Brand
A licensed badge on beginner instruments
On the tabletop Dobsonian, the title carries National Geographic branding while the marketplace brand field reads Bresser. The page records that rather than choosing one, because it is the sort of thing a buyer comparing two listings will notice and want explained.
A 114/900 on an alt-azimuth mount, a 76/350 tabletop Dobsonian and a 76/700 on an equatorial. All three are beginner apertures, and all three publish their focal length — which is what decides the magnification an eyepiece will give.
At this end of the market the mount, not the optics, is what makes or breaks a first night. A tabletop Dobsonian avoids the problem by having almost no mount to shake.
Read the aperture and the mount type. The badge says nothing about either.
114 mm mirror · 900 mm focal length · alt-azimuth mount
A 114/900 Newtonian on a simple alt-azimuth mount, supplied with three eyepieces, a 6x30 finder and a 1.5x erecting lens, recommended by the maker from age eight.
Best for: A family telescope where nobody wants to learn polar alignment
≈ £150 / €142
76 mm aperture · 350 mm focal length
A 76/350 tabletop Dobsonian sold pre-assembled, with two eyepieces, a Barlow and a Moon filter.
Best for: A very compact first telescope for a child or a small flat
≈ £113 / €142
76 mm aperture · 700 mm focal length
A 76/700 Newtonian on an equatorial mount, supplied with three eyepieces, an erecting lens, a 3x Barlow, a Moon filter and a smartphone holder.
Best for: A first equatorial telescope that has to be light enough to move fully assembled
≈ £223 / €166
Any figure written into the body of this page was true on the day it was written. The amount shown next to each instrument is requested from the retailer as the page loads, and it is that amount, not the text, that stands.
