Your first paragraph might give people the idea that the toy telescopes made of cardboard and plastic...
...and costing less than $50 are just as good as real telescopes.
I had a girlfriend who bought a nice house that had a large master bedroom with an amazing view. And, without consulting me, she purchased one of these refractors to look cool by her bedroom balcony. And then she rxpecteded me to make it work for her. The optics were not alligned properly and had no means of adjustment (other than the eyepiece focus which was handled by sliding a small plastic tube within a snug cardboard tube). The construction used mainly glue and plastic welds and tight fitted parts to hold together. It gave a fuzzy view of the inside of the tube, on a bright day.