On Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 6:45:37 PM UTC-4, RichA wrote:
On Saturday, 19 March 2016 03:41:01 UTC-4, Chris.B wrote:
On Tuesday, 15 March 2016 12:48:54 UTC+1, wrote:
On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 11:40:50 PM UTC-4, RichA wrote:
On Monday, 14 March 2016 09:20:00 UTC-4, wsne... wrote:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Celestron-...scope/41579411

(I have no comments about it.)

Reading the reviews, it's clear that a few are 100% CLUELESS about observing, which is how some are. Likely never read a thing about it prior to purchase. Plagued by a mediocre scope, only the really curious will survive it. The $17 Vivitar and Barska scopes are the bottom-end stuff. However, for those willing to forgo this junk, Meade sells a 90mm refractor on a reasonable alt-az mount for $220.00 now.

http://www.meade.com/infinity-90mm-a...refractor.html

It even looks like a department store scope so it won't confuse the unwashed.

Looks decent enough. Have you tried it out in real life?

More detail he

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...fractor.ht ml

Anywhere much north of $200, I say save up for a 6-inch Dob.

A small refractor is far more robust and long lived than a Newtonian and requires no fiddly collimation or learning curve in use.
A 90mm refractor is a very decent instrument which can easily be turned into a bird watching telescope.
Assuming 'normal' optical glasses one should [ideally] be above f/10 to exceed Sidgwick's minimum standards for colour correction.

f/10 is pretty long in today's market, also means the mount will have to cost more. An f/8 refractor up to 120mm or so is still pretty good on planets, etc and as a daytime scope. It shows some colour, but (unless you are an apo user already) it's acceptable. Also, as the person learns, they can get a minus violet or equivalent filter if they really need it. As for Newtonians, it's a pity they can't construct them like Mak-Cass's where you don't need collimation for units up to 6" or so, or rarely, but I suspect if it were possible, the construction cost of a tube of that precision would be very high.

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Most Newts that have focal ratios comparable to most refractors are not difficult to collimate and some might rarely need it.

That 4.7 inch f/8 refractor is going to need a tall sturdy tripod in order to get the eyepiece up to a comfortable distance above the ground.

It will also need a good quality diagonal.

Newtonians are much more ergonomic, all things considered.