I was in Barnes & Noble earlier today, and I saw this telescope–
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/toys-games-smithsonian-telescope-with-tabletop-tripod/22448475?ean=42409222423
(40mm telescope with interchangeable 25x and 125x eyepiece lenses. $31.95)
Obviously, it would be better than really cheap binoculars, but I don’t know if such a cheap telescope is really worth the money. Does anybody have experience with something similar?
It’s a toy, and the 125x eyepiece is useless on a telescope that size. I think you’d be better off with a pair of 7x50 binoculars.
Something like that will be almost useless for stargazing, and have little advantage for terrestrial viewing. It has much narrower field of view compared to binocs, which means that objects will be difficult to isolate and track, and require constant movement to follow, and the guaranteed-to-be-crappy tripod mount will make the required tracking an exercise in frustration.
A basic spotting scope or a pair of mid-range binocs at a bit more than double the price would be far more useful.
Paying $200 and up for a refractor or compact reflector with a proper equatorial mount may seem excessive, but you would then have an instrument that you will get much more use out of (and see some amazing things).
It really depends on what you mean by better.
Binoculars are much easier to use. They are not as long and offer, well, binocular vision. While the overall magnification may be higher with the referenced telescope, you need to consider resolution.
These binoculars are cheaper
35mm binoculars
although they only have a 35mm lens (instead of 40mm). They are much easier to use, compared to the telescope.
These are only $4 more, and have 50mm lens. While they only have a 10X magnification, I suspect they would have better resolution and would outperform the telescope 50mm binoculars with the added benefit of being easier to use.
Do not buy that. I once bought a 100 mm telescope and it was barely useful.