Update - 70mm bargain?

In my report on the 70mm F5 "cheapy" Meade yesterday, I concluded:

My general impression of the optics were they were low contrast and it was difficult to achieve really sharp focus.

My general impression was accurate - low contrast and difficult to achieve really sharp focus. I confirmed this last night and this morning when I also experimented with different diagonals and eyepieces and concluded that what problems the scope has are with the objective lens,

So what did you expect in an F5 package like this that cost $120? What I was hoping for is that it would meet limited needs and it does.

What's more, the standard wisdom is to recommend 10X50 binoculars as a good instrument for the beginner.

I don't think so. I think the experienced amateur knows how to get the most out of 10X50 binoculars and could be very satisfied for quite a while with them. I think the average beginner would find them frustrating and deply unsatisfying. The same might be said of this scope. As an experienced amateur I know what to expect of it. I don't try to find things that will show poorly - or not at all - in it.

So is this a good scope for the begginer? Well, if you deliver it with some caveats. It's main strength is it's easy to store fully assembled and it's easy to take out in the yard and move to whatever location is best to avoid the trees and to block the wind. That said, what would you look at with it?

The moon. I would get one of the several books on viewing the moon with binoculars and use that as a guide for viewing the moon with this scope. You could easily identify all the major features, as well as at least 100 creaters. That would occupy some happy, clear nighst! But stick with the two supplied eyepieces and don't bother to use the Barlow. It works - but at high powers you really find focusing to a sharp view impossible. You don;t notice this so much at lower powers.

The two supplied eyepieces are 25mm and 9.7mm which deliver 14X and 36X in this scope. Not much you say? Hey, it beats what Gallileo started with and it beats a 10X binocular. In fact I don't know a binocular that offers more than 30X, but anything above 10 has to go on a tripod and preferably a good - and expensive - binocular mount.

I like the 36X when you move up in the world and try to view Jupiter, Saturn, and wide double stars, such as Albireo and Mizar. These are all legitimate targets for this little scope and there are dozens of others, such as M42 and M45. Of them, I would say Saturn is the only one that would tempt me to pop in the Barlow and go for 72X. I did that last night and I liked the result. I could see the rings and the moon, Titan, very nicely at this power and to my surprise, not much false color. (I had just come from looking at Saturn at a similar power using the popular (and more expesnive) Orion shortTube 80. With that scope it looked like Saturn had blue flames jumping from its edges - the fabled "purple fringe," indicative of poor optics and so typical with "fast" - short - scopes.

Will the beginner be frustrated because the views aren't as sharp as they should be? i don't know? I suspect not. I think at first they will simply be pleased to have found and seen the objects mentioned. The scope should whet their appetite for bigger and better things when they have the money and their growing enthusiasm justifies it.

There is one other temptation. To just wrestle the scope around by hand without reading the instructions, or relying on the slow-motin controls. If you want to make large, quick adjustments you need to loosen the two large knobs that hold the scope in position, make your adjustment, tighten these knobs, and use the slow-motion controls to fine tune. But the truth is the slow motion controls move the scope quickly enough for most adjustments - and you can pick up the whole thing and point it in generally the right direction. If you move it around without loosening the knobs, it will become loose on its own and not hold position and you may wonder what is wrong. You need to tighten the knobs and use the controls.

Is this the best beginner's scope - the one I would recommend? No. I still prefer a six-inch DOB for most who are getting serious about the hobby. But that would cost twice as much. I would recommend this over one of the little computer wonders because it is so easy to use on impulse and that's important. I'm retired. This week I observed Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Wednesday morning, Thursday night, Friday morning, Friday night, and Saturday morning. Most people with a busy school or work life and family commitments would consider thenselves lucky if they observed one of those times and then it will most likely be with little planning. This scope lends itself to that sort of lifestyle.

Oh - and it will also do a decent - not great - job on birds and other wildlife.