Guide · Updated 23 August 2026
Telescopes under €200: what is worth it
This is the budget where catalogues do the most harm, because it is where the boxes printed '525×' get sold. Under €200 there are two good buys, one honest one, and everything else. This page gives them in order, shows what they let you see, and says when it is better to wait a month and add €50.
The short answer
- €60–120: 10×50 binoculars. The best sky-per-euro there is, and the thing you will keep even after buying a telescope.
- €180–230: a 130 mm tabletop Newtonian (130/650). This is the threshold of the 'real' telescope: resolved clusters, Jupiter's belts, Saturn's ring clearly detached. If your hard ceiling is €200, this is the one to aim at, even if it means waiting for a sale or Christmas.
- €100–150: a 76 mm tabletop Newtonian (76/300), the smallest real telescope. The Moon very well, Saturn and Jupiter small but sharp. For a child or a backpack.
- Everything else under €200 — 60/700 or 70/700 refractors on light tripods, 'children's telescopes', '675×' kits — shows the Moon properly and the rest with frustration. It is not the optics, it is the mechanics: the tripod shakes more than the image moves.
Simple rule: under €200, the money goes into aperture and stability, never into magnification. A 130 mm on a base that does not move beats any 70 mm refractor at '525×', and that is not a matter of taste.
What you actually see at this price
The two circles below are computed, not drawn by hand: same target, same suburban sky, same eyepiece. On the left the €120 70 mm refractor; on the right the €200 130 mm tabletop Newtonian. The price difference is €80; the difference in the image is everything this page is trying to say.
Why binoculars win so often
€80 10×50 binoculars gather more light than a 60 mm refractor, show a 6–7° field — the whole Moon with room around it, the complete Pleiades, Andromeda as an elongated patch — and go everywhere. No tripod to adjust, no finder to align, no mirror to collimate. On the first night they show something; the €120 telescope often does not.
What they do not do: magnify. Saturn stays a slightly oval point, Jupiter a point with four grains of light in a line. If it is the planets you want, you need a telescope — and under €200 that will be the tabletop Newtonian, not the refractor.
The traps, in order of frequency
- The 70/700 (or 60/700) refractor at €99–149 on an aluminium tripod. Decent optics, a mount that shakes at the slightest touch, unusable 4 mm eyepieces, a plastic finder. The Moon, yes. The rest, with patience and disappointment. The most sold and most resold telescope in Europe.
- The 76/700 Newtonian on an EQ1 equatorial mount at €150–180. The tube is honest; the mount is a celestial-mechanics course imposed before seeing anything, and it vibrates. At this price the same aperture as a tabletop is better in every way.
- The colourful €50–90 'children's telescope'. A toy. Nothing to salvage.
- The supermarket '675×' kit: three eyepieces, a plastic Barlow, an erecting prism. The number on the box is the magnification at which the image goes black. On a 60 mm, anything beyond 120× is emptiness.
- The €99 discount-store 60/700 (February and November catalogues). No worse than other 60/700s — no better either. If you are given one, keep it for the Moon.
The maximum useful magnification is about twice the diameter in millimetres. 60 mm → 120×, 70 mm → 140×, 130 mm → 260×. Any higher number printed on a box is a sales argument.
When waiting beats buying
If you have €150 and want a telescope — not binoculars — the right answer is to wait for €50 more. The €180–230 rung is where you go from a refractor that shakes to a 130 mm Newtonian that shows. It is the most rewarding step in the whole market, and worth a month of patience. Meanwhile: a sky-map app and your eyes. Learning to find Jupiter and Lyra without an instrument is exactly what you will need to do with one.
And second-hand: a used 130 mm tabletop Newtonian goes for €120–150 on astronomy-forum classifieds, often with an extra eyepiece. Check the mirror is clean and the base turns without play; that is all.
What next
Questions people ask
- What is the best telescope under €200?
- A 130 mm tabletop Newtonian (130/650), €180–230 depending on sales. If your ceiling is strictly €200, wait for an offer rather than buying a €120 70 mm refractor.
- Can a €100 telescope show Saturn?
- The ring, yes, small and shaky, in a 60–70 mm refractor. The 76 mm tabletop Newtonian shows it better and steadier at the same price. 10×50 binoculars do not: Saturn stays an oval point.
- Binoculars or a telescope with €100?
- Binoculars, without hesitation: 10×50, €60–120. They show more, more easily, on the first night, and you will keep them. The €100 telescope is the one that gets resold.
- Is the €99 discount-store telescope any good?
- It is an ordinary 60/700 refractor on a light tripod. Fine on the Moon, frustrating on the rest. Neither a scam nor a bargain.
- Do I need to buy extra eyepieces?
- Not before you have observed ten times. The eyepieces supplied with a 130 mm tabletop Newtonian are enough to start; the first useful purchase after that is a decent 8–10 mm eyepiece at €40–60.
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