Aldi Telescope from Thursday 11/10/07

Aldi seem to do this every autumn.

Can anyone advise on the quality on this item please?

Looks like a possible Christmas Prezzie for a nephew!

http://www.aldi-stores.co.uk/

"Traveller" 76mm Reflector Telescope with Equatorial Mount £69.99.

a.. 35×-233× magnification
b.. 700mm focal length
c.. 76mm diameter
d.. Compatible with motorised tracker
Barlow lens 3×

a.. Viewfinder
b.. Erecting lens 1.5×
c.. "Cartes du Ciel" star charting software
d.. Moon filter
e.. Kellner eyepieces: 9mm, 12mm, 20mm

Beeblebrox wrote:

Aldi seem to do this every autumn.

Can anyone advise on the quality on this item please?

Looks like a possible Christmas Prezzie for a nephew!

http://www.aldi-stores.co.uk/

"Traveller" 76mm Reflector Telescope with Equatorial Mount £69.99.

a.. 35â—Š-233â—Š magnification
b.. 700mm focal length
c.. 76mm diameter
d.. Compatible with motorised tracker
Barlow lens 3â—Š

a.. Viewfinder
b.. Erecting lens 1.5â—Š
c.. "Cartes du Ciel" star charting software
d.. Moon filter
e.. Kellner eyepieces: 9mm, 12mm, 20mm

I got a refractor with one of those mounts, and it's pretty useless TBH
(I got it cheap on Bid.tv just for the mount and accessories). The
eyepieces were pretty bad too, and I found it almost too dark to even
find a star to navigate from. You need to really look for Plossl
eyepieces if possible, and don't worry about magnifications. The Barlow
lens on that is also a bit too much for the size of the scope, a 2x is
quite adequate for most needs.

As usual, you'd be better off getting a pair of astro binoculars for
that money - the Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 are good (and came top in a
Sky At Night test), others have suggested the Bresser, and Strathspey
models too. One of those and a sturdy camera tripod would be a much
better bet at that price level.

Or, for a little more than you are looking at, this would be a much
better buy, if you really want a 'scope:

http://www.acecameras.co.uk/asp/web/...102/cat/1400/p
h/cat/keywords//recor/1/SearchFor//PT_ID/1/product.asp

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/

Originally Posted by Beeblebrox

Aldi seem to do this every autumn.
Can anyone advise on the quality on this item please? ....

Had a look at the boxes [maybe a dozen] in Aldi @ Walton-on-Thames and all your spec is correct - additionally it has a 3 year warrantee and the "don't look at the sun" sticker seems identical to the one on my Meade scope. No scope was on display so you buy blind.

Lidl in early December each year have in the past promoted the Bresser/Meade 70mm f/10 refractor on a similar equat mount and tripod for [previously] £49.95 - I've got one that I reviewed at
http://www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk/skylux.htm
and think refractors have less to go wrong or need adjustment compared to reflectors. Good luck in your choice.

Nytecam

I don't like the Aldi telescope either.

A *Lidl* offer of a 70mm refractor was a Bresser Skylux on an
equatorial mounting.
I bought one. Not a bad bit of kit as a first telescope.
It would have kept me happy for years in my youth compred with the
stuff I could get hold of.
Whether Lidl will repeat this offer is anyone's guess.
The Ace Camera Bresser refractor looks very similar to mine.

Small reflectors aren't nearly as much fun as refractors of a similar
size.
You can also use refractors as spotting scopes during the day using a
standard star diagonal.
Left and right are reversed but you quickly get used to that.

I am not in favour of suggesting binoculars instead of telescopes.
People looking for telescopes want to get closer than binoculars will
allow.
Even 30x is better than binoculars.
120x will satisfy many for a lifetime if the object is sharp enough to
search for fine detail.

Chris.B wrote:

I don't like the Aldi telescope either.

A *Lidl* offer of a 70mm refractor was a Bresser Skylux on an
equatorial mounting.
I bought one. Not a bad bit of kit as a first telescope.
It would have kept me happy for years in my youth compred with the
stuff I could get hold of.
Whether Lidl will repeat this offer is anyone's guess.
The Ace Camera Bresser refractor looks very similar to mine.

Small reflectors aren't nearly as much fun as refractors of a similar
size.

I think that all depends on whether you get a refractor that's been
'stopped down', or not. You can generally get a reflector that will
perform better than a refractor at the same cost. I have owned a cheap
76mm reflector, and a cheap 60mm refractor, and the reflector was miles
better, even with the old 0.9" eyepieces it had.

You can also use refractors as spotting scopes during the day using a
standard star diagonal.

True.

Left and right are reversed but you quickly get used to that.

I am not in favour of suggesting binoculars instead of telescopes.
People looking for telescopes want to get closer than binoculars will
allow.

I think it's more that you get a much better view through bins that cost
the same as a cheap 'scope. I have a pair of 15x70 SkyMasters, and they
are many times better than tring to use a cheap 'scope. Of course I can
see more of the moon, or some of Saturn, etc., through the 'scope, but
that is very much *it*. Using the bins I have been able to locate many
more objects, such as the Orion nebula, and the Perseus double, and M31.
None of which are possible with a low end 'scope.

Even 30x is better than binoculars.
120x will satisfy many for a lifetime if the object is sharp enough to
search for fine detail.

That's the point though. A really cheap scope just isn't sharp - I know
I have one, the image is so dark that you can't even point it at stars
to get focus. Besides, not many astronomers talk about magnification
anyway, what's most important is the ability to collect light, and for
that you need plain and simple aperture. My binoculars, at 2x 70mm have
many times the abilty to collect light than a 60mm 'scope.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/

"Chris.B" wrote in news:1192188948.617521.167870
@v23g2000prn.googlegroups.com:

A *Lidl* offer of a 70mm refractor was a Bresser Skylux on an
equatorial mounting.
I bought one. Not a bad bit of kit as a first telescope.
It would have kept me happy for years in my youth compred with the
stuff I could get hold of.
Whether Lidl will repeat this offer is anyone's guess.

It seems to be something they carry at Christmas. As a result, this scope
appears on eBay quite often as an "unused Christmas present", for fairly
decent prices - I paid 35 pounds for mine, and I have seen them go for as
little as 15 pounds. Just search for "skylux".

--
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk - http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store - http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml

On Oct 13, 11:16 am, Chris Malme wrote:

It seems to be something they carry at Christmas. As a result, this scope
appears on eBay quite often as an "unused Christmas present", for fairly
decent prices - I paid 35 pounds for mine, and I have seen them go for as
little as 15 pounds. Just search for "skylux".

Excellent!

I've just been out to remind myself how well my Skylux performs.
It's a cool clear night and the Milky Way stretches sharply etched
right across the sky.
Using the lowest power eyepiece and just resting my elbow on the roof
of the car I had a very nice view of the Pleiades.
Then I swept up to the Double Cluster and then across to M31 which
brightly filled the field of view.
The Milky Way had stardust in every view and small clusters drifted
into view as I scanned around.
Then I cheated and dropped a Meade 26mm S. Plossl into the provided
star diagonal and was rewarded with many more stars, a wider field of
view and fewer internal reflections.
Had I dragged the mounting outside and achieved a steady image I would
have seen far more of course.
Even the brightest stars were small, sharp, intensely bright and free
of false colour.
It is probably worth improving on the provided eyepieces and elsewhere
with some matt black paint to kill internal reflections.
Adding a lower power eyepiece just for sweeping around the night sky
looking for clusters and nebulae would be a good idea.
I could live with this telescope if I had to.