Don’t listen to the critics- you’re doing a great job 👏

Trevor you are 100% spot on. A beginner isn’t worried about aperture eyepieces or collimation. They want to see something! That is what will hook them and reel them in. They won’t notice the “flaws” that come from gaining experience. It’s the curiosity that develops that will determine if someone wants to stick around the hobby, and a lot of folks won’t. And there is nothing wrong with that, sitting in the dark with a telescope isn’t for everyone.
As for your reputation with a biased review, I’ve watched your channel since close to the start of it. If someone thinks poorly of what you do here then that is their problem, and they can move along. You have given nothing but sound advice in your channel, that if someone follows it will have years of enjoyment out of the hobby. You do good work here, and have many fans who appreciate it.

Series idea. Go through the moon phases and explain the craters and mountains. Kinda like a follow along.
Absolute beginner and I know there are names and stories Bout it all.

I am an assistant for our club’s beginners telescope class. I have learned that it’s better to let new folks experience the struggle. I tend to want to “rescue” them i.e. give them a red dot, switch out their mount for a better one, etc.   I discovered that when I rescue by giving them upgraded equipment, they still might end up not genuinely wanting to continue in astronomy. Where if I let them struggle, it reveals whether or not they really want to keep going. Those that really want to are going to express frustration and make comments to indicate that they have real desire to pursue astronomy, but their equipment is hindering them. CA second thing I learned is that I need to be more dignifying when new folks join the class with inadequate equipment. It is very off-putting when I immediately criticize what they spent their hard-earned money on.

Disregard the naysayers. We wanted to learn the sky and not have technology take over. After years of talking about it, last year my  husband and I got started in amateur astronomy with the Apertura 8” Newtonian.  Soon we were so frustrated with it that it just about killed our interest. After watching  Ed Ting’s and your reviews of the SVBony 520 we decided to give it a try. It was less expensive and appeared to be much more convenient to use than our first purchase. Yes, SVB520 is a bit shaky, but it’s so simple to set up and get going. At some point we’re likely to upgrade, but for now it serves us well. It even inspired us to keep working with the Newtonian. Your channel is so helpful and informative. Thank you for your clear and well developed programs.

Took the red pill and went down the rabbit hole to understand what telescope would be suitable for me. Wound up getting the Sky-Watcher Heritage 150p so I could easily transport it to my cottage and enjoy bordle 2 skys. I enjoyed visual astronomy so much I purchased a ZWO 676 mc planetary camera and got some amazing photos of the moon and Saturn. This scope is definitely something you can grow with and get excellent results if you take the time to collumate it properly with a cheshire eyepiece.

I was a beginner a few years ago and ended up buying a 70/400 ( hobby killer ) from amazon as I lacked knowledge. It was a terrible scope, terrible mount, terrible eyepieces and as much as it was terrible, I had some good times trying to find planets and observing the moon ( before knowing about phone apps like stellerium,etc ) . I think your advice is important to beginners

I started with a tasco 40mm in the 70s and a fixed zoom eyepiece,never stopped me👍

Just got my ad8 with some explore scientific eyepieces. Last week was the the first time I used it and it was a moonless sky so I was looking at stars. Accidentally found saturn. It was breathtaking. Gap between the planet and rings. It was awesome.
Highly recommended. Have been watching the moon this week as the shadow crawls across. So much fun!

My begineer telescope was f70060 , i always wasn't considered about aperture this that i wanted to see that what can I view from this telescope , you nailed it

The personality and experience of the newcomer to telescopes determines the 'stick-to-itiveness' of the enterprise.  I had a Tasco with the 'steadying arm' which worked, but anyone with that experience knows it as fair at best.  Yet, I went on to purchase other scopes, having learned the weaknesses, and have persevered in the hobby.  The optics are never the problem, nor the focuser or the cheap, narrow, Huygens or Kellner eyepieces. It's the ability to slew at a steady angle and to fine-control the search.  This means the mounts are the destroyer sof the zeal and excitement.   l loved that Tasco and wish I still had it.  I'd be a beast with it now. 😀

Another great video and I agree. As do you, I think that it should be a small well-made instrument with a red dot finder, and buy a good guide to the sky, such as Terence Dickinson's NightWatch.  Throw in Mom and Dad or another reliable adult, and you're good to go.  By the way, while it costs about $800, the Canon 12x36 II Image Stabilized binocular is terrific for stargazing. The Image stabilization is the best of the three Canon IS models that I own.  And during the daytime it's great for birdwatching and sporting events.

my first scope was a tasco 4.5 inch reflector on an eq mount,  i read the manual until it got dark then went out side and looked at saturn and i was hooked,  that was 1979,   i still have it and i still use it,  fortunately after a year or two i decided to buy a better eyepiece, a celestron 25 mm kelner .96,  it still gives me great views of the usual bright objects.

I see many used telescopes for sale with the ad saying "hardly used" or "like new".  I agree with your points in this video but I think one downfall is not knowing what to look at.  After viewing the moon and maybe a planet the newbie often doesn't know what to point their scope at.  It then heads to the closet and eventually the yard sale.  I have no idea how this could be addressed but perhaps the beginner telescope needs some documentation on where to find interesting objects.

I work at a scope store - one of the very few in the entire country!  And we discourage people from buying the tabletop dobs for exactly the reasons you said.  If they do have a nice sturdy, steady table, then yeah, sure, a tabletop dob can be for them.  But we make sure we specifically talk about this and clear that hurdle first.  

We're not a dealer for SvBony, and I agree with you that that SV520 is a really nice beginner scope, especially at the price point.  But the best beginner scope, and the number 1 seller in the store, is the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX102AZ.  Yup, it's twice the price as that SvBony, but talk about making the experience frictionless - the StarSense Explorer app is amazing!  It just doesn't get easier than that.

I hesitate to use this phrase, but when it comes to recommending a first telescope to a beginner, I point to "sex appeal." That's the only way I can describe it. I would encourage every beginner to google "best beginner telescope" and then choose the telescope they think looks the "sexiest" to them. After all, "how sexy are they" is not only how we choose our mate, but also the criterion we use for every purchase we make, whether it's a smartphone, a car, or a house. We become obsessed with the way something looks, and that makes us want to have it in a very powerful way. Nobody can talk us out of it. If I, as an experienced amateur astronomer, have a dozen reasons to argue against a particular telescope that someone else thinks is sexy, my advice will undoubtedly prove useless. Because even if they heed my advice and buy the telescope that I recommend, they'll resent the fact that they purchased a telescope that wasn't as sexy as the one they wanted in the first place. My experienced opinion may be the very thing that drives them out of the hobby, because, after following my advice, they still feel like they would have been happier with what they believed was the "sexier" telescope. Thus, I believe that if we truly want beginners to succeed in the hobby, we need to "give the people what they want." Let them choose the telescope they are obsessed with. If it's a good telescope, then maybe they will thrive as a backyard astronomer. If it's a bad telescope, they'll either learn from their mistake and replace it with something better (like we did), or else they'll exit the hobby right away, because they really didn't care that much about backyard astronomy in the first place. Divorce is not necessarily a bad thing. We can learn from our mistakes and move on to a better life with someone who makes us happier. In the same way, perhaps backyard astronomy wasn't a good fit for the ones who exited after buying a sexy hobby-killer telescope. Maybe they'll move on to a new hobby that makes them happier. To which we should all say, with no disrespect, "Good for them! They finally found what they were looking for!"

I also agree with all your points. My most used scope lately is actually my high quality 80mm f/7.7 refractor on an alt az mount (even though I also have a 5" tabletop dob, 8" SCT and a 10" dob). I can get it out the door and be observing in no time, no fussing about with anything else. So a low(ish) cost but adequately mounted 70mm refractor is a great recommendation for a beginner. They're not going to care about CA anyway. Commenters like you mentioned are probably much worse for beginners than that scope!

Trevor you make a lot of great points. As a tabletop reflector owner for my first scope, I’ve been recommending that over other options. But I was sold on the hobby before even receiving it and was willing to work through and research the issues of collimation and finding a suitable, cost-effective solution to a portable table that was stable enough for viewing in a satisfactory way. The SV520 I think solves a lot of those beginner issues like you said. Great video.

And thanks for your content. It keeps getting better.

My beginner telescope was a 50mm Tasco refractor. It came with a solid but little tripod that needed a table to set up on. It also had a straight through optical finder that was crap but worked...kinda. I got pretty good at pointing and finding objects. I saw a solid Meade tripod and mount for sale a few years back and bought it for that Tasco. For rings, pipe hangers from the hardware store were cheap and perfect. I still bring it out for occasional viewing and exploring the night sky.

Thanks Trevor. I really appreciated your review of the Spectrum 70 mm Mac Cass. I bought one at the bargain price and have been enjoying using it.