Orion FunScope Multi-Function Telescope for Kids

Rating:
Summary: Good for children.
Review: I bought this telescope for my 7 year old daughter as a starter. It is small, easy to handle, and seems to be durable. The eyepiece is easy to focus. The only downside is trying to aim it. Overall I am pleased. I would recommend buying the 50x eyepiece (around $10).

Rating:
Summary: Really just a toy - recommend the Orion Starblast instead.
Review: I gave this telescope with the optional 50x eyepiece to my 10 year old neice for Christmas. We took it outside that night and were all thrilled when her dad announced, "Hey, that looks like Saturn!" All the kids came running over and knocked the telescope off kilter. Fifteen minutes later, we had Saturn spotted again and everyone got a look. Sure, it wasn't like the cover of National Geographic, but you could distinctly make out a large, fuzzy blob with a ring around it. Not bad for a kid's scope used in a typical, light-polluted neighborhood. The software that comes with the telescope looked good too.

Rating:
Summary: Good Kid's Scope
Review: I gave this telescope with the optional 50x eyepiece to my 10 year old neice for Christmas. We took it outside that night and were all thrilled when her dad announced, "Hey, that looks like Saturn!" All the kids came running over and knocked the telescope off kilter. Fifteen minutes later, we had Saturn spotted again and everyone got a look. Sure, it wasn't like the cover of National Geographic, but you could distinctly make out a large, fuzzy blob with a ring around it. Not bad for a kid's scope used in a typical, light-polluted neighborhood. The software that comes with the telescope looked good too.

Rating:
Summary: Good Kid's Scope
Review: I gave this telescope with the optional 50x eyepiece to my 10 year old neice for Christmas. We took it outside that night and were all thrilled when her dad announced, "Hey, that looks like Saturn!" All the kids came running over and knocked the telescope off kilter. Fifteen minutes later, we had Saturn spotted again and everyone got a look. Sure, it wasn't like the cover of National Geographic, but you could distinctly make out a large, fuzzy blob with a ring around it. Not bad for a kid's scope used in a typical, light-polluted neighborhood. The software that comes with the telescope looked good too.

Rating:
Summary: Really just a toy - recommend the Orion Starblast instead.
Review: Without the ability to aim the telescope and a decent mounting it is hard (and very frustrating for a kid) to find anything in the night sky. Orion makes a much better product called the Starblast, albeit about twice the price in the FunScope. In contrast to the FunScope, the Starblast gathers more light, has a useful robust mount and includes two eyepieces (x26 and x75). These can be expanded using a x2 Barlow if required. The Starblast also includes a red-dot finder to make it easy to aim the scope. My ten-year old is able to find objects such as Orion's Nebula and faint galaxies two-million light years away (Messier objects 81 & 82) without difficulty. The only caveat with the Starblast is that it is a reflecting scope and does not invert the image to the right way up - thus making it not so useful for terrestrial viewing.