If you're an amateur astronomer who needs to buy a first telescope, or an old hand who's interested in replacing your existing one, deciding what to purchase can be tricky. There are lots of models on the market, from various brands and running the gamut of prices from fifty dollars to five thousand. Which is the right telescope for you? Using telescope reviews can help you find out.
Two Types of Review
There are two major types of telescope review. The first kind is that written by a person who bought a particular brand or model of telescope, and is often found on customer opinion sites, or in the opinion section under the product, when you shop online. The other type of review is done by a professional writer, and is usually in the form of an article. Often, you'll find these in magazines, or on sites dedicated to hobby astronomy. Both of these types of telescope reviews can help you figure out which kind of telescope to buy, but you'll use them differently.
Customer Reviews
This type of review is useful to help you understand the experience that other buyers have had with a given model of telescope. You can find out if there are any consistent problems across the line. However, you should keep in mind the fact that anyone may write one of these telescope reviews. That means that someone who wants to promote the product or someone who wants to put it down for no reason may have inserted multiple positive or negative reviews to skew the ratios. Also, many people only review when they find something wrong. That means that customer reviews of telescopes and other products will tend to focus on the negative. They may also be incoherent or inaccurate. However, if you pay attention to the things that the reviews have in common, and apply them to the specific model or line you're interested in, these telescope reviews can tell you a lot.
Professional Reviews
These telescope reviews are written by professional writers, who are usually being paid to write them. There are also some professional-type reviews written by telescope enthusiasts. You'll probably find them easier to read than many of the reviews written by customers, and may of them go through features, pros, and cons of a model point by point. However, you should remember that bias can be present in these reviews. Since the person writing them is often doing so for pay, there's a good chance they'll focus on the positive. Even if they stick to being objective, there's a danger that these telescope reviews won't be entirely accurate, since the reviewer doesn't usually have time to explore the telescope fully.
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