Rank & ratings last updated by Zane Landers on
I know most beginner astronomers are drawn to computerized GoTo telescopes for their many advantages, like requiring less (though not zero, contrary to popular belief) knowledge about the night sky and the ability to automatically move the telescope and track objects hands-free with the push of a button, inducing fewer vibrations than manual pushing.
However, in my opinion, computerized telescopes are not the best for everyone and are also more expensive for a given aperture size.
The money spent on getting a computerized feature could instead go into simply purchasing a larger and more powerful manual telescope (like a dobsonian telescope) or even accessories. The GoTo/PushTo system also adds weight and takes longer to set up each time. Whether these tradeoffs are worthwhile is up to you.
That being said, very large telescopes (often costs $2000+) can outright require tracking (and, by extension, GoTo) to be used comfortably. A few other cases where I can see the need for Go-To scopes are observatories and star parties, where we need to reliably find an object to show it off on schedule to a group of people. Also for specific astronomical events like occultations, transits, and eclipses, we need the tracking to keep us pointed at that obscure object so that we don’t miss anything. And, of course, there is astrophotography, where tracking is an absolute necessity. But in all of these use cases, what I find interesting is that they’re not strongly overlapping with the interests of a beginner astronomer who might have a budget less than $1000.
Except for the Celestron NexStar Evolution telescopes and a few other costlier telescopes, almost every computerized telescope requires a portable power supply, either a 12-volt lead-acid rechargeable DC battery or lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Either adds cost to your scope and has to be hauled around. I've used AA batteries as backups in some telescopes, but they quickly guzzle them within a few observing sessions, and I found it to be expensive to continually replenish them. So, I'd advise you to budget at least $50 for a power supply.
GoTo technology has been around for three and a half decades now. Yet I see many computerized telescopes having an interface basically the same as it had 20 years ago, with a small hand controller with the processing abilities of a pocket calculator, a small LCD screen with calculator-like text, and many functional limitations. Most computerized scopes still have no internal clocks and require re-alignment if power is lost, even briefly.
However, newer models like SkyWatcher’s Virtuoso series and Celestron’s StarSense Explorer series, among many others, are exceptions.
Most computerized telescopes have an advertised feature that supposedly lets us quickly align their GoTo system by using any three bright sky objects or by simply pointing the scope north and leveling the scope with the horizon. But from my vast experience, neither works accurately, and most of the time, I end up having to align on two known bright stars. But for you to do this, you need to have a basic understanding of the motions of the sky and some bright stars to find in the sky.
I also experience occasional failures and weird behaviors requiring hours of troubleshooting—hours that could be spent looking through a manual telescope's eyepiece instead.
If you ask me, star charts and observing books like Turn Left at Orion are much more interesting and engaging to read than the user manual of a Go-To telescope. Also, learning star hops in online forums is more interesting and engaging than consulting troubleshooting forums.
And it is indeed more fun to manually point a telescope, following star-hops to figure out where an object is in the sky. It’s more fun because it’s more engaging and it gives you something to do. By learning to find objects, you’re learning the night sky. You’re learning to navigate it, to go from place to place, to learn which objects are in the neighborhood.
However, the pros may outweigh the cons for you depending on your situation and there’s absolutely no shame in owning a computerized instrument.
These telescopes are offered in either the fully computerized "GoTo" or partially computerized "PushTo" configurations: