I’m thinking about buying my first telescope but not sure where to start, I’d want something that is gonna be decent quality but not stupid expensive, any got any advice?

I got something similar to this http://telescopes.net/store/s11700-8-inch-sky-watcher-dobsonian.html
at Christmas for the kids. Been awesome:Rings of Saturn, storm on Jupiter, even some Nebulae not to mention then hairs on the arse of the man in the moon.

Yes, just started.

2 tips – join the guys and gals at stargazerslounge.com. UK forum and everyone seems decent. Look at the beginners section and have a good read – loads and loads of good advice.

Also look at astrobuysell.com/uk. Second hand astro site. I got a Skywatcher 150P OTA and and decent mount for £130. New would be at least twice that and have even seen saturn + rings with it. Incredible sight.

If you want to buy new speak to the guys at firstlightoptics.com – widely regarded as the no 1 site for such things and will sell you what you need, not what will make them the most money.

Finally, consider a pair of binoculars as a starting point. A pair of Olympus 10×50 DPS-1’s can be had for around £50 off Amazon and you can see Jupiter’s moons with a set of 10x50s (I know because I have).

Great hobby to get in to but read up on the SGL forums first as it may well save you a load of money on dodgy purchases.

As I say, I am new to the game but feel free to ask me also and I will answer the best I can.

EDIT – and buy a copy of Turn Left at Orion for a great book on what you can see with a small scope and what it will look like and download Stellarium. Free and a fantastic piece of software…

Ditto the pair of binoculars idea (10x50s are a good starting point) but make sure you get a tripod mount for them and a half decent tripod too.. Other ideas are to use a spotting scope and tripod. Both will work very well to get you started and you don’t have to fork our a lot of money on a “proper” telescope right at the start.

Just avoid the cheapo telescopes form Argos or similar. They are sold with very high magnification as a headline figure but don’t have the light gathering or optical performance to make this actually work.

Cheers for the advice, I’ll definitely take it on board, and the forum looks promising!

Just dropped you an email mate. I put a similar thread up on here a few months ago and got loads of good advice. I’m upgrading my telescope and will shortly be selling my current set-up. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send some pics and details over. Cheers.

SGL is the second best forum on the net after this one. Virtually no trolling and some very knowledgeable people happy to share their experience.

Minimum ‘scope you should look at is the Skywatcher 130P Dobsian but a 150P would be much better (I have a 150 and its awesome).

Do get some binoculars too though…