It is hard to beat a good pair of 10X50 or 7X50 binocs for casual
astronomy but I bought my daughter an Orion "Go-Scope" for use in
Wyoming. It is a nice little scope optically with an erecting prism
so it can be used for terrestrial things. However, the mount they
sell for it is useless. The mount is obviously intended for use with
cameras and is in fact identical to a cheapo Chinese Wal Mart tripod I
have. Any kid will be very frustrated trying to use this mount.
So, I intend to have my guys make a real mount for the "Go-Scope" that
will fasten to the cheapo tripod but will be very stiff. As it will
be made using CNC, it will be cheap. Not much more than Chinese cost
at far better quality. If interested, let me know.