Telescope for viewing moon/planets?

The only telescope that is capable of all that in that price category would be a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Tele...

http://www.zhumell.com/telescopes/dobsonian/z8-dob...

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner's telescopes:

http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telesco...

http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington's Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You'll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Tele...

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product....

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don't buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizat...

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

Oddly enough, the planets are actually the most challenging objects in the sky. Although they are close, they are very small in angular diameter, and require a fairly large and high quality telescope for satisfying views. Deep sky objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies) are large in angular size and so can be observed well with binoculars.

moon is easy. use binoculars.

do not buy "toy " telescopes"

find an astronomy club in your area and learn.

$300 is the bottom of the low middle of cost

Lots of science catalogs have good telescopes