Solid buy for the adult stargazer on a budget - Celestron PowerSeeker 114 EQ Astronomical Telescope 21045

A Celestron PowerSeeker such as the 114EQ gives you a lot of telescope for the money, but is not as easy to use as most other options. It's recommended for technically-minded adults on a budget; other options are more suitable for young people and those who value ease of use highly. Minimum age is a particularly conscientious 16-year old. I personally would probably have needed to be 18 to 20 or have a coach.

Basic take:
I am a technically-minded adult on a budget. I'm very glad I choose this instrument. Given my individual abilities and constraints, I don't know how I could have done better.

Capability:
The 114EQ is highly suitable for solar system and star gazing - everything down to all eight planets and several of their moons on well-chosen nights - because it has substantial aperture for the price and (when aligned) decent optics and an equatorial mount. It can also do deep-sky observation, but here suffers from relatively low maximum field of view and fiddly object-finding.

Ease of Use:
The 114EQ is among the more difficult of introductory astronomical instruments to use, basically because it attempts to do so much and ask your pocketbook for so little. What's an easier scope? A decent pair of binoculars (7x50 is standard). A telescope with just an Alt-Azimuth mount, or a Dobsonian mount - anything other than equatorial. A Refractor instead of a Reflector (because refractors are enclosed and don't need collimation often). One with auto-tracking software. And so forth. That said, if you are cool with reading manuals, and know how to respect equipment that needs special care and feeding, then you'll learn this instrument without too much difficulty.

Specific issues include:
Wobble after all adjustments in focus or position; requirement (for reflectors) to collimate every so often (when stars stop being roundish, that's when to collimate again); complexities of the equatorial mount; drift of the finder scope necessitating frequent re-adjustment.

Basically, you will need to apply more of your own experience to the task of finding and keeping objects in view than with most other telescopes. Working to earn that experience I have found tremendously rewarding.

A recommended, but not essential, add-on is the Celestron PowerSeeker Accessory Kit. Items in it that you'll find quite handy are intermediate-sized lenses and a moon filter. However, if you just can't spend more money you can get away with just opening the center of the telescope aperture (for the moon) and using the 3x Barlow with the 20mm lens. The 4mm lens you may find less useful.

Regardless of your budget, however, get at least one printed guide to astronomy! I use a Miller planisphere and Dickinson's "NightWatch".