refractor or reflector scope which to buy?

[HypothesisTesting]

Ok,
I currently own a cheap 4" reflector scope that to be honest i'm not happy with. I have been looking at buying an Astromaster EQ90 refractor scope. A very good friend of mine already owns one and has recommend it to me as good value for money. I'm looking to spend up to £300.00 UK sterling.

Could anyone advise me on what to look for and what to avoid.

Many thanks in advance all answers will be welcome!

For 100 pounds, and general viewing: the 6 and 8 inch Dobsonians are excellent value. I like them because there are no clunky motors, you can just easily point anywhere. These are my workhorse scopes, I'm a professor at a small college, and I've showed them everything I want to with those.

For more, you can of course get the computerized ones, and refractors are great for high resolution planetary observations.

[franz_sanchez]

I own an even cheaper telescope one of them junky vivitar 60mm refractor telescopes with a lightweight not so stable tripod. If you are gonna buy a cheap refractor telescope is it a must to buy an additional more heavy and stable tripod? The tripod that comes with the telescope is only about 1 1/2 pounds or so. Since it is a cheap telescope with screw on mount I can attach it to a basic camera tripod. I have a cheap promaster 6000 tripod that's only 2.2 pounds. I would imagine having the slightly better tripod would keep it more stable.

[Siguy]

I own an even cheaper telescope one of them junky vivitar 60mm refractor telescopes with a lightweight not so stable tripod. If you are gonna buy a cheap refractor telescope is it a must to buy an additional more heavy and stable tripod? The tripod that comes with the telescope is only about 1 1/2 pounds or so. Since it is a cheap telescope with screw on mount I can attach it to a basic camera tripod. I have a cheap promaster 6000 tripod that's only 2.2 pounds. I would imagine having the slightly better tripod would keep it more stable.

The tripods on those 50mm Vivitars are junk, they're so lightweight and insubstantial that you actually have to weigh them down significantly to get them to stay in place, but then the mount head is rather useless. So yes, if you want it to be usable, put it on a better tripod, though you can try what I said and hang a weight from the center of the cheap tripod, if you wish, but I doubt it will work better than a photo tripod. In addition you should get a hybrid .965'' to 1.25'' step up diagonal and a decent Plossl or Kellner eyepiece.

[franz_sanchez]

The tripods on those 50mm Vivitars are junk, they're so lightweight and insubstantial that you actually have to weigh them down significantly to get them to stay in place, but then the mount head is rather useless. So yes, if you want it to be usable, put it on a better tripod, though you can try what I said and hang a weight from the center of the cheap tripod, if you wish, but I doubt it will work better than a photo tripod. In addition you should get a hybrid .965'' to 1.25'' step up diagonal and a decent Plossl or Kellner eyepiece.

At least the cheap Vivitar telescopes are made with aluminum. You could go to Toys R' US and get a EDU Science Telescope. They are made with plastic and I have seen dozens of reviews of people not liking their 70mm telescope they spent $80 for.

What do you expect from some $80 plastic telescope? You could go on ebay for around $25 and get a 70mm telescope. There is a seller that sells Meade Telescopes. You get only the 70mm telescope without accessories. Then you have spend extra for the eyepieces and tripod. Then your spending less than $80 for something better than some $80 plastic telescope.

You mention the cheap vivitar telscope being 50mm. I though it was 60mm which is the considered the minimum if your interested at looking at stars or planets and stuff.

[Siguy]

They're definitely 50mm, but at least they're cheap (seen them for $15 at CVS, almost wanted to buy one for the heck of it) so if you want a trashy telescope to throw around, I guess they're a better choice than the even worse Meade 40mm, and not to mention the nightmare plastic 30mm stopped-down-to 5mm "Orbitor" Land and Sky Telescope scam that I've seen for the same price.

I don't think it's worth it to distinguish telescopes by build quality at this level.

[franz_sanchez]

They're definitely 50mm, but at least they're cheap (seen them for $15 at CVS, almost wanted to buy one for the heck of it) so if you want a trashy telescope to throw around, I guess they're a better choice than the even worse Meade 40mm, and not to mention the nightmare plastic 30mm stopped-down-to 5mm "Orbitor" Land and Sky Telescope scam that I've seen for the same price.

I don't think it's worth it to distinguish telescopes by build quality at this level.

Is there a big difference between having a 300mm focal length vs. a telescope with a 600mm focal length. Cause I could get a slighty better than the cheap Vivitar scope i'm using. $30 for a cheap Cstar 60mm 300mm focal length telescope. Comes with a 20mm and 6mm eyepiece both being huygens. So you get 15x with the 20mm and 50x with the 6mm. At least the Cstar uses 1.25 eyepeices.

The eyepieces supplied are part metal and not a metallic looking plastic like on the Vivitar. The Cstar they have at Ritz Camera isn't so bad when you look at a $25 50mm Meade and it uses the older smaller eyepices. The Meade they have is also sold at Wal Mart. At least both telescopes have eyepices that don't feel super cheap and not like plastic.