J Waterreus wrote:
These are the two telescopes I'm selling. I'd love to know what your opinion of them is.
(1) Edu Science brand Astrolon Telescope, 402 power. Features: 5X 24mm Finderscope with crosshairs Diagonal viewer 1.5X erecting eyepiece 2.3 Barlow lens Accessory tray Aluminum tripod We bought this telescope at Toys R Us two years ago.
As is normal with "Department Store Scopes" the most important thing (the diameter of the scope) is not mentioned. That's a red fag. They do mention the very unimportant power. Also bad. That I've never heard of the manufacturer doesn't help either. Bottom line, I'm guessing it's not a very good scope.
(2) Saturn Telescope by Meade, model 60EQ-D. Features: 60mm refracting telescope 900 mm focal length, f/15 5X24 viewfinder with 6-point finder bracket rack and pinion focuser metal optical tube slow motion controls High quality, 2-element objective lens with high-transmission coatings Precision equatorial mount accepts optional motor drive, for automatic tracking of sky objects. Fully adjustable aluminum tripod with accessory tray. Equatorial mount with cable controls on both axes. SR4mm, H12.5mm, and H25mm eyepieces 3x Barlow lens The manufacturer is not known for the greatest quality but some of their stuff is ok. Alas, the size (60 mm) is way small. Go to a star party and you rarely see stuff much smaller than 150 mm and most are much bigger. The eyepieces are poor and I suspect the mount and tripod are pretty shaky.
Bottom line, it's probably a bit better than the other one. Using the 25 mm eyepiece without the barlow might give ok views of the Sun (with a proper solar filter) and Moon. And on nights with really good seeing Jupiter and Saturn might be ok. Not much hope for most galaxies and nebulae, though. I suppose you could try and sell them but I'd feel a bit guilty doing that knowing that whomever got them would have the same problems. One thing you might want to consider would be to join SLAS and borrow one of their loaner scopes for a few weeks and maybe have one of the UVAA or SLAS members in your area show you how to use it. All of the loaners are Dobsonians and easy to set up and use. Another thought would be to purchase an inexpensive pair of binoculars. 7x35s are ok, 7x50 are better. And a planesphere (simple, cheap, rotating star finder). Patrick