I seem to be finally outgrowing the Sears 60mm refractor I still have from my childhood.

I realize it would never win any awards for its optics, but I have been able to see Saturn nicely, as well as the red spot and moons of Jupiter.

I am looking for something that would at least offer comparable viewing, but under $400 U.S. if possible.

One question I have is this:

Can an astronomical telescope be used as a spotting scope?

We do like to camp and would love to be able to bring the scope to view the stars and wildlife (not at the same time of course).

Following Phil Plaits links, I stumbled across this beast - which seems like it has some decent reviews (but horrid iMac circa 1999 colors):

iOptron Refractor

I also liked the portability of the Meade ETX-80BB for camping, but I am worried it won't live up to the reputation of it's bigger brother.

With varying degrees of difficulty, but I'd say that a spotting scope makes a better astronomical telescope than vice versa. Though you are unlikely to get much more than 45x mag even with a high-end spotting scope. For just casual observing, I'd say a <$200 spotting scope would be fine, though it obviously depends on what you want to look at and what your budget and degree of pickiness is. There's a lot to be said for a cheap refractor and a good pair of binoculars.

I've got a $100 60mm Meade plastic refractor, and the optical quality is adequate, but it would make a poor field spotting scope (hard to transport, image inverted, not very robust).

Goto scopes are kind of a gimmick, IMHO, especially small ones with not enough light-gathering power to see most of what they can point at. I'd avoid the smaller Meades; I had an ETX-90 and it was OK for casual use, but not 4x better than a cheap refractor. A friend has the Celestron NexStar 5 and that's about as small as I'd go for a semi-serious telescope, but I'd hate to carry it around in a camping situation.

Good points, Mike, thanks. I was worried the cheap Meades would be, well, too cheap.

It's the portability (and somewhat ruggedness) of the spotting scopes that really appeal to me. I would also like some flexibility for imaging attachments. I am a hopeless noob in this department, and somehow my conversations at the store get way too expensive too quickly. So it's nice to get some advice from those without a direct financial stake in my decision.

I would most likely never use it more than casually, but it's important to me to be able to use it for seeing the Great Blue Heron as well as the Great Red Spot.

You may want to consider what kind of astro viewing you'll be doing the most of - planetary/lunar vs deep sky. They are certainly not mutually exclusive with any 'scope, but some of the short focal length refractors may not deliver enough magnification to see a lot of the neat fiddly-bits on the planets. I have an older Celestron 80mm F/5 "short tube" refractor - I've never been too keen on it for planetary use, but it's awesome on wide-field deep-sky for the money. Longer focal length refractors will do better with planets, but are not as portable. A small catadioptric like the NexStar5 Mike mentioned would be a good compromise, especially when paired with 10x50 binocs. I often observe while camping, but I don't hike or tent camp, so durability is not so big an issue (on solo trips I take my 12.5" dob, but I do take special care with it). I consider GoTo to be nice, but not a necessity - I am a little "old school" when it comes to that debate- just don't pay any attention to my digital setting circles

If you've been doing any research, you've probably read that you should go to a local astronomy club's observing event and have a look through their equipment. Definitely do this - if there's one thing we club members love to do is talk about and show off our gear.

You may also want to get a copy of Phil Harrington's book Stare Ware - IMHO the best book on amateur astro equipment out there.

Note that I've been out of the 'scope market since the kids arrived, so I'm not sure where all the brands are now with their quality. I've always had good luck with Orion Telescopes and Binoculars as far as "good for the price" goes. You may want to give them a look too.

Good luck!

Well very basically, astronomy scopes turn the image upside down (and some even mirror it).
It all depends on Your prism at the back of Your telescope (where You put Your eyepiece in).
http://www.telescope-service.com/diagonals...onalsstart.html
I won't elaborate any further, but check the cloudynights.com forum, its like UMSF.com but for astronomy

Thanks for all the good advice - I've got my homework to do!

My 2cents on this subject is.....

.... a great beginner scope is:
* a good star chart
* a red flash light (to preserve dark adjusted eyes)
* a pair of binoculars (!)

note: 7 x 50 = magnification × the objective diameter mm; e.g. 7×50.

(tip: divide diameter by the magnification (50/7) == about 7) try to get the highest resulting number you can afford
without going over a magnification of approx 10 ---- like 8x90 or 9x120 ...-etc)

step one:
* learn to focus binoculars (close one eye; focus using the main wheel; swap closed eyes and focus using the rotating eyepiece (usually the left?)

step two:
* wear out the star chart -- using your binoculars - memorize parts of the chart --- have favorite objects (this will take a year or two)

step three:
* you are now ready to buy a telescope (meade or celestron 5" to 8")


(step 2 is hard work -- it is harder with a bulky scope -- make sure you want to be outside at night for hours in the cold before you buy that scope! )