A Telescope for Every Budget

In this video, we explore different types of telescopes for every budget. There are many types of observers, and it can be a challenge find a telescope to meet your specific needs. This video attempts to find the telescope that’s right for you.

Telescopes for Young Kids (Moon and Planets only):

Telescopes for Kids (Moon and Planets only)

Mount Options for the Skymax:

Telescopes for Kids (For Deep Sky Observing)



Eyepiece Upgrades:

Telescopes for Teens & Adults (Moon & Planets Telescopes)

Telescopes for Teens & Adults (Deep Sky Objects):

For anyone who must observe while sitting or had trouble carrying heavy or awkward gear:

Astrophotography:

ZWO Focuser:

[Kirasdad]

Take it from someone who followed John's advice when I was just getting started in the world of stargazing and astrophotography, he will never steer you wrong! His recommendations are always spot on! Clear skies!!!

[dunringill]

This is a great summary overview video.

[alexthunderle]

I bought the Svbony 20mm 1.25 ocular and SV188P zenith mirror for my 102/1300 SkyMax and I am stunned by the optics quality compared to parts with double or triple times higher price tags. For beginners and kids, these are my first choice followed by the more expensive but still reasonable and amazing quality Omegon Oberon ocular series.

[RainbowCamel]

Thank you for this video, I have a few friends that will benefit from this video a lot!

[georgemorley]

Well, this came a little too late for me - I couldn’t wait and bought a Vixen ED80sf last night. I was out with 10x50 binos on a beautiful night three days ago and saw Jupiter and all the moons, Mars, the Pleiades, Andromeda, the Orion Nebula, and all I could think was “this is great but a telescope would nail this”. Then the night after that, I saw Venus and Saturn and that clinched it. I got the OTA, 20mm and 6mm eyepieces, flip mirror diagonal, porta mount, tripod, finder and case all for £972, that’s 1733 CAD, or 1237 USD. As I’ve already got a Fuji XT1 and T2 adaptor ring, that gives me a way into AP if I want to in the future. I can’t wait to get started! I should say, your chart would have confirmed my choice anyway at about 15:20. Great video!

[MichaelPierce-njnb]

I have a bunch of Svbony accessories: SV220 Dual Narrowband Filter, SV226 Filter Drawer, 2" UV/IR cut filter, Extension Tubes, Dew Heater, Ha 7nm and UHC EOS-C Clip-in Filters. I've had no complaints with the performance of any of them and the prices were unbeatable.

[ziggyfrnds]

Thank you for this excellent informative video! I've been in the hobby for 10+ years and I've always been at a loss to answer question like which telescope to get for beginners, why the one i'm recommending is so expensive, and most of is every retailer out to get us with these inflated prices for those long skinny tubes with just glass in them 😀
Now I can show them your video or give them talking points from you!

[timothymanukian]

I can definitely see why people don't recommend dobs for astrophotography, but I have a virtuoso gti 150p and have had pretty great results with a dslr. The nice thing about the truss tube style dob is you can adjust the length to reach focus. I've had success in capturing deep sky objects and the planets from the city despite all the quirks and issues. It's definitely not a super easy way to get into AP, but it's 1000% doable if you're dedicated enough.

[matthiasschnetzler]

Thank you so much for this video, yours and Cluivs channel are my favorites since my interest for telescopes started. I was always interested in it but thought a good telescope is way too expensive. My 8y daughter got a very cheap telescope as a gift recently and was very disappointed as you only can use it as a binocular more or less. I would love to do some astrophotography, but as it's hard to combine that into one telescope i think i will get a seestar s50 (or dwarf 3) and a celestron starsense explorer Dob 8 or 10. Your video basically confirmed that this would be a good idea, so thanks!

[bassdeff]

This is the new reference video that I will recommend to anybody looking to buy a telescope. I'm just left wondering why the algorithm wait so long before putting your channel in my feed because I watch an unhealthy amount of telescope related videos.

[DavidMFChapman]

I have started seeing those 102 mm refractors from a few years ago appear on the used market for about half price or better. Most were bought and rarely used.

[DMGinc]

Great video as usual. I have few telescopes. TS-Optics 102ED, Bresser Messier 152 Mak. Celestron DX5(my travel buddy).
I always recommend Celestron Starsense DX5. It's relatively cheap, lightweight and extremely good travel telescope, also for beginner it's easy to use and you don't have to know anything about the night sky to used it efficiently. Dobs are good, but if you are a bigger person or have some challenges moving, horrible choice. Computer mounts can be good, but they also can have problems.

[Aarón--astro]

I like how you make finding the best telescope very easy

[jongroubert]

As someone who works for a telescope store, the reason why everything is always the same price - and the sales are always the same - is because the pricing is controlled by the manufacturers. This is called MAP pricing, and each retailer has to agree with it to be able to sell the gear.

[FirstPlaceAutoParts]

fyi, For youtube to break down a video into chapters you actually have to putthe segment time stamps with a chapter title inthe discription

[waynewheaton]

John, a fantastic video! Next time anyone asks me for a scope recommendation, I'm pointing them to this video. I picked up an AD8 dob for $599, it's a great value. The S50 is a game changer if you ask me. It's like the Sony Walkman of telescopes.

[DudokX]

So for SVBONY, I have their diag mirror and the set of gold line eyepieces 20, 15, 9, 6 mm which for cheap provide me with everything I need for my cheap 90mm bresser refractor. Of course, much better than the garbage that comes with the telescope. No matter what I want to observe: Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Albireo, Andromeda, Pleiades etc. I have eyepiece to have a comfortable view.

[xBassthh]

Hi John. The phone adaptor named “tridaptor 3-axis “ that is sold at Amazon works very well. It can hold 2” eyepiece’s and is very stable.

[PhillipHaycraft]

Love the videos! Keep up the great work!

[Learn_astronomy]

Him taking these INCREDABLE pics while i am taking crappy pics and still being happy about it😅