ALDI have a telescope on Special on Sunday

And I disagree with you on that Gordon! When I got the Skylux 2 years ago, my niece-to-be was 8 years old. She grasped the concept of the equatorial mount, image reversal, and how to use the hand controls quite well. Give kids some credit! If they are interested, they will learn.

......presumably with the help of Uncle-to-be Seanie who assembled the scope, balanced it, set the latitude, showed her how to align on Polaris,how to use the controls etc. It can be a different scenario when the parents or relations who give such a gift to a child haven't the remotest idea of how to assemble and use an equatorial mount and in many instances, the instructions with cheap telescopes are woeful. Not all children can pick things up easily either. Here's the story of someone on a group I'm a member of:

"I don''t have the experience of many of our members, but I purchased a 4.5" newtonian on an equatorial mount for my son. He is now 8. I ended up building a dob mount because the EQ was tough for him to use. The dob, on the otherhand, has turned out fine."

This scenario is not unusual by any means.

Gordon

I would partly agree with Gordon on this. Whereas I think equatorials are a must for slightly more advanced amateurs, I have seen how they can be a nightmare for the uninitiated. However I do also feel that although even a semi decent eq mount with slo mo controls can make a cheaper scope much better, a child wont have a chance of using it correctly. Seems even some adults will run into trouble.

Wow, someone really loves themselves...

looks like it :lol:

12" LX200.
6" Intes Mak
4" Celestron Refractor
ETX70
60mm refractor
10x50 binos
7x50 binos
carpets
wooden floor
kitchen sink.

So we're starting the mine's bigger than yours thread are we? :lol:

200mm Skywatcher Reflector
EQ5
70mm Skylux Refractor from Lidl
EQ3
10*50 Meade binos from Lidl
Toucam Pro 2
Tiled Kitchen
2 year old twins
Large overdraft
Receding hairline

Ooh, I like this!

200mm F6 hand built reflector X2
ETX-70
3" Tasco reflector
8-24 X 50 bino's
10 X 50 binos
1 hungry cat called Beenz
1 fiancée
New 1st mortgage
Size 11 feet
10 thumbs
10 toes
Monster of a car loan
2 kitchen sinks!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Seanie.

Ooh, I like this!

200mm F6 hand built reflector X2
ETX-70
3" Tasco reflector
8-24 X 50 bino's
10 X 50 binos
1 hungry cat called Beenz
1 fiancée
New 1st mortgage
Size 11 feet
10 thumbs
10 toes
Monster of a car loan
2 kitchen sinks!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Seanie.

2 kitchen sinks!.... My, aren't we posh!!!...

Give it over or I'll get Jed Glover in here, his list would cross a page or two!

.........or Dave Mc Donald who would say

AP1200 <hehehehehehehehehehehe>