Asking for advice

Been reading here and another forum. Posted there, now posting here, looking for advice.

I am in a bind to get something ordered. My parents have decided to give one gift to my three kids this year; a telescope.

A little background: I have 3 kids ages 8, 6/12, 5. The oldest is interested and we thought it would be a great family thing. Yes we could go binoculars, but since it's coming as a gift, may as well go bigger. We do camp, in a pop up. So nice if we had something that we could travel with. We are in CT about 1.5 hours northeast of NYC, up on a hill with trees on 2 sides of the house. Summer would be semi obstructed by leaves on our back deck, winter has a clear view back there. We camp most often in NY, CT, ME, NH and up across the border. There are 5 of us, so we are packed to the gills when we camp. Being able to bring camping is not a necessity, but a nicety. I have been gifted a 350.00 budget plus shipping. Hubby knows a bit about the sky, I am clueless, can pick out the moon, but interested in doing something with my kids. Kids are typical, very, very active, especially when they are together. It's like having 4 year old triplets many times. And of course, they have limited patience.

I have narrowed it down to 2 telescopes. I am looking at the Celestron 130mm GoTo reflector which runs 350.00 and comes complete with a GoTo system. To me, the pros of this are that the kids can punch something in and see it. Ease of use may help to keep them interested. Not sure how much we could see though, I worry that they may outgrow. Orion reps recommend this one. Like how it has a tripod thing. Don't see dimensions. Looks easier to move around.

The other is the SkyQuest XT6 Intelliscope. This runs 359.00, we would have to invest an additonal 150.00 for the objest locater. There is a 4.5" but doesn't appear that you can add the object locator. Pros to this in my mind are that I doubt we could outgrow it. Cons are the size, looks like a monster, can't find dimensions on it. Sits on the ground versus tripod. Bulky for camping, harder to hide from theives (sad isn't it!) while camping if we brought it. Space in the family room when not in use may be questionable due to bulk.

As I understand it, the Star Seeker would track for us, the SkyQuest we'd have to bump along. I am just way too undecided. Looking for and appreciate any words of wisdom so I can go ahead and make the purchase. Thanks in advance!

Sandy

The 6 inch is not a big as you think, but plenty big enough to have years of fun with. The object locator is not the first thing you should buy to go with the scope though. A zero-power finder would be more important and the kids once they know how to use it would love it.

I wouldn't be too optimistic on the "ease of use" for the GoTo with young children. Anyway, young children are probably most interested in seeing the moon and planets, and these do not require GoTo - these are visible naked eye, and you want a scope you can just point easily, like a Dobsonian. The tracking IS a nice feature, but "nudging" is not hard, either.

My personal bias is to suggest something like the XT6 (non-Intelliscope), or the XT4.5 or maybe the Starblast, and get the book "Turn Left At Orion" to help you find things. And don't rule out the binoculars completely! A light pair of 8x42 binoculars will be handy for all sorts of purposes, not just astronomy.

The XT4.5 will leave room in your budget for books, is plenty capable, and is small and easy to carry. It's rather short, so you might need a sturdy short platform to use it easily without getting on your knees. It recently topped Sky and Telescope's review of beginner's scopes under $200, and I tend to agree.


Added by edit: I see that "the other Jim" in this thread said most of what I did, but much better. Go read his post instead of this one.

Young kids have limited viewing times.... I'm guessing if they're anything like my various kids and nephews/neices that keeping them all outide after dark (esp in winter) for more than an hour (if that) will be rare.

Anyway, I'm going to be my usual self and disagree a little

First, I'd note that kids (especially young ones) like bright shiny things. That means moon, planets (Saturn and Jupiter), and the Orion Nebula, as well as the occasional star cluster. Yeah, yeah, we all know children who can stare at double stars for days or who dream about that averted-vision DSO. But really those kids are rare.

conclusion #1: prioritize moon/planet viewing

Second, kids like to touch things. 5 and 6.5 year olds kids like to touch things a LOT. Your scope must be durable. You might also appreciate a scope mount which is unlikely to move if bumped.

conclusion #2: durability / ease of use are paramount.

OK, so far I'm agreeing with the above posters that a 4.5" Dob is a nice tool, easily usable by your younger kids as well.

BUT:

Third: Kids like to look through things, and will do it more if they have more opportunity to do so. Dobsonians are great; they're bang for the buck; they're everyone's favorite scope....

Until you have to go backpacking with one.
Or until you have to hide one in your sleeping bag while you're at lunch.
Or until you want to look at terrestrial things in the daytime.
Or until you have to collimate it.

I think for most families who do NOT otherwise have additional optics, a refractor is a nifty scope. The prevailing thought here is that we should all own binocs, and dobsonians, and spotting scopes,. and... but we usually can't afford all of those.

A refractor in the 80mm to 90mm range will be reasonably cheap. It will be portable. And you can use it to look at birds, deer, etc. in the day (which is nice if you don't have a spotting scope).

I have an 8" Dobsonian myself. I have a 12.5" Dob on order. I have a 62mm waterproof shock resistant flourite spotting scope which isn't designed for astronomy, and only has a 45 degree angle.

When I get my 3 year old out viewing, guess which one I always use; guess which ones she loves? It's not the Dob...

I'm going to add an endorsement for the XT4.5
It's big enough to see the "major attractions" fairly well and small enough to be kid friendly and transportable/storable.
Small refractors are a good choice for kids also, but they have to matched to a stable easy to use mount. That adds some bulk to the equation.
I've taken short tube refractors ( on a decent but simple astronomical mount - not a photo tripod) and my XT4.5 to public viewing sessions and the kids seem to take more of a shine to XT4.5.

The "go to" and "push to" scopes do have some intrinsic advantages but they are not fail safe and many require power to be operational. This could be a big disadvantage when you're out in nature for an extended stay.
Kids also tend to have interests that change over time. I've learned that all you can do is strike a spark and hope the flame catches somewhere and sometime. From what I've observed it doesn't seem to matter if it's a big spark, small spark, expensive spark, or economical spark. Remember the old stories about how some high tech/expensive toys get pushed aside so the kids could play with the box?
Larry

Well, I have gotten very differing opinions; those public here and elsewhere and some private ones as well and appreciate everything that has been said.

As of right now, I am leaning towards the xt series and have given up on the goto types mounts. I did read tons today, so much my eyes hurt right now, and seems like with so many things, simpler is better. I have given up on my camping requirement, looking only to home use for this gift. I will look for a pair of binoculars and bring that while camping. If the kids get really into it, we could always purchase something inexpensive and easily portable later on.

My husband spoke to a good friend of his, come to find out he has the XT8i and highly recommends it. 2 of his kids are the same age as ours. He went bigger as he has more light pollution where he lives in a busier city by the shore as well as a better financial base than we do. He did say he has not yet used his intelliscope but he did purchase it.

I spoke to Orion again today, got hold of a really wonderful gal and we spoke of all the options in our price range. I did forward all the info off to my parents, cost of all the scopes, the intelliscope, shipping. We'll see what happens. Best case scenario, they say go for it all, worse case scenario, they only want to buy the scope in which case we wait to get the intelliscope but I do think I would buy the 'i' series just to have that option.

So, now on to accessories that I will need for this beast. I have been told to get a telrad, is that similar or better than the Orion finder? I will buy the sky map. If they bought the scope and shipping, I was leaning towards a barlow as well? Good/bad? And will I need a moon filter?

Thanks again. Glad todays responses were so much nicer than what greeted me this morning. To be honest, I came quite close to asking to have my sign in deleted. Glad I didn't.