Telescopes and Binoculars »
The kids started school Monday. I also purchased some binoculars Monday. Recently I had read about Mars being the closest to Earth it has been in 60,000 years or something, so figured I needed to make a little effort to check it out. I didn't know anything about telescopes other than what I learned in Can't Buy Me Love, so off to Google I went.
One of the sites that came up had a great FAQ on purchasing amateur telescopes. It's pretty lengthy, but it goes into a lot of detail. Specifically, it talks about starting out with a decent pair of binoculars instead of a telescope (unfortunately, it's no longer available online at the prior link). Apparently the department store telescopes that many people buy for $100 or so aren't really worth your effort - and to get a decent telescope is pretty expensive! I did some more searching, and the general consensus was the same: Start with binoculars.
