Best Telescope Under 200. What to Avoid!

This buyer’s guide covers what the beginner needs to know and avoid when buying a budget-priced best telescope under 200.

Best telescope for under 200 guide

This telescope buying guide is for entry-level backyard stargazers with a budget of under 200 dollars and covers what to look for in the best starter telescope as well as what to expect in a telescope in this price range.

People look for these cheaper telescopes when seeking gifts for kids or when they’re not wanting to outlay too much in the way of cost for a beginner’s telescope.

Brands of telescopes in the beginner range

There are several brands of telescopes in the budget range. Three well-thought-of brands in the US are:

☞ Celestron

☞ Orion

☞ SkyWatcher

Celestron markets popular telescopes in the US. In operation for over 50 years – since 1960 – it is a reputable brand name. Orion is another such brand, which has been around for over 40 years. SkyWatcher is another, but you’re not likely to find this brand in the lower price range for telescopes.

Learn more about these brands at >>> my article on Orion vs Celestron vs Skywatcher telescopes.

Best beginner telescope under 200

What are the best telescopes for beginners? A Dobsonian will fit this bill of the best beginner telescope because it involves a simple setup, and for the price, it offers a larger aperture for greater light gathering compared to that of others.

A Dobsonian has many advantages for beginner amateur astronomers.

In any case, as a novice, you’ll probably want the best affordable telescope to learn the technicalities of night sky watching before moving on to something more sophisticated.

Here are four examples in this price range…

#1. Orion StarBlast Astro reflector telescopes

Here are two reflector telescopes for beginners from Orion: a compact Dobsonian telescope and a Newtonian telescope in the StarBlast range.

While they are both reflectors with mirrors rather than lenses, a Dobsonian and a Newtonian reflector differ in regard to their telescope mounts. Dobsonian optical tubes sit on a simple mount that rotates — best explained by the diagrams in my article about the different types.

Both have 4.5″ Aperture — a primary mirror size of 114 mm (4½”).

Limiting stellar magnitude — These particular scopes are rated to view a faint object to 12.9 magnitudes (see my article explaining the magnitude scale of bright stars to fainter objects).

One of the chief defects of so-called beginners’ telescope is inadequate jiggly mounts that make aiming the instrument an exercise in frustration. An economical and effective alternative is the simple and stable Dobsonian mount…

Orion Dobsonian — Tabletop

Viewing experience — The manufacturer claims that with this Dobsonian you’ll get clear views of lunar craters and plains, and observation of planets, bright nebulas, and galaxies. It’s best for deep-sky objects, such as Messier Objects rather than planetary details.

Alt-azimuth mount — Of all the mount types that I’ve explained, this one is a tabletop version of the Dobsonian type of mount, which offers the benefits of smooth altazimuth movement for manual tracking of celestial objects.

Pros

✓ Takes only a few minutes to set up

✓ Red dot helps with finding and lining up objects into sight

✓ Affordable price

✓ Compact and portable (Wanting more options on lightweight portable telescopes? Check out this article here.)

Cons

x You are limited to use on a table or similar structure – (you could later consider investing in a sturdy tripod)

x Could do with a padded carry bag

x To track planets you need to continually adjust position (vs automated adjustment with a computerized mount)

x Not a telescope for astrophotography (computerized telescopes are best in this case). But you can do simple moon shots.

Where to buy:

☞ Buy Now from Orion Telescopes

☞ Also at Amazon — See latest price (affiliate link)

Orion reflector telescope with equatorial mount

Viewing experience — Best for viewing larger-form distant objects rather than planetary details. It comes with Sirius Plössl eyepieces with focal lengths of 25 mm (1″) and 10 mm (0.4″) giving 18× and 45× views.

Pros

• Price
• Sight for easy finding of objects
• Comes with a cap to collimate your telescope

Cons

• Tripod not the sturdiest

Where to buy:

☞ Buy Now from Orion Telescopes

☞ Also at Amazon — See latest price (affiliate link)

Other Orion telescope options – 300 dollars or thereabouts

Compare the above two to other beginner telescopes by this brand.

The Orion SkyQuest (4.5″ full Dobsonian) and the Astroview (90 mm refractor) are suggestions in the 300 dollar range or thereabouts at the Orion Telescope shop and Amazon. If you click the links, you’ll get the latest at Amazon. It’s worth checking the prices because they tend to change and at times they are well discounted (e.g. Black Friday Sales).

#2. Celestron telescopes

Here are two telescopes around this price range from Celestron: a Newtonian reflector telescope in the PowerSeeker series and a refractor telescope in the AstroMaster series.

Celestron Newtonian with German equatorial mount

Viewing experience — It comes with eyepieces with focal lengths of 20 mm (0.8″) and 4 mm (0.16″) giving 45× and 225× views. Just know that the maximum limit of magnification for the telescope is 269×. So, coupling the included 3× Barlow lens with the 4 mm will give a result outside the maximum limit.

Pros

✓ Easy to set up

✓ Affordable price

✓ Compact and portable

Cons

✓ Tripod lightweight build can tend to be shaky

Where to buy:

☞ At Amazon — See latest price (affiliate link)

Celestron AstroMaster refractor telescope

This refractor telescope has a 2.75″ (70 mm) aperture. The tripod is full height. With a focal length of 900 mm (35″), it has a focal ratio of 13. You can see the calculation for the focal ratio on my tools page.

Viewing experience — It comes with eyepieces with focal lengths of 20 mm (0.8″) and 10 mm (0.4″) giving 45× and 90× views. The maximum magnification limit of the telescope is 165x.

Pros

✓ Quick setup

✓ Doubles as a terrestrial telescope by day

✓ Compact and portable

Cons

✓ Compact for portability but with the 3′ optical tube length, it is not the best for air travel.

✓ Mount can be sticky when trying to adjust to track objects such as planets as their view moves across the sky

✓ Lightweight tripod

Where to buy:

☞ At Amazon — See latest price (affiliate link)

Now…on to what to avoid…

What to avoid in telescopes under 200 dollar range

Here’s my list of what to avoid when you have a limited budget for a telescope.

Flimsy tripods

• Avoid cheap flimsy tripods. The type that wobble every time you adjust your telescope will create much frustration.
• What you can do is replace the one that comes with your telescope with a sturdy tripod – here’s my article on what you can do about a flimsy tripod.
• This might be a good option, but you should weigh up the costs overall and the quality of the telescope itself.

Complex controls

• Avoid complexity. Choosing a telescope with a simple mount will save you $$$ as well as frustration.
• If you’re a beginner you don’t have to coordinate too many controls with a simple setup as found with Dobsonian telescopes.
• The Altazimuth (or alt-az), which is used with a Dobsonian, allows for manual tracking of objects with the Earth’s rotation on a two-axis basis (altitude and azimuth).

Cheap quality

• Trash buys. There a wide range of “trash buy” options available for under 200 dollars. But as a choice for beginners, if your budget limit is 200, my best advice is to avoid the toy telescopes.
• The cheaper refractors for instance involve issues – read more here.
• They will end up causing frustration and not being used. Save your money until you have enough $$ for a choice that will give you great views.

Low quality extras

• Pinning your choice on the extras. Don’t make the inclusion of extras your deciding factor.
• You might find these extras, eg a Barlow lens, with these telescopes under $200 are cheaply made and won’t perform as well as could be expected with better quality.
• You can always get extra eyepieces or a Barlow lens when you can afford them at a later time.

Unrealistic expectations

• Overdoing your expectations. You should consider your intended purpose and your expectations. Why do you want a telescope?
  • Do you want to observe the finer details of the moon or planets?
  • Are you wanting to view large faint objects like galaxies?
  • Do you want a telescope that is lightweight and portable?
  • Are you interested in astrophotography? My research and experience suggest that the ideal astrophotography setup is way above this entry-level price range in telescopes.

Consider whether you want to outlay more to meet your expectations or start with something within your budget and gain confidence before making that larger outlay.

You’ll find more on this in my article that looks at the different telescope features.

Automatic positioning and tracking

If you want a telescope with automatic positioning (Go-Tos), you’ll find I cover these in my article that looks at telescopes for viewing planets. You’ll pay more for these types of telescopes.

With a budget that’s under 200, your option is a telescope with manual positioning.

A manual way of positioning is fine. It just means you’ll need to know the positions of celestial objects at specific times at your location and set your telescope up to target accordingly.

As a beginner, this is a good way to broaden your knowledge of astronomy and there are ample sky maps online, amateur astronomy books, and apps that can help you out.

Final thoughts on best telescopes under 200

I hope you’ve gleaned some understanding of what’s on offer when seeking the best telescope for beginners under $200.

Again…what’s the best telescope to buy? Answer: One that you’ll use. No joke. Whether you’re looking for the best budget telescope for beginners, top-rated telescope for advanced users, or a telescope for kids, this principle applies.

One that’s enjoyed and gets used the most is the best telescope to buy.

Experienced amateur astronomers, including Terence Dickinson, consider Dobsonian telescopes to be the best telescopes for beginners because they are easy to set up and use. These factors also make them an ideal telescope type for kids.

If you are on a tight budget, apart from a cheap telescope, you could instead consider getting a good set of binoculars for astronomy instead.

Info sources

1. Dickinson, T. 2019. NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. (affiliate link) Firefly Books.
2. Celestron User Manual