Best Telescope for Beginners

We live in fortunate times!  A 150 mm Reflector Telescope on a Dobsonian mount is a great choice of beginner telescope. And fortunately there is a decent range of these telescopes on the market, which are simple, cheap, and will teach you how to enjoy astronomy. The simplicity part is important, since you want to be able to spend your time looking at the exciting stuff, rather than playing around with the complicated knobs and controls of the mounting device. Beginners need early success, and the 150 mm aperture is big enough to provide a bright image of most of the common celestial objects.  But you could start smaller than 150 mm if you want to keep it lighter and keep the startup costs a little lower.

There are a range of Dobsonian mounted Reflector telescopes manufactured by Meade, Celestron, Orion, and Discovery.  All of these are good and will gives you plenty of astronomical fun.

There are also a great range of refractor telescopes available for beginners around the 60 to 90 mm size, and some of these you will recognise by the same manufacturers, which I also highly recommend.

Be aware that you may find similar telescopes for sale from cheaper sources, but you need to make sure that you buy from a reputable manufacturer, and don’t make your decision solely based on the cost of the telescope.

Cheapest may not be the best!

 

BEST TELESCOPES FOR BEGINNERS

1. Orion XT6 Reflector

Always a winner with Astronomers young or old – Orion make some of best all-round telescopes on the market.  The Orion XT6 offers great visuals, easy to operate, and is reasonably portable.  Great to use in the backyard at your own home, or take with you to get the best advantage of a clear sky.  This is a classic entry-level scope and comes with an amazing low price.  It provides sharp images of the heavens, from the craters of the moon to the outer edges of space. A nice big aperture size, fantastic optics and easy to use – just point and view.  The Orion XT6 features a 150 mm aperture and combined with a 1200 mm focal length to provide you with heaps of available light and fantastic resolution.  You will not regret!

Click Here to read our in depth review of the features of the Orion XT6 Reflector Telescope

best telescopeClick Here to read more about the Orion

XT6 Reflector Telescope at Amazon

2. Orion 9024 AstroView 90mm Equatorial Refractor Telescope

The Orion 9024 Equatorial Refractor Telescope is another excellent entry level telescope, offering fantastic performance at a stunning low price.

With the Orion 9024 AstroView 90 mm Equatorial Refractor Telescope  you can  have the clarity you have always wanted without having to break your bank.  The  remarkable AstroView 90 gives  big views for a  relatively  small investment!    This is a powerful refractor  telescope  featuring a multi coated 90 mm  glass objective lens housed in an enameled aluminum tube , offering a focal length of 910   mm.

The wonderful 90 mm aperture of this telescope provides incredible power of magnification for excellent clear images of the moon, planets and more distant stars.  The package comes with two extra eyepieces, measuring 10 mm and a 25 mm, which are extremely valuable to complete the magnifying powers of this telescope.  On top of all this, you also get a finder scope included with the set to help you locate exactly the right object every time.

Don’t forget, all of this comes with a One-year limited warranty , so you have literally nothing to bother with and no worries to get started with your astronomical hobby.  Now that is great value for a beginner or someone looking to upgrade  to a bigger model telescope.

Click Here to read our in depth review of the features of the Orion 9024 Equatorial Refractor Telescope.

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Click Here to read more about the Orion 9024

Equatorial Refractor Telescope at Amazon

 

3. Orion 09798 StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope 

The Orion 09798 StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope is a really neat package and a great looking telescope!  Be the envy of your friends with this modern and smart looking instrument.  Neat and compact yet powerful enough to give you stunning views of the planets and deep sky objects.  In the case of the Orion StarBlast, it is not the overall size that counts, but rather the aperture size.  The wider the aperture, the more light that can be gathered by the lens, and the better the image can be focused inside the telescope.

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So here is a summary of what this telescope has to offer:

  • We love the Orion 09798 StarBlast telescope because with a 4.5 inch aperture, it magnifies a wide field of view, and allows great observations of the nearby planets and Moon.
  • The Orion is a great all purpose telescope for beginners and for the whole family to use.
  • Offers an easy and practical way to get interested in astronomy
  • A very practical wide field of view, which is great for finding distant objects, and then lets you focus right in for clear imaging
  • The mounting system lets you easily track from one object to the next

Click Here to read our in-depth review of the Orion StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope.

 

4. Meade Instruments Polaris 130 EQ Reflector Telescope

The Meade Instruments Polaris 130 EQ Reflector Telescope is a another fantastic looking telescope! If you are not familiar with the world of astronomy and telescopes, then this telescope is perfect for a beginner, or even as an upgrade to your current scope, and ready to use and easy to assemble.  Neat and compact yet powerful enough to give you stunning views of the heavens.  It comes with everything you need, detailed instructions, eyepieces, tripod, and everything else that a beginner astronomer needs to get started, and no need to purchase other accessories.

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Here is a summary of what this telescope has to offer:

  • Aperture: 130mm (5.1 inches)
  • Focal Length: 650mm
  • Reflector optical design – German Equatorial Mount
  • Red Dot Viewfinder aiming device
  • Three 1.25  inch  Eyepieces (6.3mm,  9mm and  26mm)
  •  Includes Bonus Astronomical Software and Instructional DVD
  • 1 year limited warranty

Click Here to read our detailed review of the Meade Instruments Polaris 130 Reflector Telescope

 

5. Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope

The Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope offers you the dual benefit of being able to view celestial objects with incredible magnification and clarity and you can even use this telescope for viewing over land as well.   That is the bonus of the design of these Newtonian reflector telescopes.  They offer a fantastic wide angle aperture to capture plentiful light, and the image clarity to let you see images from near or far.  The Celestron AstroMaster produces bright, clear images of the Moon and planets. You can even see the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn with one of these telescopes with the magnifying power on offer with this telescope.

What Else Does the Celsestron AstroMaster have to offer?

best telescopeAstroMaster 130EQ – General Features

  • The AstroMaster 130EQ is easy to set and use
  • Easy to use and accurate fine tune adjustments
  • The sturdy mount will help you to track to your pointer location, and easily lock onto your target with simple to use attachments and fasteners
  • Meade instruments are renowned for excellent optical components
  • Excellent clarity of images

Click Here to read our detailed review of the Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope

 

6. Celestron 127EQ PowerSeeker Telescope

 Aspiring astronomers of all ages can explore the wonders of the planets, stars and beyond with this fantastic telescope, the Celestron  127EQ PowerSeeker.  The PowerSeeker series is designed to give the first-time telescope user the perfect combination of quality, value, features as well as magnification power.
The benefit of this telescope package is the ease of set up and the speed with which you can be ready to go.  The last thing we want to be doing is fumbling around in the dark, when we are all excited about watching the stars – and this telescope makes the process simple, for the beginners and experienced alike.

The mounting system on the Celestron 127 EQ is an equatorial style mount which makes a simple design for locating and tracking whatever object you choose.

The Celestron PowerSeekers include a range of eyepieces for varying degrees of magnification, plus a 3 times Barlow lens that provides an increase in viewing power that is truly impressive.

Click Here to read our detailed review of the Celestron  127EQ PowerSeeker Telescope

 

7. Discovery Exclusive Sky & Land SL70 Telescope

Just for something a little left of center, we also thought it would be worth having a look at this different offering from Discovery, which may be aimed at a slightly different market, but interesting to measure up alongside some of the competition.

best telescopeThis highly-rated SL70 Telescope is a great tool for exploration of the world around us.  It has been designed for optimum performance, whether you are viewing the moon, the planets or the spectacles of scenery and the animals right here on Earth.  The most important feature of this telescope is the high quality precision glass lenses made for day or night viewing.  To maximise your viewing pleasure, it comes with 9 mm and 25 mm eyepieces, and will work with any manufacturer’s 1.25 inch eyepieces. To complete the package, the Discovery SL70 telescope comes with a collapsible mounting tripod, easy and compact carrying case.

If you are interested in a test drive, or if you think the Discovery might complement you existing telescope, feel free to read our in depth review – just Click here.

 

 

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