"Bernie" wrote in message
m...
Having been involved in Astronomy for over thirty years I can honestly
say that I consider many beginners to this hobby to be wasting money
on needless equipement.

If you are considering buying a starter type telescope, do consider
first a good pair of binoculars.
snip

I cannot emphasis enough how important it is to get the right
equipement at the outset of starting this hobby, and if funds are low
binoculars will win through everytime.

I agree up to a point. The proviso I have is that unless you have a very
steady hand binoculars are not that easy to use and could easily be off
putting At least a telescope on a stand of some sort does not have this
problem.

Norman