There is cheap junk; there's expensive cheap junk (the kind you pay a lot for, but is just as cheaply made as the lower priced cheap junk); and then there's quality junk.  Honestly, you can buy quite a bit of decent stuff, for less than you'd expect.  A lot of people suffer from the idea that if it isn't expensive, or didn't come from the right store, it can't be good.

 I love Wal*Mart.  Because of them, I have some extra cash.  I think everyone here, especially those who dis "trash" scopes would benefit from reading (or re-reading) this article in the May 2008 issue of astronomy.  http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6776

If a person pays attention to the cheap junk they are buying, they can get pretty good cheap junk.  One of the high-lights of that article, is the idea of buying an adapter for the eyepieces.  And, getting a good eyepiece.  As long as the optics are good, the rest is fixable.  Another insteresting thing is...if you're having issues with a junky tripod, don't blaim it on the scope!  (For the little spotting scope that I've 'stolen' from my dad for star gazing, I have what comes close to the world's worst tripod.  I still get a kick out of using it.  The optics of the scope aren't bad...but I'm betting people with "trash" scopes get better views!)  Being entirely unable to find anything other than a couple constellations, a few pieces of them (I just can't seem to form the constellations out of all those stars), and some stars, I think I could use a kiddy scope!  (I'm buying one next week or the week after, either from Amazon.com or Wal*Mart...might get Star Ware by Phil Harrington first.)

I've noticed one thing in my search through the forums, articles, and other sites...Even if you plan to buy a department store scope, it's useful to know what the heck all the gibberish means!

I guess it all depends on how much you want to see . If 60mm works for you than that's all that matters . But the limits of that aperture can get used up rather quickly . just my  worth.    

Agreed.  If it brings you joy, it doesn't matter how big it is, or where you bought it from.  (And cheap ones are good if you have mildly destructive children who tend to drop things and knock things over....)

I wouldn't mind owning a large one, that I can stick in an observatory somewhere on the farm (away from the animals)...But that'll come later.

 I received an Meade ETX-80 for Christmas 2 yrs ago and I love it.  I know that there are better scopes but for a beginers scope I think it's nice.  It's from the Discovery store.

When I was turning 11 and only just becoming an astronomer, my grandparents gave me a Celestron 60mm that my dad gave them as a gift years ago.

At least it came with two decent Plossls, although I was still obliged to purchase a Celestron X-Cel eyepiece. The mount absolutely frustrated me. It just kept coming apart. The finderscope was a poor 5x24 and it kept getting out of alignment. The optics were adequate but too small for my taste. Right now, it's on display at Goodwill if someone hasnt bought it already. To be honest, I feel sorry for whoever buys it.

The moral of this is, it doesn't matter who makes it, whether its Tasco or Takahashi, DONT BUY CHEAP TELESCOPES!!!!!!!!

 I started with a 4" Tasco(?) scope whan I was about 7 years old.

A real piece of trash by today's standards, but I would love to have another one just like it.

 I have an older Meade that I kind of consider a department store cheapy.  It is a 4 or 4.5 inch reflector.  The main reason I consider it a cheap one is because of the .965 eyepieces I guess.  I have had it for years and never seen much other than the moon.  On a whim one night I pulled it out and took a look at the moon and found myself looking for hours!  I guess the one good thing about these cheaper scopes is that they often lead to a rediscovery or a new love for astronomy.  That was just over a year ago for me and I am still loving the few moments I get to spend looking.

As a youngster, many, many moons ago my parents purchased me a relfector style, not even sure of the make, but we are talking the early '60's here, and I truly enjoyed ever minute I spent with it. I remember the first time I took it outside on a very cold January evening in the very northeastern part of New York State and looked at the moon. I even saw Jupiter, but not with the view I have now with my Orion. It was a hobby that I started to become very interested in and even had one of my science teachers helping me learn the sky.

But as would happen with a lot of us I eventually I steered myself in another direction working on the farm, sports and my other true love of hunting. It wasn't until 44 years later that I regained some of that interest. Over the years my wife knew I was very interesting and everytime we would pass some display of a department store telescope I would tell her that I wanted to purchase it, but I would think a minute and put my money into other enterprising endeavors.

One day my wife came home with a Meade Infinity 60 "Department Store Telescope" that she picked up in a garage sale for $30. I looked it over and cleaned it up, put it together and preceeded to observe through some of the worse optics ever developed. My hunting Binoculars were considerably better than this thing.

Things sure have changed over the years on telescopes. I started looking for something that would re-kindle the interest I once had in astronomy. After asking some questions here and talking with some enthusiasts in my area I recently purchased a Dob and OMG what a major difference. Comparing the Mead Infinity and my first reflector to the Dob is like comparing the flicker of a fire fly's***to the noon day sun.

I can say that for what I am doing, and the time I have to spend doing it, this Orion Dob is just the cat's meow and I am truly enjoying my evenings and nights.

 

Sorry all, but this post brings back memories of 40 years ago this coming Christmas Eve.......

In grade school, our teacher taught us about Astronomy. All of 1968, I had Telescope on the brain. I thought my parents would kill me if I mentioned it too many more times. But Xmas Eve finally came, and it was early. We were watching coverage of Apollo 8 on TV, when my Dad brought out this long box carefully wrapped. He said this was an early present, and I should open it. To my surprise, it was a 3" Jason Empire Telescope, complete with wooden tripod, and 3 eyepieces. I remember Walter Cronkite on TV waiting for Apollo 8 to cross the terminator on the Moon. That's all I had to hear.....we hurried up and put the scope together. I spent most of the evening looking at the moon with the high power eyepiece. You guessed it......trying to see Apollo 8 cross the terminator!

I kept that telescope for quite a few years, and it served its purpose well. I used the moon and Sun filters quite a bit, I saw Saturn's rings, and Jupiter's moons.

In 1986, I graduated to a Meade 2045 to view Comet Halley. Then a Meade 2080 LX2 and Davionx Drive corrector, and now a LX200 10" Classic. I wish I still had it (The Jason)....I'd put it in the display case with my first cameras, an Argus C3 and a Kowa SETR2!

It's amazing what a Department Store telescope can get started. 

Hmmmmm.....anyone ever have a pair of "Red Ball Jets"????????????

 Bill

Just got a MAK-CAS 5" a year ago and have been on (what I consider) a rampage since. I love my new scope but at times, miss my department store "special".   Gave me some great views over many years and although used less often over the past few, kept me motivated enough to get my M-C!  Thanks for dept store telescopes !!!

GT

 Well I thaught I had 2 department store scopes....

My first was a 50mm tasco when I was about 8 years old...I recall haveing more fun when I took the lense out to burn ants with that one.

Then I had a Bushnell 60x800....I enjoyed that one quite abit.

now..I thaught I have a "Real" scope...but from what I understand my Meade DS-2102 is still a department store scope :(.........oh well I am happy with it and I got it for 130.00.

so if it wasnt for dpt store scopes I wouldnt have ever had anykind of scope.

Right you are Digitalfx3, most of us begin with one in fact, I've been into astronomy for 35yrs and have viewed through my dept store telescope(s) for 34 of those. Finally upgraded and its been a big boost but I will always appreciate the views from my DSTs. They kept me up in the sky, not just on a couch reading about it all!

GT

I have a Bushnell 60mm refractor.  Words cannot describe just how crappy it is.  I would give it away but I'm afraid it could destroy someone's interest in astronomy, since it is impossible to aim and even harder to stay on target.  The box advertised 475x power, but it is completely useless at all but the lowest power, and even then...

My dad bought it for $15 on garage sale.  The original owner claimed to have paid almost $300, which is funny because that is how much I paid for my "real" telescope (Orion XT8). 

To its credit, it did afford me my first views of Jupiter and its moons, but mostly it just pissed me off enough to compel me to buy a real scope even sooner than I had planned.

 I have one of them Vivitar I paid 14.99 at CVS the eyepieces were trash but the view was good though better eyepieces I can see the 2 bands on Jupiter at 70X I was surprised myself.

 

I had several department store telescopes most were  60mm Tasco, Bushnell, Jason and a 3'' Milben reflector

I still have a 1983 Tasco 60mm 59T diamound Z

Oh yes!  In my (acutally my kids', but they don't want it) EduScience 60 mm,  700 mm focal length toy store telescope, I can fairly easily make out the two major bands of Jupiter at 56x, and at the same magnification, see saturn and its rings acceptably.

The optics really aren't disgustingly awful, they're really more like so-so to not bad at all, but they all come with such flimsy, junky mounts that the image shakes at the slightest touch or breeze, so it's hard to locate, focus, or just view an object.  But once they're steady and the object has been found, it's not exactly a terrible view; actually it isn't too bad.
 

I have and still use my Department store Telescope. I got a Meade model 4400 EQ newtonian reflector a while back, from COSTCO of all places! It was on sale for $99.99! I mainly wanted the EQ2 tripod and mount, but I ended up with a pretty decent set up. I have made 2 modifications over the years. First I got rid of the finder scope and made my own 50mm finder from old binos I picked up at a garage sale for $5! (works excellent!, images are upright and easy to find targets in them!) Second, I got a 1.25" adapter and bout a 32mm and a 9.7mm W70 Anatares eyepieces for it recently, ya wow I know I was still using the 25mm and 8mm Kellner 0.965" eyepieces that came with it. I still use it today to look at planets, the moon and the Messier objects, all from my backyard. It has served me well and faithfully with no complaints to this day.(knock on wood) I probably got a scope that was made by an amateur astronomer, and probably gave a damn about fit and finish of final product. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 I was talking to an older scientist, not an astronomer, today.  I mentioned using my telescope and he got into discussing the one cheapie 3" or 4" reflector kit he had as a child.  It had some sort of plastic ball bearing based mount, which not only slipped, but was easily damaged, and he did damage it.  He never really got any good viewing out of and all he remembers is frustration.  He soon laid it aside and had really forgotten about it all these decades.

I guess it is true that some of these mechanically poorly designed scopes do kill interest in otherwise very science-curious children.

 

 I have (still) a Meade Telestar 60mm that was purchased for me as a gift a few years ago from Wal-mart as well. I had always been really intested in astronomy but never just went out and bought a scope. My girlfriend bought it for me to view Mars a few years back when it was at it's closest to Earth. OK, I was impressed, the moon was amazing too and I saw a lot of really interesting things, but never could view farther planets or star formations. The optics where terrible, fuzzy with bad coma the higher the mag. It came with a 4, 15mm eyepieces and a 2 and 3X barlow type lense. Not a lot of choice or adaptability. Well, things changed...alot.

 2 Weeks ago I purchased a schmidt-cassegrain Celestron C8 SGT/XLT computerized and electronic telescope with some accessories online. Yes, I made a huge step but I have been researching for quite some time and decided I wanted something cutting edge/updated as I don't want to upgrade again other than accessories and things. Story is getting long sorry... anyhow, I also purchased an 8 piece set of 1.25" Plossl 55 deg eyepieces and 2x barlow from Celestron. 

 I received the eyepieces before the telescope arrived so I decided to try these out with the Meade. I was AMAZED!! After a little while I actually saw the rings of Saturn, relatively clear concidering they are barely visible right now. I am still in awe... Saturn had always been my favorite planet... I even drive a saturn.. yes... and I was looking at the real thing. Humbled.

 I just have to say, even given the bad rap some of these dept store scopes get ( and some probably are really, really bad ) You are likely mostly limited in low quality eyepieces. The scope probably is halfway decent even at any size or price. Try upgrading there first and see what happens. If your still not happy, you were probably concidering a better scope anyway and you will already have eyepieces. At the very least, you will still have your serious interest peeked and looking for more. I am certainly no expert, but It did for me.

I am still waiting to get out and experience first light with my new scope. Time is everything.

I have talked too much... I just wanted to share my little story. Thanx for listening!

 Hey, no, it's a great account.

I wish I had some decent eyepieces that fit into my toy store refractor in the beginning.  Now that I have a better scope with better eyepieces, they, 1.25" barrel eyepieces, don't fit into the 0.965" barrel little refractor!  I'll bet the objective lenses on these things are halfway decent.

my first dime store scope was a meade 114 reflector on an eq mount 150 dollars it has china all over it although it is pretty good at looking at the moon 1000mm focal length the mount is flimsey , my second scope was a meade etx 70 < yes money burns a hole in my pocket> i bought it before knowing about focal lengths or apeture , but the electric tracking is cool . then came the camera bug minolta 700si with way too many lenses and tripods . now back to scopes another etx60 because i couldnot pass up the deal . bushnell voyager 6in dob  another good deal i could not pass up sony digital slr because i can use ALL my minolta lenses , an old pair of ashi pentax 10-50 , m3 6x30 military and old tasco.10-50 . . thats it for now ..... wants 8 in lxd75 8acf..