Reddit reviews Celestron - PowerSeeker 70EQ Telescope - Manual German Equatorial Telescope for Beginners - Compact and Portable - BONUS Astronomy Software Package - 70mm Aperture

$100 enjoy!

With that price point it's pretty hard. here are some options that you may want to consider, http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21037-PowerSeeker-70EQ-Telescope/dp/B001592LFC/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1462242322&sr=8-18&keywords=telescope

http://www.amazon.com/Meade-Instruments-Infinity-Refractor-Telescope/dp/B00LY8JVZC/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1462242120&sr=8-16&keywords=telescope

Also, if you pick him up a new telescope, depending on what you spend within your budget, you might want to get him an eyepiece to go with it. Or even a moon filter since I'm sure that will be one of his main targets living in a high-rise in downtown Chicago. I hope this helps.

man i am and i think its just convoluting my decision! everything looks great lol

here are the two i'm really liking right now, any opinion between them?

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21035-70mm-Travel-Scope/dp/B001TI9Y2M/ref=sr_1_4?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1373176171&sr=1-4&keywords=telescope

^carrying case, kind of thick (i have a complex ok)

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21049-127EQ-PowerSeeker-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNKY/ref=sr_1_3?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1373176171&sr=1-3&keywords=telescope

badass looking as well.. but maybe not compact enough to move around?

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21037-PowerSeeker-70EQ-Telescope/dp/B001592LFC/ref=sr_1_5?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1373176171&sr=1-5&keywords=telescope

idk pics show it zooming into the moon a lot

$100 is pretty low. This one is as good as it gets:
http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21037-PowerSeeker-70EQ-Telescope/dp/B001592LFC/ref=pd_ybh_7?pf_rd_p=280800601&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_i=ybh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1A6YCH6PAHMWK6M2XAV3

I used my telescope and I put my iphone camera right up to the eye piece. It's kind of hard to keep it steady but with some practice you can get it.

The telescope isn't even that expensive. It's similar to this one.

As I said, a used 70/700 refractor on EQ mount would do the trick.

It's not a overly great set-up, but you can get these often for around or under $20. (Don't buy one new, it's not worth it)


Just as a suggestion based on your post that you don't want to spend a lot of money. For tinkering, such a 3" refractor is a neat gadget! (Look at me, no mount!)

Don't bother with smaller (e.g. 40, 50mm) refractors, these days all of the recently made ones are basically toys.

 


Guide to used cheap telescopes for $20!

• It may look like there are hundreds of different telescopes out there, but there are really always the same things in different colors and combination.
  
  
• You'll find refractors of various sizes (60mm, 70mm, rarely larger), and reflectors (typically 76mm, 114mm aperture).
  
  
• You'll find the fork mount of doom, and the EQ mount of instability (the fancy looking ones).
  
  So you'll mostly find two size of telescopes on two different kind of mounts and slight variations.
  
  
  
  
• Example of typical telescope offers (all brands have similar ones. Please do not buy for these prices, they are not a recommendation.)
  
  
• 70/700 on EQ or camera-mount-style tripod. (WORTH: $20 or so. Examples: EQ, AZ) - Not for that price though! You could almost get some different NEW telescope that's better.
  
  
  
• 60mm aperture, often 700mm focal length, EQ1: Weak, small. For $10 can be fun to play around with. Not the $40 price-tag though. (WORTH: $10-$20 perhaps Example link, another)
  
  
• Typical 60mm refractor on fork mount. Size-wise they can be nice to tinker, but the accessories are always bad. The dreaded (plastic) fork mount is impossible to adjust. The typical "525x magnification" marketing nonsense. (Worth: $5? Example link)
  
  
  
  
• 50mm toy scope on weak mount, useless accessories, avoid (Worth: Build a time machine and prevent it from ever being sold, making a poor kid sad at Christmas. example link)
  
  
• While a smaller reflector (like this Worth <$20) can be nice for visual, they lack the back-focus to really use with a camera in prime focus. A "barlow" can extend the focal-length slightly, but you'll invest even more money into a poor telescope set. A long 114/900 is a nice telescope for visual... If it weren't for the mount. Still, if you can get one for under $50, it can be worth tinkering, even regarding imaging. Avoid the Powerseeker 114 and Astromaster 127, these shorties have flawed optics.
  
  Also beware, older and very cheap telescopes only have a 0.965" focuser, making it difficult to attach to a camera (1.25" is more common, 0.965" has more vignetting, etc.).
  
  These are my opinions on what I would spend, and don't apply universally. You can't always find a $10 bargain in your region of course, but before you invest, say, $70 on a used telescope, you could get a refurbished 4" table-top telescope that's at least sturdy and somewhat capable of showing stuff.
  
   
  
  Camera+Tracking on the cheap
  
  For more ambitious low-budget (but high-DIY) deep-sky imaging, a barn-door tracker could do the trick. Nice deep-sky images don't need a big telescope, but long exposures. Commercial star-trackers are a thing but of course more expensive. Used, weak EQ-Tracking mounts can be found in the classifieds but are of course a more bulky solution and don't support large optics well.