Which Telescope Should You Buy First?

I discuss the 4 main categories of telescope and who they are appropriate for. Hopefully it helps you with your first telescope purchase which WILL be wrong. And that's ok :)

Here is the written guide to this video with examples and links to good telescopes from each category :

SPONSORED by BINTEL - The Binocular and Telescope Shop, Sydney Australia.

Minor correction : I said "chromatic aberration" for Dobs when I should have said "spherical aberration" (coma). The point is the same though. :)

Dylan's Telescopes, Cameras & Equipment
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Celestron RASA 8" Telescope

Celestron CGX Mount

Celestron RASA F2 11" Telescope

Celestron 11" Edge HD

ZWO ASI 183MC

ZWO ASI 174MM

ZWO ASI 120MM

Celestron 0.7x reducer for 9.25” Edge HD

Celestron 9.25” Edge HD

Canon 6D mkII DSLR

Tokina 16-28mm Lens

Dylan’s links
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Intro Music - "Moving the Ocean (Aerologic Edit)" by Blastculture.

[Sabre]

I stopped the video at 1:00 and bought the hubble.... best 45 million i spent!!!

[bustedrav]

Man, with no friends I'm halfway to pro astronomer already!

[stevetonkin]

Unusual, but refreshing take on it; thank you. One query: at 3:18-ish you mention chromatic aberration as an issue for Newts. How? Did you mean spherical aberration?

I sometimes use a medium-sized (40cm) fast Dob on a tracking platform - lots of coma, but not CA (which needs a dispersive element like a lens).

[mgmcd]

I have also recommended binoculars as a first scope for people to learn the sky. My binoculars are Leica 10x50, but I recommend tripod mounted 15x80 or thereabouts. Also, table mounted mini-dobs are good, too. My first mount is an eq.

[TxCwby]

Cannot wait to open the dome again in Hutto, TX! Changing the course of one’s life is no understatement! And, Dylan, you hit on a BIG point in your 4th category: complexity. Not to dissuade a single soul, but the path from visual observing to astronomy science, observation and photography is laden with SW manuals, endless shelves of books, and and a severe limitation to one’s vocabulary, which will be reduced to, “Oh WOW!”, and calling out into the darkness, “Look at that!”
Good video, Dylan! Appreciate the different angle to answering the most asked question at star parties!

[googledude]

I bought the first one. The one on the hill - thanks for helping out

[johnbarry]

this is a great channel and everything he says I agree, but I want to add something, and that is ease of use/portability. I was set on an EQ mount (the C9.25 AVX), reading reviews, watching vids on YT ... but having never seen one in person when I got to the telescope shop, it was a shock to realize how truly BIG this thing is. I ended up with the Evo C8 due to the difference in portability and weight. Note the AVX mount is the lightest of all the popular EQ mounts and still I think it weighs 60 lbs on its own. The Evo mount is about 20 lbs... and that includes a built in battery, no need to tug a separate power box and cord. For those who live where there is no view (my apartment!) and must transport the scope to use it (up and down a flight of stairs in my case), this needs to be considered seriously.

[marcelpost]

@7:26 one of the best things my parents did for me was send me to a telescope-build weekend when I was about 10. With a great bunch of enthusiasts we built several 60x900mm doublet refractors somewhere in the late 1970s. Tripod was a heavy wooden alt-az, the tube was just pvc pipe but the lenses were very good. Getting to know like-minded people from all ages at such an early age triggered a curiosity about science and the universe that I am still excited about almost 5 decades later.

[DonGoddardAllAboutPaint]

I'm already holding a sign on the corner that reads "Will work for eyepieces and ZWO cameras."

[alainmaury]

3:18 : Dobsonian, problems of chromatic aberration ? Interesting to have you explain that... They just don't. Same, don't see why they would have problems with "clarity".

[dab]

"it was good enough for Galileo" LOL

[spacetraveler]

I started astronomy 1 year ago and I've now got 3 telescopes. I got bord with my first small starter scope real quick. I then got an expensive goto mount and scope but got sick of the set up time and polar alignment. Now I just use a big dob and scan the sky. I love it. I will say tho, get rid of the crap eye pieces that come with scope and buy good ones. The difference is amazing.

[muzzy]

Well put and to the point. My first was a 4" Newtonian, then I went straight to a 5" Mak. I would spend all night outside with a star chart finding the Messier subjects...loved it! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After that it was a CPC 800...mind blown. Lol. Now along with the CPC 800, I'm back to an HEQ5 Pro and an 80ED CF scope for astrophotography. It's never boring and the images you can get for yourself are extraordinary. It is true however that a good scope is one you use the most. Cheers Dylan.

[stefanschneider]

JUST PERFECT! I guess you just added some more points that might help me in the process of getting my wife accepting that I definitely need a new mount for my Celestron NexStar 6SE, since capturing the faint light of far galaxies is what I am most interested in! She prefers taking pictures of our dog or going through all we captured last year when we were last alllowed to travel to the maldives as a family ... clear skies!

[shanecreamer]

I also think that forming a relationship with your local telescope shop is a *huge* learning and frustration saver.

Good shops are willing to have bi-weekly telescope nights where you can get questions answered, see gear you are INTERESTED in use. And usually encourage you to bring your scope at night to have them show you the ropes.

For me in Arizona that company is Starizona. When my SCT 14" had focus issues, and my CGX-L mount had stiction issues I drove it over, they performed over $800.00 of warranty work for free. Now my scope is sharp as a tack and my GoTo tracking is dead on.

And they had a clinic where I learned polar alignment speed tips, how to make all of your eyepieces parafocally the same by attaching focus rings to them, and which apps to use.

Avoid spending hours reading forum posts that are confusing and frustrating by yourself. Find a good local astronomy club.

Thanks for great videos Dylan. Subscribed!

[heuben]

Good to see an aussie astronomy channel.awesome video, just got our daughter a Celestron 90mm refractor with the wifi Goto, and she is hooked. And I think I am too. Her mind was blown when she seen the rings of saturn. Looking forward to many more clear nights. People, get your kids a telescope.

[HerbsmanRevs]

My first 'scope was the SkyWatcher 127mm Maksutov on AZ mount. I was disappointed with how dim the image was at the time. But it was a great basic setup for planetary and lunar imaging and a great starting point.

[astrospeedcuber]

As someone who got an SCT on an eq mount as their first telescppe I have to say that there was a pretty big learning curve, but its really good for planets and the large aperture is great too.

[daemon]

Nice that this focused on the mounts rather than optical assembly. I'd suggest a supplement briefly visiting what focal length ranges are most suitable for which categories of objects, since this seems to be one of the biggest sources of confusion and disappointment for beginners, especially those who want to photograph.

[jhcali]

I went with a Newt on an EQ mount after receiving a very basic refractor for Christmas last year. I’ve spent all my discretionary funds, just upgraded to an astrograph, and am now taking images with a quality I used to love seeing in science books when I was a child. Love the content on your channel, it has helped with my nightly imaging adventures. Clear skies