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That seems to be the amount at which most people move from being occasional stargazers in the backyard, to more serious astronomers, who regard this as a main hobby.
Also, few people want to spend more than this on a gift for a friend or relative, and if you are buying for the kids, you don’t want to spend too much on something they may not use much after the first few days, or bust.
Top quality telescopes under $200 can be a great option for beginning stargazers, without needing a significant financial investment since they offer exciting views of the nighttime skies.
As a beginner astronomer when you must make a decision as to what’s a great telescope to buy, you should take into account several variables such as the caliber of pictures generated by the telescope and its own cost.
Many of us do not enjoy spending too much cash at the very first phase of an avocation. Too frequently, the beginners waste hundreds of dollars in pursuit of the maximum-rated telescope. The most effective budgeted telescopes typically offer sound views of the nighttime skies.
For more recommendations on the best telescope under $300 for you, read our guide.
Who Are the Ideal Users of This Product?
Astronomy has become a hobby for many people and the telescope is a tool to study the sky. People who have an extreme interest in astronomy purchases telescope to view the sky more closely.
It is not only used by professional astronomers, but many amateurs astronomers also use a telescope to view the sky and enjoy the celestial objects in it. They don’t have a professional degree but they want to explore the universe because of their high interest.
Telescopes are also used by the people who assist the professional astronomers in their analysis.
Telescope Under 200$ :Comparison Table
| Product Name | Magnification | Lens | Field OF View | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celestron 127EQ | 50x | 127mm | 0.8 Degree | Check Price |
| Celestron 21061 | 165x | 70mm | 1.1 Degree | Check Price |
| Celestron PowerSeeker | 45x | 80mm | 1.06 Degree | Check Price |
| Celestron 21063 | 50x | 90mm | 1.0 Degree | Check Price |
| Celestron 31042 | 50x | 114m | 0.9 Degree | Check Price |
Top 5 Best Telescope Under 200$
While there are many telescopes available under $200, if I wish to spend that amount of money then a most powerful telescope can be found, I would consider three choices.
1. Celestron 127EQ PowerSeeker Telescope
The Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ is mainly aimed at enthusiastic amateur astronomers looking to get their very first telescope, supplying them with a robust instrument to learn more about marvels and the beauty of the nighttime skies.
It’s a Barlow lens that magnifies the image up to three times. It’s an aluminum tripod stand alongside an equatorial mount and an accessory tray. The aperture is all about 127 mm as well as the focal length is 1000mm.
Besides optical characteristics, the 127EQ PowerSeeker boasts simple, no-tool assembly and simple item tracking. As the report indicates, consumers do have the capability to view things like Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and nebulae.
Besides being among the finest- costing around $200 and just reviewed telescopes on our website, they’re always of high quality, as you’d anticipate from Celestron: an award winning brand with over 50 years of expertise in this domain.
Overall, the 127EQ PowerSeeker is among the absolute best sellers in the reflectors group using a cost of less than $200. Read the Full Review
What do we like about it?
The wondrous scope is an affordable one and also the best for the beginners. The 127mm aperture makes it easy to view the sky more closely. The durable scope comes with high-quality construction and design.
You can assemble this telescope without the requirement of any tool. The German equatorial mount of the scope helps in accurate and smooth pointing with the help of its slow-motion control rod. You can mount it anywhere without any trouble by tightening its cross knobs.
This scope is lightweight and portable, which makes it easy to take it anywhere, be it camp-site or your backyard.
What Else?
With amazing features, you also get additional accessories by purchasing this telescope. It comes with a 4mm and 20mm eyepieces plus a 3x Barlow lens. The scope is backed up with a 2-year warranty and lifetime technical support from the manufacturers, which makes this scope quite an ideal choice for astronomy.
What don’t we like?
This scope is excellent but, it requires more care and maintenance as it is quite delicate. The image quality of this scope is not that impressive, so the eyepiece has to be upgraded.
2. Celestron 21061 AstroMaster 70AZ Refractor Telescope
The Celestron AstroMaster 70 comes in a fine gunmetal blue/gray finish, making it seem just that little bit different to the rest of the black ‘scopes you uncover in the marketplace. It is a lightweight, simple to use refractor telescope that a kid could set up.
The 2.6-inch lens of the Celestron AstroMaster 70 might appear modest when measured against the gaping maw of a larger Newtonian telescope, but it gets more than enough light for some really amazing lunar seeing sessions for example.
When it comes to eyepieces you get two Plossl components with a 45 respectively and x, each one of these lenses coated to supply clear and vivid pictures and to help prevent any possible problems you might have with chromatic aberration.
All in all, The Celestron 21061 AstroMaster 70 AZ Refractor Telescope is a simple to keep, kid-friendly telescope with functionality that is more than sufficient for anybody interested in doing little back yard skies observing. It is among the single most popular beginner’s telescopes available on the market now. Read the Full Review
What do we like about it?
This scope has a simple design and is also easy to operate. The 70mm glass optics with an objective lens of the telescope helps to examine the sky more clearly with fantastic close-up views.
It is quite light-weighted and comes with an alt-azimuth mount, which makes it easy for the newbies to point-and-view the sky smoothly.
This scope is easy to assemble without any tools.You can grab this scope and go anywhere to enjoy the observing sessions. It is fun to use with family and also helps to improve the astronomy skills of the beginners.
What else?
The reflector telescope also comes with a 20mm and 10mm eyepieces, a travel tripod, a red dot finder scope, and a starry night basic edition software to make your astronomical experience more excellent. Moreover, this telescope is backed up with a 2-year warranty too.
What don’t we like?
The tripod of the telescope is too short, so it might be a difficulty for long people to use this scope. This telescope is not suitable for seeing long-distance objects. It is less powerful than the other scopes.
3. Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope
The Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope is a telescope made to supply first-time buyer an ideal combination of value, quality, attributes and power.
This really is just another product in the Celestron Poweseeker chain of telescopes which boasts 900 mm of focal length and an 80 mm aperture. 3X Barlow lenses are also sported by both eyepieces for crystal clear pictures and great magnification power.
The Powerseeker 80 EQ Telescope additionally includes a German equatorial mount, among the most effective attributes of the item in other specialists’ view, as it permits the user to easily and effortlessly follow celestial objects as they go in the heavens.
Besides the quite convincing Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope cost, the product is extremely nicely constructed, with top quality parts and an extremely appealing group of lenses and eyepieces.
Possibly you will not be able to see the skies that is strong in the first night of use, but with some stargazing practice and the right alterations, you’ll be able to see some planets, the Moon and some intriguing stars.
If you’re still not sure astronomy will become the love of your own life we urge you this product, but you had enjoy give it a go, with a safe monetary investment while also getting to find out the best way to make use of complex, mid – level astronomer technology.
What do we like about it?
The 80mm refractor telescope is portable and compact. It is perfect for professional, amateur astronomers and also for kids to use as it is quite light-weight. The great thing about this telescope is that it can be assembled in a quick and easy way.
You can move the sturdy German equatorial mount smoothly to detect any sky objects with the help of its slow-motion control knobs. The user-friendly features make it easy for beginners to use it without any hassle. It’s all coated glass optical components help to provide an enhanced and bright image to the users.
What else?
You get extra accessories by purchasing this best telescope under $200. It comes with a 3x Barlow lens to triple the power, a 20mm and 4mm eyepieces, erect image diagonal, and a free astronomy software program to download. This excellent telescope is affordable and comes with a 2-year limited warranty.
What don’t we like?
The telescope has a limited power of magnification. You cannot detect smaller celestial objects with its two eyepieces, so you might have to purchase extra powerful eyepiece. The tripod and mount of the scope are lightweight, so it might be hard to balance them properly.
4. ExploreOne Aurora 114MM Reflector Telescope
Here we have ExploreOne 114MM reflector telescope that has a couple of interchangeable eyepieces. As they are changeable, you can use the different eyepiece to see the objects that are not at the same distance. It gives you the magnifications of 20X and 52X. Comparing the eyepieces with the price, you might never find a better one than this.
The tripod of it has the settings to move the telescope side to side and up, down. This is possible because of the slow-motion controls that you have to operate manually. Once the tripod is in full size, you can adjust it anyway. There is an attached accessory tray to hold the extra eyepiece perfectly.
As a beginner, you might have a hard time to locate the objects in the sky. This telescope has included astronomy software that will help you find the moving objects. To be precise with the moving objects, the red dot finder can come as a great help.
What Do We Like About It?
This telescope is a great starter for the kids. Though its features are not that advanced, it will give you a great view of the galaxy. The eyepieces are too good to see and you will have a great viewing experience.
The main reason that you should bring it is its affordable rate. When you are spending much less than $150 to see the real image of the moon and stars, isn’t it worth it?
What Don’t We Like?
The instructions for using this telescope are not well briefed. So, it is necessary to have some basic knowledge of assembling this thing that you haven’t seen before. Another issue that people talked about is its manual operation. But we didn’t find it too difficult.
5. Celestron ExploraScope 22103
Now you can observe details of the moon or deep space objects with the Celestron Explorascope 22103 telescope! It has been perfectly designed with the novice in consideration. With it, you can take a close look at the moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, and all other celestial objects that are up there in the sky.
You do not have to look at the whole surface to find the objects that you want to see. There is a red dot finder-scope activated in it that works automatically and helps you sight the objects in the sky.
You might have thought about how to follow the moving objects in the sky. For this, you can utilize the slow motion rod for following objects and precise pointing properly.
The ExploraScope has everything that an amateur astronomer may need. It comes with a 3X Barlow lens, 2 eyepieces to enhance the power for magnifying, a straight image diagonal, and an aluminum tripod. Moreover, for a guided tour, the Celestron’s SkyPortal app will help you to learn everything that you need to know about the mighty sky.
What Do We Like About It?
As a beginner telescope, the Celestron ExploraScope is perfect. It includes everything that you may need for proper sky viewing. Its durability ensures a long time use without any damage. As its size is small, you are allowed to carry it for night camping or outdoor partying.
What Don’t We Like?
Almost everything in adjusting this telescope is manual. So, before you start seeing the planet, you have to spend time to assemble it. Thus, it takes some time to give you the pleasure to view the sky.
Things to Consider Before Buying the Best Telescopes Under $200
Type of Telescope: There are various types of telescope available, and all of them have distinct designs with different optics to view the sky. Some of the common ones are refractor, reflector, and compound telescope.
The reflector telescope is very common. It is featured with an eyepiece at the end of the telescope and uses mirrors to concentrate incoming starlight. Refractor telescopes use lenses instead of mirrors to focus on the incoming light.
Whereas, a compound telescope is the combination of reflector and refractor telescopes as it features both mirrors and lenses. Choose the telescope that will be perfect for you to observe the sky.
Portable: If you are fond of taking your telescope in various places for study or to examine the sky, then it is recommended to purchase a light-weight and portable telescope. They are quite easy to carry, and you can set up them faster than large telescopes too.
Aperture size: The aperture size of the telescope is one of the significant factors to consider while buying a telescope. The diameter of the lens or mirror is the aperture of the telescope. A larger aperture helps to give a better resolution, and you can view the celestial images in the sky more easily.
Mount: Mounts helps to navigate the sky without any hassle. There are two types of mounts. One is an equatorial mount, which is best for professional astronomers, and another one is altazimuth aperture, which is suitable for beginners. So, if you are a beginner, then an altazimuth aperture will be perfect for you.
Other Features: Telescopes also come with more features like DVDs, accessories, and warranty. If the telescope is backed-up with a lasting warranty, then you can use the telescope for a long time without any worry. Some of them also come with DVDs and other accessories to attract users and to improve their astronomy skills.
These telescopes are, you will notice, both made by the same company, and in the world of value telescopes, Celestron is the market leader, along with Meade. Celestron have gained this reputation for a few simple reasons.
They understand the marketplace. Most people do not want to spend a fortune on a telescope, so Celestron provide a range of lower budget products and sell lots of them, rather than a few expensive telescopes which sell in small numbers.
They provide high quality items for the price. Some cheap telescopes look like a bargain, but are just throwaway items. If you are spending just a few dollars on one, it’s likely to be made of low quality materials, and for a telescope to be worth considering at any price, it has to stay in one piece, and have good quality lenses and mirrors.
Celestron also understands that if you become more serious about astronomy, and you are happy with your $200 telescope, you are more likely to trust the brand and buy a bigger, more expensive Celestron telescope.
All in all
So the best telescopes for under $200 are really quite good ones for beginners, just lacking in a few useful features like computer control or setting circles that make finding and tracking objects that much easier. But these are not essential items to start you off, and if you enjoy astronomy as much as many people do, then you can upgrade as and when you can afford it.
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Hi, Daniel Here! When I’m not busy working at my own startup, you may find me roaming around the Univers and whats beyond our sky, telescope is a must.
