Telescopes
Buying Your Own Tele
scope
There are so many choices but so little information in your world for choosing an optical instrument that this is a daunting task. Only the most ambitious of devoted sky watchers will undertake the journey so we want to help you succeed in this.
Where to buy? It is hard to say what a company or store will have to fit your needs, but it can be said, almost universally, that you should not buy a scope from a department store or liquidator catalog like those that offer steep discounts and come every month to your mailbox.
One of the most candid guides to scope buying is available on the internet. The Heretic’s Guide to Choosing and Buying Your First Telescope. Michael Edelman suggests… wisely.. that a small budget could be better invested: “You’d be far better off to spend your money on a pair of 7×50 binoculars and subscriptions to Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines.”
Some good sources of information:
- Sky and Telescope magazine’s web site
- Space.com telescope buying tips