#BEST BUDGET TELESCOPE FOR BEGINNERS PORTABLE#

To dispel any disillusions about portability, it weighs a light 12 lbs (approx.) but has a long tube of 34”. You can get into instant terrestrial observation since Meade includes an erect image diagonal. However, for visual use, it’ll work fine for casual observations. The bad: it’s too light-duty to do anything serious with it. What’s the deal with the mount? The good: it’s a simple AZ mount with slow-motion controls for fine adjustments to the telescope’s aim on an object. With a fast focal ratio of f/6, you’ll be able to achieve a good field of view to catch some of the larger deep space objects. The 102 mm/4” aperture is plenty big enough to start earning some experience in DSO observation. But, don’t get your expectations too high as there is still some color fringing and mediocre accessories will exaggerate the effect. This is a good thing to see since one of those elements should help with chromatic aberration (CA) correction. This telescope is an achromatic refractor – it has two elements that make up the objective lens. But, if you’re all about quality in the tube and mount, the Orion telescope delivers. You will need to put aside some of the budget to get quality replacements. What decreases value slightly are the included eyepieces. One downside is that the base cannot be mounted to a tripod, so it must be placed atop a flat and solid surface like a table.

#BEST BUDGET TELESCOPE FOR BEGINNERS PORTABLE#

Usually, these setups are heavy, but since it’s a tabletop design with a small-ish aperture for a Newtonian, it’s very lightweight and an extremely portable telescope. It comes with an alt-azimuth mount with a wood base. Since it’s an inexpensive option, it would be nice to have a collimatable primary mirror and a collimatable primary mirror it has. Due to its fast specs, it must have a parabolic mirror and a parabolic primary mirror it has – this is essential for clarity and sharpness. What the extra hundred bucks get you in this tabletop Newtonian is optical quality. Immediately, this is a telescope that is good for wide fields of view with excellent low to medium power performance. The StarBlast has a 4.5” aperture with a fast focal ratio of f/4. Since we all must start somewhere and with a budget, let’s get into which telescopes would make great starters for the money. Don’t be surprised to find yourself owning more than one telescope over your lifetime.

As you advance with telescope use, you will come to find that it no longer meets or is suited to your developing astronomy goals. Pulling the trigger on a budget telescope today does not mean you’re tied to it for life. Regardless, the question of, “Are there any good telescopes that I can afford?” comes to mind. Many looking for an affordable telescope are doing so to save money or stay within a tight budget for multiple reasons.

However, this does not mean “cheap” in the sense of “junk.” Junk would be a department store telescope that’s nothing more than a toy and brags of outrageous claims to lure a buyer into inevitable disappointment. What does “affordable” mean? Inexpensive reasonably priced. You may become confused to find the telescopes in this lineup vary between $100-$400 – this was done intentionally.

Best budget telescope for beginners