Telescopes by Budget
The Best Telescopes Under $100
This is the bracket where the magnification claims are loudest and the apertures are smallest. A real telescope does exist here, and most of what surrounds it does not.
By Scooter M. · Published · How we pick
Under $100 the honest answer is a 70mm refractor, and the honest alternative is a pair of 70mm astronomy binoculars. Everything else at this price is competing on the number printed on the box. Two refractors genuinely sit under the line, and both have full reviews: the National Geographic Sky View 70, which has the easier mount for a beginner, and the Celestron Travel Scope 70, which packs into a backpack. The SkyMaster 15x70 is the binocular alternative.
What 70mm can actually do
maximum useful magnification = 2 x aperture in millimeters
70mm x 2 = 140x. Dawes limit: 116 / 70 = 1.66 arcseconds.
The Cassini division at roughly 0.7 arcseconds is well out of reach; the rings themselves are not, because they are far larger than that. On the box claims: Celestron publishes 168x for the Travel Scope 70, above that ceiling, while National Geographic advertises a top of 120x for the Sky View 70, below it.
At 70mm you get the Moon in genuine detail, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter as points of light, Saturn as a small oval with the rings separated at about 60x, the phases of Venus, and the brightest open clusters. That is a real list and it is worth having.
What you do not get is anything faint. Celestron publishes 100 times the light-gathering of the naked eye for a 70mm refractor, against 345 times for a 130mm telescope, and galaxies and most nebulae need the latter. Both refractors here are also short-focus achromats at f/5.7, so expect a violet fringe on the Moon and on Venus.
The comparison this bracket really needs
A pair of 15x70 astronomy binoculars has exactly the same 70mm aperture in each barrel, uses both your eyes, needs no assembly and works in daylight. For a lot of buyers at this price, that is simply the better instrument.
| 70mm refractor | 15x70 binoculars | |
|---|---|---|
| Aperture | 70mm | 70mm per barrel |
| Magnification | Changeable by eyepiece, to 140x | Fixed 15x |
| Saturn's rings | Visible as rings at about 60x | Not resolved at 15x |
| Wide-field views | Good at f/5.7 | Excellent |
| Setup | Tripod included | None, but a tripod helps |
| Uses both eyes | No | Yes |
The deciding question is whether the recipient specifically wants to see Saturn's rings. At 15x binoculars will not do it and a 70mm telescope will. For everything else at this price the binoculars are easier to love. The full comparison is here, and the best binoculars for astronomy covers the sizes.
What to walk past in this bracket
- Anything advertising 300x or more. At the apertures sold here the honest ceiling is about 140x. The claim tells you the listing was written by marketing.
- 60mm refractors on full-height plastic tripods. The tripod costs money that did not go into the objective, and it shakes.
- Anything with a bundled camera. A phone held to the eyepiece beats it.
- Anything described only by magnification, with no aperture stated. If the seller will not tell you the aperture, that is the answer.
What to avoid covers all six traps in more depth, and every one of them is at its most common in this bracket.
How this is funded: the buy buttons below are Amazon Associates links, and a qualifying purchase earns us a commission at no extra cost to you. It cannot move the ranking, because the order here is set by aperture per dollar, and no commission rate changes how much light a mirror collects. Full disclosure.
| # | Telescope | Best for | Aperture | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  National Geographic Sky View 70mm RefractorTop pickA 70mm refractor on a panhandle mount, branded for the shelf it will be bought from. Honest optics inside a gift box. | A gift that looks like a gift | 70mm140x useful | |
| 2 |  Celestron Travel Scope 7070mm at f/5.7 with a backpack. A daytime spotting scope that moonlights at night, rather than the other way round. | Packing light | 70mm (2.8 in)140x useful | |
| 3 |  Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars70mm of aperture in each barrel at a fixed 15x. For the money spent on a toy telescope, these show more and get used more. | The honest alternative to a cheap telescope | 70mm objective lenses (2.75 in)140x useful |
Top pick · A gift that looks like a gift
National Geographic Sky View 70mm Refractor
A 70mm refractor on a panhandle mount, branded for the shelf it will be bought from. Honest optics inside a gift box.
What the aperture allows
- Maximum useful magnification
- 140x
- 2 × 70mm of aperture
- Resolving limit (Dawes)
- 1.66 arcseconds
- 116 ÷ 70mm
- Cassini division (0.7″)
- Out of reach
- this aperture cannot resolve it
National Geographic publishes 120x as this telescope’s highest useful magnification. Our figure is 140x, from two times the aperture in millimeters. The two figures agree closely, which is the case whenever a maker states its ceiling honestly.
Worked example: a 25mm eyepiece in this telescope gives 400mm ÷ 25mm = 16x.
70mm of refractor aperture puts this at the floor of what is worth owning, and the same arithmetic applies as to every other 70mm on this site: 140x of useful magnification at the 2x rule, and a Dawes limit of 1.66 arcseconds.
The panhandle mount is the differentiator. A single handle that moves in both axes is far more intuitive for a child, or for an adult who has never used a telescope, than either a slow-motion alt-azimuth head or an equatorial one.
National Geographic publishes a 400mm focal length, which at 70mm gives f/5.7, and advertises 16x, 40x, 48x and 120x. Those four figures check out exactly against 25mm and 10mm eyepieces with the supplied 3x Barlow, and the top one sits under the 140x this aperture supports — which is not what the bottom of this market usually does.
As a gift this earns its place on presentation and on the mount. As an instrument it is a 70mm refractor, which means the Moon, the bright planets and not much else.
What it does well
- The panhandle mount is genuinely the easiest way for a beginner to aim a telescope
- 70mm of real refractor aperture rather than a 50mm toy
- Presents well as a gift, which matters more than enthusiasts like to admit
What it costs you
- A fast f/5.7 achromat shows false color on the Moon and the bright planets
- 70mm limits it to the Moon and the bright planets
- Branded packaging is part of what you are paying for
Skip this one if: Skip it if the recipient is already interested in astronomy rather than being introduced to it. They will want aperture, not a panhandle.
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Pick 2 · Packing light
Celestron Travel Scope 70
70mm at f/5.7 with a backpack. A daytime spotting scope that moonlights at night, rather than the other way round.
What the aperture allows
- Maximum useful magnification
- 140x
- 2 × 70mm of aperture
- Resolving limit (Dawes)
- 1.66 arcseconds
- 116 ÷ 70mm
- Cassini division (0.7″)
- Out of reach
- this aperture cannot resolve it
Celestron publishes 168x as this telescope’s highest useful magnification. Our figure is 140x, from two times the aperture in millimeters. The gap of 28x comes from the slightly more generous per-inch constant makers use. Neither number describes a typical night: the atmosphere usually settles the question well below both.
Worked example: a 25mm eyepiece in this telescope gives 400mm ÷ 25mm = 16x.
3.3 pounds for the whole kit including the tripod is the entire pitch. Nothing else here goes in hand luggage.
The optics are the same 70mm as the AstroMaster LT but at f/5.7 rather than f/10, so the tube is much shorter and the widest field is much wider. That is good for landscapes and star fields and less good for the planets, where the shorter focal length shows more false color.
Two times 70mm gives 140x of useful magnification and Celestron publishes 168x. The published Dawes limit of 1.66 arcseconds means no Cassini division and no tight doubles.
The tripod is the weak link and everybody who owns one says so. It is a photo tripod carrying a telescope, and above about 60x it shakes. If you already own a decent tripod, use that instead.
What it does well
- Genuinely packable: 3.3 lb with the tripod, in a supplied backpack
- Doubles as a daytime spotting scope, which is where a lot of its use will come from
- A wide field at f/5.7 makes finding things easy
What it costs you
- The included tripod is not steady enough above modest magnification
- A short-focus achromat shows visible color fringing on the Moon and Jupiter
- 70mm is the aperture floor, and this one is optimized for portability over performance
Skip this one if: Skip it if it never actually leaves the house. At home, the same money buys a tabletop Dobsonian with twice the aperture and a mount that does not shake.
$119.95 · 25% off
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Pick 3 · The honest alternative to a cheap telescope
Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars
70mm of aperture in each barrel at a fixed 15x. For the money spent on a toy telescope, these show more and get used more.
What the aperture allows
- Maximum useful magnification
- 140x
- 2 × 70mm of aperture
- Resolving limit (Dawes)
- 1.66 arcseconds
- 116 ÷ 70mm
- Cassini division (0.7″)
- Out of reach
- this aperture cannot resolve it
Worked example: a 25mm eyepiece in this telescope gives 279.63mm ÷ 25mm = 11x.
Each barrel has the same 70mm aperture as the entry-level refractors on this site, and because you use both eyes the perceived brightness is higher than a single 70mm tube.
The fixed 15x is well below the 140x that 70mm could support, and that is deliberate. Binoculars are a wide-field instrument: the Pleiades, the Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way star clouds and the whole Moon at once.
Celestron publishing three limiting magnitudes, 11.73 for ideal skies down to 9.73 for poor ones, is the single most useful number on this page. It says out loud what most listings hide: your sky matters as much as your optics.
At 15x these are heavy to hold steady. The included tripod adapter is not an accessory, it is a requirement for any sustained looking.
What it does well
- 70mm per barrel is real aperture, not a novelty
- Instantly usable: no assembly, no alignment, no learning curve
- Wide field shows large objects a telescope cannot fit in view
- Doubles as daytime and wildlife optics, so it gets used year-round
What it costs you
- Too heavy to hold steady at 15x for long; a tripod is effectively required
- Fixed magnification, so the planets stay small
- No detail on Saturn: at 15x the rings are a suggestion, not a shape
Skip this one if: Skip them if the goal is specifically to see Saturn's rings as rings. 15x will not do it; a 70mm telescope at 70x will.
$129.95 · 32% off
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Questions people actually ask
Can you get a real telescope for under $100?
Yes: a 70mm refractor. It has real aperture, a published focal length, and a 1.66-arcsecond resolving limit computed from its 70mm objective. Most of the rest of the shelf at this price is a small objective on a shaking tripod with a large number on the box.
Will a $100 telescope show Saturn's rings?
Yes. At around 60x a 70mm telescope shows Saturn as a small oval with the rings clearly separated from the planet. It will not show the Cassini division, which needs roughly 150mm of aperture.
Are binoculars better than a cheap telescope?
Often, at this price. A pair of 70mm astronomy binoculars has the same aperture per barrel, needs no setup and is useful in daylight. The exception is Saturn's rings, which need a telescope's magnification.
Is it worth waiting and spending more?
If the wait is a month, probably. The next bracket up can buy nearly twice the aperture, which is more than three times the light. If the wait is a year, buy the 70mm and use it.
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