Astronomers, birdwatchers or anyone that knows about telescopes or binoculars, i need your expertise please.

[Cockneycarl]

I want to buy a telescope or maybe binoculars for someone who is interested in astronomy but not at a professional level.
I saw this and thought this looked reasonable and had a good price tag as well as reviews.

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

Is this a bargain and sufficient or can i get a better telescope or maybe more powerful binoculars for around the same price?

Another thing is can anyone explain what 20x15x 40 etc.. which is how they explain the magnification i think.

[Cockneycarl]

Here's the whole amazon page., one of many.

http://www.amazon.co....?ie=UTF8&node=1083940

Is amazon the best place for this at these prices or are there other websites which maybe a better option?

[Cockneycarl]

This is similar, would you say this is better than the one in my op?

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[Prudie]

Can't help wih picking the telescope but I would say binoculars are not much use for astronomy, everything jiggles unless you use a tripod thing and the magnification isn't up to much. I was given the National Geographic telescope and it's quite good for a basic level.

[bigbadmarty]

the first number is the magnification
the second number is the diameter of the objective lens in millimeters

as mentioned high magnification needs stability - any movement is also magnified
a larger objective will let you see fainter objects

[argorstran]

Out of the two that you have chosen i think the celestron travelscope 70 is the better one .The 70mm width objective lens will have a greater light-gathering power than the 76mm mirror - with a mirror you'd need about 110mm to match that lens .
Also looking at the tripod mountings the76mm reflector has a basic alt-azimuth which is an absolute pig to point at a star - even with a finderscope .
The 70mm refractor has a pan and tilt mount which will be easier (though not perfect)
To find the magnification of the telescope you need to divide the focal length of the telescope by the focal lenght of the eyepiece - the smaller the eyepiece focal length the bigger the magnification .The amazon webpage doesn't give the focal length of the celestron70 but celestron's webpage does - it is 400mm - so the 4mm eyepiece will give 100x mag , which is about the max that a telescope of that diameter could do .
Here is the celestron link :
http://www.celestron....-travel-scope-70.html
Out of the two you have chosen I think that the celestron70 is the better one and you can also easily use it for terrestrial objects .
Out of the webpage showing the entire range though for pure astronomical use I think the Celestron Astromaster 114 EQ would be better and it's also equatorially mounted - the best mounting for astronomical use - but as you can see - it's twice the price .
The wider the mirror , the better the telescope and obviously the more expensive it will be too
I hope you find this helpful .

[bizzylizzy]

The guys on the sky at night always say a decent set of binoculars is better than a cheap telescope. Why not post a question on an astronomy site, you'll get some real expertise then.

[Cockneycarl]

Looks like a bit of a minefield, thanks for all your help. I'm still not sure what i'll get but at least i'm armed with better info now.

[EDDIE51]

Get the person to look for a local astronomy group . They will have meetings and are always very keen to get new members . They will also have club telescopes or access to use telescopes that are beyond the reach of a new member. They will welcome the new member with open arms and the expierience they have is far better than any catalogue or web site . If the person is really interested they will give advice on the best telescope to buy , they will probably have 2nd hand telescopes for sale at a big discount to the new price. In short a few meetings with an astronomy club/group will do far more good than months of looking at telescopes in catalouges etc.

[targettamers]

I am not an expert myself but I find that it makes it easier for you to decide on the best item (in your case, binoculars) once you do a detailed comparison of the features and benefits of each different style, make, or design. Review sites are great for this feature because someone has done all of the hard work for you. I did a Google search for binocular review sites and I found https://www.targettamers.com/. This would be a great place for you to compare with the added bonus of having access to their informative guides.