ok, ready for this.......
If on a boat (I told him you live on a canal boat) then a refractor on a tripod would be suitable for space storage & portability. But you get more bang for your buck if u get a reflector, but they tend to be a bit longer than refractors. A 100mm refractor would be good but they come in different focal lengths so a short tube design would be best. But for same money he could get a 150mm reflector which means more light & detail than the 100mm refractor.
oh and I wouldn't buy the Aldi ones, they are very very basic and not that great.
I've got a meade scope but I can't remember the details, I've not used it in ages. You can see jupiter's planets with it but you don't see detail just pin points of light, but pin points you wouldn't see without a scope.
Are you local(ish) to canterbury? This school do public viewing nights every first friday of the month, I've not been for a year or so. It's all free and they have an observatory and loads of local astronomers set up their scopes, you wander round and just chat... loads of advice, get to see some cool things, it's a great place to start.
