Is This Beginner Telescope Worth It? A Review of Telescopes for Kids and Adults
By Maya Bennett, kitchen & home · updated 2026-07-27
Worth it, if you want a first real look at the moon.
Worth it, for a first telescope
around $25price at time of review — check Amazon for current
- Worth it ifYou want an easy, sturdy first telescope for a kid or beginner
- Skip it ifYou want to see planets or galaxies in real detail
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Picture handing a kid a telescope on Christmas morning, aiming it at the moon, and watching their face when all they see is a shaky, dim blur. That's the moment that kills most first telescopes: the excitement lands, then the focus wheel and the tripod fight back. So here's my review: telescopes for beginners either survive that first ten minutes or they end up in a closet.
The trick with a telescope this size is that the numbers on the box actually tell you what you're getting, if you know how to read them. A 70mm lens is the aperture, the opening that gathers light; bigger apertures show fainter, sharper detail, and 70mm is enough to pull real texture off the moon's craters and the rings around bright planets, though not enough for faint galaxies. The 400mm focal length divided by each eyepiece gives you the magnification: the 20mm eyepiece lands around 20x for wide, bright views, good for scanning landscapes or finding the moon, and swapping to the 12.5mm pushes it to 32x for closer detail once you've found your target. That swap is the whole workflow: find wide, then zoom in, using the 5x24 finder scope with crosshairs to aim before you ever look through the main eyepiece. The aluminum tripod adjusts from 12 to 38 inches, so a kid can use it standing or sitting without an adult constantly repositioning it, and the phone adapter clips onto the eyepiece so whatever you're seeing goes straight to a photo instead of staying a described secret.
So you're not buying a serious astronomy rig, you're buying a first look, something sturdy enough to survive small hands and clear enough to make the moon look like more than a smudge. Whether that's worth it comes down to what you actually want from the sky: an introduction, or planetary detail.
Worth it if
- You want an easy, sturdy first telescope for a kid or beginner
- You mainly want to look at the moon and daytime landscapes
- You'd like to snap phone photos of what you see
Skip it if
- You want to see planets or galaxies in real detail
- You already own a telescope and want an upgrade
- You need something that needs zero adjustment out of the box
Not for anyone hoping to see planets or deep space in real detail.
If you want a low-stakes way to get a kid, or yourself, hooked on looking up, this is a quiet yes. If you're hoping to see planets in sharp detail or you already know your way around astronomy, this is the wrong telescope; save your money for something with a bigger aperture.
Check price on Amazon · around $25 or Add it to your Amazon cart to sit on it
Before you go
What is the best telescope to buy for home use?
For home use, a compact refractor with a lightweight tripod like this one is easiest to set up and store, since it doesn't need alignment or a permanent spot.
Which telescope is best for seeing planets?
Seeing planets in real detail takes a larger aperture than 70mm; this size shows the moon well and planets as small bright discs rather than detailed views.
What to avoid when buying a telescope?
Avoid any telescope advertised mainly by a huge magnification number, since magnification without enough aperture just makes a dim, blurry image bigger.
Full spec sheet
| Brand | EACONN |
|---|---|
| Optical Tube Length | 40 centimeters |
| Eye Piece Lens Description | Plössl |
| Objective Lens Diameter | 7 centimeters |
| Telescope Mount Description | Altazimuth Mount |
| Product Dimensions | 17"D x 4.8"W x 9"H |
| Focus Type | Manual Focus |
| Finderscope | Reflex |