Telescope for a beginner

[TomK]

Thanks for all the info, Dan, much appreciated and am sure Peter will find the information useful as well. I would definitely delay a decision on buying a telescope until you've had a chance to talk to some experienced amateur astronomers (plus they may have some decent ones for sale). Binoculars are a good way to get used to observing the sky and finding objects but anything larger than 7 X 50 really needs a tripod. They also have a large field of view so are forgiving when trying to find something in the sky.

I haven't bought a pair of binoculars for a long time now, still have an excellent German pair I inherited from my father (10 x 50) but I know good ones could be mounted on a tripod. I don't know if that's always the case with modern binoculars.