Has anyone seen or heard about the Bushnells ??

The 4.5" Newtonian "talking" GOTO looks really attractive for a real beginner scope for less than $200!

I'm especially looking for anyone who has looked through a recent Bushnell reflector or heard from a friend.

Thanks.

Jeffrey:

This is how I see it:

Historically Bushnell scopes have been subpar, the sort of stuff that comes with 0.965 inch eyepieces and the like.

Personally I try to get a beginner started with a scope that is easy to use and has good quality optics rather than one that walks and talks.

Optics and electronics both cost money. When trying to buy an effective decent quality scope that is inexpensive, optics must come first.

The talking scope routine goes like this:

Telescope says: "Enter the number of the Messier object you wish to see"

User pushes M76

Scope slews to the location of M76.

Scope responds with:

"This scope is now pointed directly at M76. Unfortunately due to a number of limitations in the manufacture of this telescope which include but are not limited to poor quality eyepieces, sloppy and shaky mount, poor quality mirror, you will be unable to see M76.

Choose another object."

Thats my story and I ain't changing it..

jon

NO! Anything but BUSHnell!

Had some Bushnell stuff, looked through friend's Bushnell stuff, and I have never seen anything I would want to keep. You don't have to spend a lot more to get something that you will really enjoy. Better to invest in something worthwhile than to throw away some money to get frustrated.

I'll put in my two cents here as well. A friend of a friend bought this scope knowing nothing about astronomy. The only thing he knew was his wonder of the sky. If only I had gotten to him first!!!!

I do have to say though, when I first became interested in astronomy, I took my time before I made a purchase. There are a lot of impulse buyers out there and large manufactures of telescopes know this. Sometimes I blame myself for not guiding a friend to spending his or her money wisely, but then again sometimes the friend never asks......