by Mozul

When looking for the best telescopes for kids, parents usually are searching for the best telescope that will open up the wonder of the night sky for them, and possibly spark an interest in the sciences. Most parents I have seen buy their kids first telescope with the best of intentions, and then face frustration once their children start to use that department store telescope. My goal is to warn parents about issues with most department store telescopes, and help them make a more informed decision. This article will reveal the three main reasons a department store telescope is bad telescope choice for your kids.

Sold With An Unstable Mount

The first reason might concern the telescope mount, when you get your kid’s department store telescope home and start to put it together, you notice the small and obviously unstable mount sold with it. For instance, you open the telescope mount’s legs you realize it seems very small and rickety. Most cheap, department store telescopes have been sold with small, plastic fittings and parts that overtime will crack and break.

The second reason a department store telescope is a bad choice for your kids, you find once your kids start to use it they complain that the view through the scope keeps shaking. You take over and look through the telescope, and yes, you notice the view is not stable and seems to keep wobbling. It only takes you a few minutes to realize that the unstable mount wobbles in any breeze and gives you the worst telescope viewing possible for your kids.

The third reason becomes known when your kids come running to you after you go inside to refill your coffee or hot chocolate. Your kids tell you that their new telescope has fallen over. With its tiny, unstable legs you finally realize it would only take an accidental kick to cause the department store telescope to fall over. You realize this mount is probably the not the best one to use with kids.

The best kid-safe telescope mount will be designed to adequately support the weight of the telescope and will not shake in the wind. With a decent mount, tapping the side of the mount may cause a little shaking, but it disappears very quickly. You will also find a good telescope mount is not really bothered by occasional breezes, since they are beefier and more stable your kids will not even be bothered by the evening breezes or the occasional bump.

Advertised Max Power Is Unusable

Initially you were excited to read the side of the box, 675x power, and think to yourself that this telescope will really bring in the stars and planets for your kids. Your kid’s telescope came with a number of lenses with your department store buy, and you pull the biggest one out of the box and give it to the kids to use.

They point it towards the moon, and they say it’s not in the field of view. You decide to point it for them and start to move the telescope tube up and down, trying to find that pesky moon. You finally find it and realize the field of view is very narrow, which makes trying to find something with your department store telescope very difficult, and impossible for a child who has very little patience.

Second thing you notice, now that the moon is within the field of view, it is very blurry. You keep turning the focuser, in and out, that’s when you realize that maximum power lens doesn’t allow you to bring the moon into focus. No matter how many turns of the focuser, it never seems to come into crisp focus.

To help you find the maximum usable magnification of a telescope is by taking the size of the aperture and multiplying by 50. This is a rough but useful guide that will tell you that with a 3-inch aperture telescope, multiply it by 50, will tell you that the maximum usable magnification would be around 150 power. If you have already bought a department store telescope, try using it at lower magnification to get the best viewing.

Sold With An Inferior Focuser

First thing you see when looking at the focuser, you will find that most department store telescopes come with cheap plastic focusers. This may not seem important at first, but over time those cheap plastic parts will began to wear out, slip, and eventually stop working. Once it cracks or starts to slip, you may find replacing the focuser would be more expensive than the telescope is worth.

The second issue with most department store telescopes is the size of the focuser, most are sold with a 0.965″ focuser. This size focuser only gives you a small view of the sky, which makes trying to find sky objects when looking through the telescope very difficult. Using one of the smaller lenses will make finding objects through the telescope much easier, but you will still only see a small patch of sky.

The focuser featured on most kid’s department store telescopes is usually listed on the fine print of the product description either the side or back of the box. The 0.965″ focuser is quickly becoming obsolete, so finding accessories will increasingly become difficult or impossible. This makes ever being able to upgrade that department store telescope with new lenses very hard.

After a little research, you will find that the best telescopes today usually come with either a 1.25″ or maybe even a 2″ focuser included with them. With the more common size focuser, buying lenses and accessories will be easier. You will also find with the larger size focuser will give you a wider field of view when looking through the telescope.

In Conclusion

Most telescope manufacturers are not trying to trick buyers into buying a substandard telescope. They are simply following supply and demand, and offering an inexpensively manufactured product that buyers are buying at a cheap price. However, you have found out in this article, you will find most department store telescopes come with unstable mounts, inferior focuser, and the advertised maximum power is simply unusable. As you now realize, most department store telescopes will be a bad choice and would not be the best telescope for your kids.

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