The most aperture per euro, and an alignment to keep
A Newtonian reflector puts a curved mirror at the bottom of an open tube and a small flat mirror near the top to send the light out to the side, and because a mirror needs only one polished surface instead of four, it buys more aperture for the money than any other design. Aperture is the figure that matters: it decides how much light arrives and how fine a detail can be separated, and no eyepiece recovers what the opening did not collect. What the design asks in return is collimation — the two mirrors have to be aimed at each other, and a tube that has been moved will drift out of true. It is a five-minute job with the right tool and a permanent irritation without one. Two more figures belong in the reading. The secondary obstruction, given as a percentage of the aperture, takes a little contrast out of planetary views; a photographic Newtonian carries a larger one than a planetary tube by design, not by accident. And the focal ratio sets both the field of view and how demanding the tube is of its eyepieces — fast mirrors below f/5 show coma at the edge and reward better glass. Read the mirror coating the maker publishes, and read the tube length against the boot of the car that has to carry it. We compare aperture, focal length and ratio, optical design, mirror coating, secondary obstruction, focuser type, tube length, collimation access, mount supplied and supplied accessories.
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
150 mm mirror · 750 mm focal length · optics only
A 150/750 Newtonian mirror set — primary and secondary — sold on its own, with published surface accuracy and reflectivity figures rather than as a complete telescope.
Best for: Somebody rebuilding or building a Newtonian around a known mirror set
≈ £99 / €99
150 mm aperture · 1400 mm focal length
A 150/1400 Newtonian sold as a complete set with tripod, mount, several eyepieces, a finder, a Barlow and a Moon filter.
Best for: Lunar and planetary observing with real aperture behind it
≈ €190
114 mm aperture · 500 mm focal length
A 114/500 Newtonian on an equatorial mount, supplied with two eyepieces, a 3x Barlow, an LED red dot finder and a smartphone camera adapter.
Best for: Wide, bright views of extended objects rather than high-power planetary work
≈ €199
114 mm aperture · 1000 mm focal length
A 114/1000 Newtonian on an EQ-1 equatorial mount, supplied with four eyepieces, a 2x Barlow, a 5x24 finder and a Moon filter.
Best for: Lunar and planetary observing on a budget, with eyepieces already covered
≈ €259
130 mm aperture · German equatorial mount
A 130 mm Newtonian on a German equatorial mount with slow-motion controls, supplied with two eyepieces, a 1.5x erecting Barlow, a 13 % transmission Moon filter and a phone adapter.
Best for: A second telescope, or a first one for somebody willing to learn an equatorial mount
≈ $270 / £150 / €270
130 mm aperture · smartphone sky recognition
A 130 mm Newtonian on a manual alt-azimuth mount whose dock and app read the star field through the phone camera and steer the observer to a target with on-screen arrows.
Best for: A beginner who wants to see things this month rather than learn to star-hop first
≈ $500 / £399 / €436
130 mm parabolic mirror · 650 mm focal length
A 130/650 Newtonian with a parabolic primary on an EQ-320 mount, with a 1.25 in focuser, a tracking drive and an illuminated LED finder.
Best for: A first serious deep-sky instrument for somebody prepared to collimate it
≈ €409
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.
