When I bought my telescope, I was kind of in the same situation. I found something with good specs and good reviews online, but after trying to use it for a while I couldn't really make it work. I went on an astronomy forum and they were very familiar with this scope. They called it a "hobby killer". Good specs, but complete garbage as far as quality. They put an equatorial mount on it just so they could say it has an equatorial mount. The tripod is completely inadequate to hold the thing still. The lens caps all cracked. The finding scope is completely useless. I wound up getting a much smaller scope, but it is well designed and it is much more fun to use.
So for a bicycle, I want to avoid the same fate. I don't want to get the "hobby killer". With telescopes, the difference was very noticeable, even for a beginner. For bicycles, I'm not sure. How much does a beginner need to spend to have a good experience? I could increase my budget if that's really necessary.