider a reflector for what will be an almost full-time terrestrial scope?
P.S. I may have become hooked on the celestial gazing just by reading all of your posts!!
Best,
Andrew.
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Excuse me fellas but Andrew is asking about a scope for terrestial use! Now, perhaps he is vaguely interested in astronomy or perhaps he's not; but let's respect his basic intellect and provide him with an answer to his question!
Andrew, the suggestion re binoculars is a good one (and also assuages the emotions of my fellow AA's in this thread, whose subconscious tendencies to convert everyone to our cause gets the better of them!) Quite reasonable binoculars can be purchased for around that price (check out Andrews Communications website for starters) and will, as someone said, double for night sky delights viewing if the appropriate pair are chosen. As well as optics, issues such as weight are relevant in choosing a pair.
Secondly no - your assumption that refractors are bad for astronomy but ........etc....etc is completely wrong: however, because of their optical system (where the viewer points at an object and looks at it via the other end) they are much more "user-friendly" as terrestial scopes. If it is an astronomical job, it will still require a "imaging corrector " device in the optical train (easily acquired) but of course you will be able to find many refractors that are made specifically for terrestial viewing ("spotting scopes" etc.)
"Avoid the supermarket types" is a good maxim, but for around $200 some very reasonable terrestial/spotting scopes can be purchased - most of these will have an objective (main, the front one) lens of 50-70mm diameter and a magnification (power) of between 10x and 30x.
These come with either a short or full-length tripod with a simple alt/azimuth mount and would be quite adequate for just about all your needs. I note that Andrews have a couple in that price range - a Skywatcher 70mm and 80mm achromatics primarily for astronomy (no mention of a correct image prism but they list them for $29 extra) or a Long Perng spotting scope (terrestial) with 60mm objective lens and angled eyepiece (which makes the viewing position more comfortable) that are all under or within your price parameters.
Cheers, Darryl.