Telescopes

Buying a telescope for your child is a bit of a dilemma. If you suspect that their interest in astronomy will vanish in a few weeks, it doesn’t make sense to shell out serious money for a good quality telescope. However, if you buy them a cheap junk telescope that doesn’t show much other than the moon then who can blame them for quickly losing interest and moving on.

In the $50 to $100 price range there are a few low budget, entry-level telescopes that should allow a child to view the moon and some planets. They are not specifically marketed towards children but they are easy to operate and small enough for them to handle on their own.

Look for a used telescope

Consider buying a used telescope. You might be able to find a gently used, better quality telescope at a significant discount. Check out local and online classifieds, eBay or Amazon – yes even Amazon sells used and refurbished telescopes.

If your child loses interest in astronomy, you can always use these same avenues to sell a telescope that’s no longer being used to cut your losses.

What is the best telescope for kids?

If you think your child is legitimately serious about astronomy as a hobby or if it’s something you are interested in and plan to share and enjoy together then any of the telescopes recommended in our Best Telescope For Beginners or Best Budget Telescope are perfectly suitable for children and much better quality than the telescopes recommended below. Larger Dobsonian telescopes will obviously require the help of an adult to move and setup.

Nearly all telescopes on tripod mounts under $100 are not very good. This is mainly due to the unstable mounts which result in shaky views, difficulty focusing and poor tracking. A tabletop Dobsonian reflector telescope solves these issues with its sturdy and smooth mount. Tabletop Dobsonians also offer the lowest cost per inch of aperture giving you more light gathering ability than other types of telescopes. They perform better than almost all other telescopes at this price point. But you’re not going to find the perfect telescope or even a really good telescope for under $100.

Most low budget telescopes are not something that will be used for years to come. They’re more of a cheap introduction to astronomy. You can use one to gauge a child’s interest before they either move on to something else or want to upgrade to a better quality and larger aperture telescope.

What can you expect to see?

To be totally honest, have low expectations. Low budget telescopes are not much better than toys. They have small apertures, low quality optics and the accessories are just not very good. The short focal lengths will limit the magnification you’re able to achieve.

Children are mainly interested in viewing the moon and planets. While this is definitely possible with a low budget telescope, the views are underwhelming and not that impressive. You should be able to observe the standard favorite objects for kids including our moon, Jupiter’s cloud bands and 4 moons as well as Saturn’s rings and largest moon Titan. The planets will appear very small, some as tiny points of light.

The moon and planets are unaffected by light pollution, however deep-sky objects will require dark skies and optimal viewing conditions. Deep-sky viewing will be limited to the brighter objects that will still appear faint and fuzzy. Some double stars will be visible.

Do not point the telescope at the sun without a proper solar filter! It’s important that your child understands this and the consequences of damaging their eyes.

Best Reflector Telescope For Kids

Orion SkyScanner 100mm Tabletop Reflector

The Orion SkyScanner 100mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope is a definite step up from the lower budget telescopes. It is a quality entry-level telescope and earns our Best Reflector Telescope For Kids award. Despite being priced at the upper end of the $100 budget, it’s still considered a good value.

The SkyScanner has improved optics over the lower cost telescopes. The almost 4″ (100mm) aperture parabolic primary mirror has 73 percent more light gathering ability than a 76mm aperture mirror. It has a focal length of 400mm and a focal ratio of f/4. The parabolic primary mirror eliminates spherical aberration which results in sharper and clearer images. However, coma is still noticeable around the edge of the field of view.

The Dobsonian base is a simplified altazimuth mount meant to be placed on a table or other sturdy surface. It is solidly constructed and has three rubber feet to reduce vibrations and eliminate wobble. The azimuth and altitude rotations are smooth and the optical tube can be locked into position with the adjustable altitude tension knob. The bottom of the mount has a built-in adapter for attaching the telescope to a camera tripod with a 3/8″ or a 1/4″-20 threaded post. You can also remove the optical tube from the mount and attach it to a compatible altazimuth or equatorial tripod mount with a narrow dovetail saddle, common with most of Orion’s mounts.

The SkyScanner comes with a battery-powered red dot finder, the EZ Finder II, worth about $40 on its own. Red dot finders do not provide any magnification like a finderscope. Looking through the viewing window, align the red dot on the celestial object you want to observe. Once the red dot is centered on the target object, look through the telescope’s eyepiece and it should be in view.

Two 3-element 1.25″ eyepieces are included with the SkyScanner. The 20mm eyepiece provides 20x magnification and the 10mm eyepiece provides 40x magnification. Remember, magnification is calculated by dividing the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece (400mm/20mm = 20x power). Both eyepieces are low power and provide wide fields of view but they are not capable of showing details of the moon and planets. For that you’ll need a short focal length eyepiece like a 3.2mm or 4mm which would provide 125x and 100x magnification, respectively. The SkyScanner performs better than the other low budget telescopes when it comes to viewing deep-sky objects.

The 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser is standard for low cost telescopes. The dual focus knobs make smooth adjustments.

Although the secondary mirror is adjustable, the primary mirror is fixed to the optical tube and cannot be collimated.

As a bonus, the SkyScanner comes with a “special edition” version of its Starry Night astronomy software. It can simulate the sky for different dates, times and locations.

It has a fully assembled weight of only 6.2lbs with a 15.7″ long optical tube. A child should be able to move and operate this tabletop telescope on their own. Even if your child graduates to a larger, better quality telescope, it might be worth keeping the SkyScanner around as a grab-and-go or travel telescope.

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Best Refractor Telescope For Kids

Meade Infinity 70mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope

A refractor is what most people picture when thinking of a telescope. If your child has this image of a telescope in their mind then it may be difficult to convince them that a different type of telescope is better.

The Meade Infinity 70mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope is a decent entry-level telescope to get your child started with astronomy. It is the Best Refractor Telescope For Kids under $100 and is priced midway between the Celestron Cometron FirstScope and SkyScanner. A bonus feature of refractor telescopes is that they also can be used during the day to view birds, wildlife, ships, landscapes and landmarks.

The Infinity 70 has a 2.8″ (70mm) aperture, a focal length of 700mm and an f/10 focal ratio. The aperture is small and the optics aren’t great. The long focal length offers more magnification but a smaller field of view. Chromatic aberration will be noticeable at higher magnifications and appear as color fringing around bright objects.

The tripod is an altazimuth mount constructed from aluminum. As expected with telescopes in this price range, the tripod is lightweight, wobbly and susceptible to vibrations. The height is adjustable from 29″ to 50″. You can track objects with the basic slow motion control rod which moves the telescope in small increments by turning a knob. An accessory tray attaches to the tripod and can hold extra eyepieces.

The battery-powered red dot finder is a must-have for finding the celestial object you wish to observe and orienting your telescope towards it.

Two fully-coated 1.25″ Modified Achromat eyepieces are included. The 26mm eyepiece provides 27x magnification and the 9mm eyepiece provides 78x magnification. The Infinity 70 also comes with a 2x Barlow lens which doubles the magnification of the eyepieces to 54x and 156x. You get a wide range of magnifications (27x, 54x, 78x, and 156x) right out of the box which is more than the other kids telescopes offer. This telescope is better suited for the moon and planets than for deep-sky objects although some binary stars can be observed. You should be able to see Jupiter’s cloud bands and moons, and recognize Saturn’s rings, however the planets will appear very small.

Using the 90 Degree Erect-Prism diagonal will correctly orient the image seen in the eyepiece both horizontally and vertically unlike a reflector telescope where the image appears flipped upside down. One disadvantage is that the prism diagonal reduces the sharpness of the image. The 90 degree diagonal also allows a more comfortable viewing angle especially when the telescope is pointed near the zenith.

The 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser is typical for cheap telescopes. The shaky tripod can give you some difficulty focusing.

The telescope and tripod have a combined weight of only 7.5lbs which should be manageable for older children to move around and setup.

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Best Lower Budget Telescopes For Kids

When it comes to lower cost telescopes for kids, there are 3 main options. All are tabletop Dobsonian reflectors with similar specs and performance. They each have a focal length of 300mm, a focal ratio of around f/4 and a spherical primary mirror. One is not necessarily better than the others. They all suffer from the same flaws and limitations. The main differences are found in the accessories (finders, eyepieces, tripod adapter and Barlow lens).

Celestron Cometron FirstScope Telescope

The build quality and finish of the Celestron Cometron FirstScope are surprisingly good for a cheap telescope. It has a 76mm (3″) aperture primary mirror and a focal ratio of f/3.95.

As should be expected, the optics of the Cometron FirstScope are not very good. The short focal length and large central obstruction are less than ideal for viewing at higher magnification. The spherical mirror makes it difficult to focus even above 60x magnification due to the resulting spherical aberration. Coma aberration will be present near the edge of the field of view.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount is stable with smooth motions. It swivels 360 degrees, rotates up and down, and has an adjustable tension knob. You will need to place the telescope on a sturdy table or stool in order to provide a comfortable viewing height. The rubber feet provide better surface grip and reduce vibrations.

Setting up the telescope is quick and easy as no tools are required. The optical tube comes preassembled to the mount. All you need to do is remove the dust caps, attach the finderscope and insert an eyepiece into the focuser.

There are actually two versions of the Celestron FirstScope that are roughly the same price. The FirstScope has a white mount and a black optical tube showing the names of famous astronomers and scientists. The Cometron FirstScope has a black mount and a white optical tube. Besides these styling differences, the Cometron version comes with a 5×24 finderscope. The FirstScope does not include any finder and should be avoided for this reason. While a 5×24 finderscope is not great, having a finder is better than nothing at all making it easier locate celestial objects and point the telescope in their direction. The numbers 5×24 indicate that the finderscope has 5x magnification and a 24mm aperture.

The Cometron FirstScope comes with two 1.25″ Kellner eyepieces: a 10mm (30x magnification) with a 1.5° field of view and a 20mm (15x magnification) with a 3° field of view. The included eyepieces are low power and not really that great for planets but do offer a wide field of view. It is possible to view brighter deep-sky objects like Orion nebula. Buying an additional eyepiece with higher power for more lunar and planetary detail would cost almost the same as the telescope. That money would be better spent on buying a better telescope. It should also be mentioned that the eyepieces included with the Cometron FirstScope are better quality than the FirstScope’s eyepieces.

At f/3.95, the Cometron FirstScope is considered to have fast focal ratio. This means that the light entering the telescope has a steep angle and even the smallest turns of the focuser knobs can cause the image to lose focus. The 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser does not hold focus very well under the weight of the eyepiece. As mentioned previously, the telescope’s limitations make focusing difficult even at medium power. The focuser does come with a dust cap which is nice to have.

Collimation is not possible as the primary mirror is fixed to the optical tube and cannot be adjusted.

The Cometron FirstScope is extremely portable weighing only 4.3lbs with a 10″ long optical tube. It should be no problem for a child to handle on their own. Even if you’re not a kid, its small size and weight make it ideal to use as a grab-and-go or travel telescope to take in the car on a road trip or to go camping.

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Orion FunScope 76mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope

The Orion FunScope 76mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope is nearly identical to the Cometron FirstScope in terms of specs, build quality and finish but it’s slightly more expensive. It too has a 76mm (3″) aperture primary mirror and a focal ratio of f/3.95. There are some minor differences with the finder and mount.

The FunScope performs similar to the Cometron FirstScope and also suffers from optical issues due to the short focal length and spherical primary mirror. Achieving focus at medium and high power can be difficult. Coma aberration will be noticeable around the edge of the field of view. On the positive side, a short focal length also means a wide field of view which allows you to see more of the sky. This makes it easier to find and track celestial objects.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount is solid and sturdy with smooth movements. It uses a single-arm to hold the optical tube and an adjustable tension knob controls the up and down motion. The base of the mount includes a tripod adapter which is a nice feature not included with the Cometron FirstScope. The adapter allows you to mount the telescope onto a camera tripod if you are not near a table. Make sure to use a heavy duty tripod to avoid vibrations. The mount and optical tube are already assembled in the box. To complete the setup, attach the finder using thumb screws and insert an eyepiece. The optical tube and focuser also come with dust caps.

The FunScope comes with a red dot finder to help you accurately aim the telescope at objects in the sky. The EZ Finder II is a battery-powered red dot reflex sight with zero power (no magnification). It costs about $40 if purchased separately.

The FunScope includes a 10mm 1.25″ eyepiece (30x magnification) and a 20mm 1.25″ eyepiece (15x magnification). They are decent 3-element fully coated eyepieces. The eyepieces are good for low power, wide field viewing but not the best for viewing any details of the moon and planets. You may want to consider purchasing a Barlow lens or a short focal length eyepiece for high power views. Keep in mind that these extras will add to the cost of the telescope which could have been spent on a better quality telescope instead.

The rack and pinion focuser accepts 1.25″ eyepieces. The steep light cone from the fast focal ratio causes the focuser to be very sensitive, losing focus with even minor adjustment of the focus knobs.

You will not be able to collimate this telescope as the primary mirror is glued to the optical tube.

As a bonus, Orion has included a Moon Map which names and describes over 260 features on the moon including various craters and mountains.

Weighing only 4lbs, the FunScope is extremely portable. It shouldn’t take up much room in your car if you are planning to take it on a trip or go camping.

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Meade LightBridge Mini 82 Telescope

The Meade Instruments LightBridge Mini 82 Telescope is the smallest telescope in Meade’s lineup of tabletop Dobsonians. The largest of which, the LightBridge Mini 130, is one of our recommended Best Budget Telescopes. The LB Mini 82 is well-built and the all white design looks good. It has a slightly larger 3.2″ (82mm) aperture primary mirror and a slightly faster f/3.7 focal ratio than the Cometron FirstScope and FunScope.

Like the other lower budget telescopes, the LB Mini 82 also has a spherical mirror and the optical performance is not much different. Comatic and spherical aberrations will be present, affecting the quality of the views and the ability to focus especially at higher magnifications.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount is made of particleboard. It operates like a see-saw on a lazy susan, moving up and down, and rotating 360 degrees. The bottom of the mount has rubber feet to improve grip and stability. A large adjustable knob controls the friction of the altitude motion and can lock the optical tube in place.

A standard red dot reflex sight is included as the telescope’s finder and is mounted on the top of the optical tube.

The two eyepieces that come with the LB Mini 82 are a 26mm that gives 12x magnification and a 9mm that gives 33x magnification. The addition of a 2x Barlow lens is a welcome bonus not included with the other lower budget scopes. The Barlow doubles the magnification of each eyepiece giving you 4 different powers (12x, 24x, 33x, 66x) with only 2 eyepieces. Despite the added magnifications from the Barlow, a higher power eyepiece would still be necessary to view greater details of the moon and planets.

The 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser has large dual focusing knobs. The f/3.7 focal ratio is the fastest of the lower budget telescopes and results in a steeper angle of light entering the telescope. This makes precise focusing more difficult as a minor turn of the adjustment knobs can quickly knock the image out of focus.

The LB Mini 82 is the lightest of the low budget options weighing in at a mere 3.8lbs. Even young children should be able to manage moving it with no issues. It’s small enough to fit on a bookshelf and would make a nice display piece.

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Comparison of Accessories

Conclusion

If your only willing to spend $100 or less on a telescope for your child, buying one with the largest aperture for your money and a sturdy mount will give them the best opportunity to explore the night sky. A tabletop Dobsonian telescope should give you the most value and meet this criteria.

The Orion SkyScanner 100mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope is our best overall telescope for kids. It provides a solid mount and the largest aperture with better optics than the lower budget telescopes. If your child has their heart set on a refractor style telescope, the Meade Infinity 70mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope is good option that provides 4 different powers for viewing and can be used during the day to view objects on land. The Celestron Cometron FirstScope Telescope, Orion FunScope 76mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope, and Meade LightBridge Mini 82 Telescope are close in price and performance with similar specs. If you prefer the finderscope, go with the Cometron FirstScope. If you like the red dot finder and bonus Moon Map or if you want to mount the telescope on a tripod, buy the FunScope. If you’re not interested in buying an additional eyepiece, the Barlow lens included with the LightBridge Mini 82 will provide a wider range of magnifications.

While none of these telescopes are perfect, they should be enough to give your child a decent introduction to telescopes and astronomy.

Many aspiring backyard astronomers have purchased a cheap beginner telescope only to be frustrated and disappointed by an experience that didn’t meet their expectations. Cheap telescopes are typically used a few times and then abandoned, left to collect dust. A lot of budget telescopes are considered junk due to the low quality optics and unstable mounts. An unstable mount means a shaky view, difficulty focusing and poor tracking.

Budget telescopes are popular gifts especially for Christmas. Choose the correct telescope and it could be an amazing gift that sees tons of use and inspires a budding astronomer to continue their new found hobby. Pick the wrong one and you may have wasted your money on a disappointing telescope that gets used once or twice.

For around $200, there are some very good options for budget beginner telescopes. Any cheaper and you’ll find telescopes with small apertures, optical issues and mount troubles. You’d be better off saving your money. Like we mentioned in our Telescope Buying Guide, if your budget is $100 or less, buying a pair of binoculars is the best option for stargazing.

Buy used

Don’t forget about used telescopes. A 6″ or 8″ aperture Dobsonian reflector, like the ones recommended in our Best Telescope For Beginners article, are better than the best budget telescopes recommended here. If you can’t afford to buy a new Dobsonian, check Craigslist, Kijiji or other classifieds for a used Orion SkyQuest XT6 or XT8, a Sky-Watcher 6″ or 8″ Traditional Dobsonian or a Zhumell Z8 Deluxe Dobsonian. You might be able to find a deal on a used Dob for around $200. It’s even possible to buy used or refurbished telescopes from Amazon.com.

What is the best budget telescope for under $200?

For budgets under $200, a 5″ tabletop Dobsonian telescope offers the best value. A tabletop Dobsonian is a Newtonian reflector telescope with a simple single-arm altazimuth mount that swivels 360 degrees and moves up and down (think of a see-saw on a lazy susan). Like their larger Dobsonian cousins, tabletop Dobsonian mounts are cheap to manufacture meaning more money can be spent on making larger primary mirrors. A 5″ Dobsonian is the largest aperture telescope you can buy for less than $200.

Tabletop Dobsonian mounts are very sturdy compared to the unstable tripod mounts included with most budget telescopes. They are simple to setup and incredibly easy to use. The optical tube can be quickly attached or detached from the mount if you wish to store or transport them separately. Placing the telescope on a stable surface like a table or stool will provide a more comfortable viewing height.

These mini Dobsonians are extremely portable, weighing around 14lbs. This makes for the perfect telescope to take camping, on road trips, hiking to a dark site or as a grab-and-go telescope. The best telescope is the one you will use most often and a portable telescope with a reasonably sized aperture will see a lot of use. Many experienced astronomers with large aperture telescopes also have a small, budget telescope in their collection for convenience or for travel.

What can you expect to see with a 5″ tabletop Dobsonian?

A 5″ aperture telescope can show quite a bit especially under dark skies. Factors like light pollution, atmospheric conditions and the eyepiece you’re using will determine what you’re able to see and the quality of the view.

The moon and planets are mostly unaffected by light pollution. With good viewing conditions, expect to see the craters of the moon, some details of Jupiter including its main cloud bands and 4 moons, the rings of Saturn and its largest moon Titan, Mars as a small red disk with more detail in ideal conditions, Mercury and Venus as small disks with changing phases, Neptune and Uranus will be very tiny with possible blue or greenish coloring, sunspots and surface granulation on the Sun. You must use a proper solar filter when pointing your telescope at the Sun or you can severely damage your eyes and go blind!

A 5″ Dobsonian telescope is large enough for observing deep-sky objects, however it is much more dependent on darker skies than a larger telescope would be. Patience is important when viewing objects like galaxies, nebulae, and globular clusters. Getting outside of the city, away from light pollution will improve your ability to see fainter deep-sky objects and more of them.

Newtonian reflector telescopes suffer from a type of optical aberration known as coma. With coma, stars appear distorted near the edge of the field of view while stars in the center of the field of view are unaffected. Coma in an f/5 telescope is not as noticeable as it is in an f/4 telescope. A parabolic primary mirror eliminates the visual defect known as spherical aberration which is present in budget telescopes with spherical primary mirrors. This results in a sharper and clearer image.

Budget Telescope Reviews

Each of the following tabletop Dobsonian telescopes has a 5.1″ (130mm) aperture, a focal length of 650mm, a focal ratio of f/5, and a parabolic primary mirror. All of telescopes reviewed were priced at less than $200 at the time of this article’s last update.

We have compiled a Comparison of Accessories table which is included below.

AWB OneSky 130 Reflector Telescope

The AWB OneSky 130 Reflector Telescope is designed with portability in mind but you’ll appreciate its solid performance. It has been well reviewed by Sky & Telescope magazine and is actively discussed on the Cloudy Nights forum. While not perfect, it is a very good starter telescope and even seasoned astronomers will find it to be a good quality travel or grab-and-go telescope.

AWB stands for Astronomers Without Borders, a non-profit organization that runs astronomy programs in developing countries. They have partnered with Celestron to reduce costs and offer the OneSky for $199.99 with about half of the purchase price going towards supporting these programs.

The OneSky’s optics are surprisingly good for the price. The optical tube is a collapsible open truss design. One simple modification you can make to improve contrast is to build a light shroud around the open tube with plastic, cardboard or foam. This will block stray light and also prevent dew from forming on the mirrors.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount is made from laminated particle board with a cutout carrying handle. It is sturdy, fairly smooth, and has an adjustable altitude tension knob. If you don’t want to use the telescope on a table or stool, the Vixen-style dovetail rail allows you to attach the optical tube to a compatible tripod mount. The dovetail rail also allows you to adjust the balance of the optical tube.

The OneSky comes with a basic red dot finder. To use a red dot finder, look through the viewing window and move the telescope until the red dot is centered on your target celestial object. The red dot finder does not provide any magnification and while not as good as a finderscope, it does the job.

Included are two decent quality 1.25″ Super Modified Achromat eyepieces: a 25mm and a 10mm, providing 26x and 65x magnification, respectively. Jupiter’s main cloud bands should be visible with the 10mm eyepiece. You could double the magnification of these eyepieces by picking up a 2x Barlow lens although a dedicated higher power eyepiece will perform better than using a Barlow. We recommend purchasing at least one additional eyepiece like a 4mm wide-angle (162.5x magnification) or 3.2mm wide-angle (203x) for better lunar and planetary detail, a 15mm wide-angle (43x magnification) for deep-sky viewing or a 32mm Plossl (20x magnification) for wider field of view.

The plastic helical focuser is decent for fine focus adjustments and has a low profile, however one annoyance is that there is enough play in the helical threads to cause the eyepiece to wobble. This can be fixed by using Teflon plumbing tape or wax on the threads.

A Cheshire eyepiece collimation tool is included and the primary mirror has a center dot which makes collimating the OneSky super easy. The OneSky does a good job of maintaining collimation even after several sessions of extending and collapsing the truss tube.

For a telescope with a 5″ aperture, the OneSky is extremely portable. The rigid truss tube design collapses from a fully extended length of 24″ to only 14.5″ in just a few seconds. You can easily fit the optical tube in a backpack or carry-on bag and either carry or check the mount separately. The optical tube and mount have a combined weight of 14lbs.

The AWB OneSky is only sold in the US (with free shipping), however the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P is essentially the same telescope and sold in other countries (like Canada and the UK) but is slightly more expensive.

AWB OneSky 130 Reflector Telescope

Sold by AstronomersWithoutBorders.org

$199.99

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Meade LightBridge Mini 130 Telescope

Want high-level performance at a reasonable price? Meade Instruments LightBridge Mini 130 Telescope delivers. It has very good optics and similar specs to the AWB OneSky but the main difference is that the LB Mini 130 has a closed tube design which provides better contrast. It has the lowest price of the three tabletop Dobs and can occasionally be found on sale making it an even better deal.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount has rubber feet to grip the surface of a table or stool and reduce vibrations. One complaint is that unlike the other tabletop mounts, the LB Mini 130 does not have a carrying handle. If you don’t like the tabletop mount, the Vixen-style dovetail plate allows you to attach the optical tube to a compatible altazimuth or equatorial mount. The dovetail plate is much shorter than the OneSky’s dovetail rail so there is less room to balance the optical tube, however this shouldn’t be much of an issue. There is an adjustable altitude tension knob on the side.

Like the OneSky, the LB Mini 130 comes with a basic red dot finder. The LB Mini 130′s red dot finder has a taller mount making it more comfortable to use than the OneSky’s finder. A red dot finder is fine for getting started. Most people prefer the magnification of a finderscope over a red dot finder and this is definitely an upgrade you could make down the road.

It comes with two 1.25″ Modified Achromat eyepieces: a 26mm which provides 25x magnification and a 9mm which provides 72x magnification. We recommend adding a higher power eyepiece or a Barlow lens to see greater detail of the moon and planets including impressive views of Saturn’s rings. As mentioned above, you may want to purchase additional eyepieces like a 4mm wide-angle (162.5x magnification), a 3.2mm wide-angle (203x), a 15mm wide-angle (43x magnification) or a 32mm Plossl (20x magnification).

The plastic 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser has dual focusing knobs and is an improvement over the OneSky‘s helical focuser. It can hold the focus better under the weight of the eyepiece and doesn’t have any eyepiece wobble like the OneSky.

The LightBridge Mini 130 does not come with a collimation tool so you will need to buy a basic collimation cap, Cheshire eyepiece collimator, laser collimator or attempt a no-tool collimation. However, the collimation thumbscrews are a nice upgrade allowing adjustments with your fingers.

While not as portable as the AWB OneSky due to the longer optical tube, the LightBridge Mini 130 is pretty lightweight weighing only 13.6 lbs. The optical tube can quickly be removed from the mount for easier portability.

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Zhumell Z130 Portable Altazimuth Reflector Telescope

The Zhumell Z130 Portable Altazimuth Reflector Telescope is one of the best telescopes you can buy for under $200. It would make an ideal gift or starter telescope for a beginner. The optics are very similar to the OneSky and the LightBridge Mini 130. The all-black design would look great on a bookshelf.

The tabletop Dobsonian mount is made of wood and melamine with two carrying handle cutouts. The optical tube is mounted to the base with tube rings and a Vixen-style dovetail. The tube rings allow you to rotate the optical tube to your preferred eyepiece angle which is a nice feature. The dovetail allows you balance the optical tube. You can adjust the tension of the up and down movements of the optical tube or lock it in place with the altitude tension knob. There’s also a handy eyepiece tray that attaches to the side and can hold three eyepieces.

Like the other mini Dobsonians, the Z130 includes a basic red dot finder. The red dot finder has a taller mount like the LB Mini 130′s finder which is better than the OneSky. You could replace the red dot finder with a finderscope if desired.

The Z130 includes a 1.25″ Kellner 25mm eyepiece (26x magnification) and a 1.25″ Kellner 10mm eyepiece (65x magnification). The quality and performance of the eyepieces are not too different from the OneSky or LB Mini 130. Consider adding a 4mm wide-angle (162.5x magnification), a 3.2mm wide-angle (203x), a 15mm wide-angle (43x magnification) or a 32mm Plossl (20x magnification).

The dual knob 1.25″ rack and pinion focuser is made of plastic. Like the LB Mini 130, it resists the weight of the eyepiece and holds focus better than the OneSky‘s helical focuser.

To collimate the telescope you first need to remove the rear dust cover. No collimation tool is included but Zhumell recommends using a collimation eyepiece. You will also need a Philips head screwdriver (included) as well as 2mm and 2.5mm Allen wrenches to collimate the mirrors.

The solid optical tube makes the Z130 less portable than the OneSky although it is still a convenient grab-and-go telescope and fits easily on a car seat.

Zhumell Z130 Portable Altazimuth Reflector Telescope

Sold by TelescopesPlus.com

$199.99

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Comparison of Accessories

Conclusion

Weeding through all of the junk budget telescopes, there are a few worth considering around the $200 mark: the AWB OneSky, Meade LightBridge Mini 130 and Zhumell Z130. These 5″ tabletop Dobsonian reflectors have similar quality optics and specs. Each includes two eyepieces that are decent to start with and perform about the same but you will likely want to purchase an additional eyepiece or two.

If you’re looking for the most portable budget telescope, the AWB OneSky is the best option and it comes with a Cheshire collimation eyepiece. If you prefer the improved contrast of a closed tube, the LB Mini 130 and Z130 are comparable. If you like the carrying handles, eyepiece tray and tube rings, go with the Zhumell Z130. If you want to save a few dollars and like the collimation thumbscrews, the Meade LightBridge Mini 130 is a solid choice.

It’s hard to recommend one of these budget telescopes over the others. Any of the three would be an excellent choice for a beginner telescope, travel telescope, grab-and-go telescope, or gift.