Cheap Chinese optics are certainly a step down from the best available, but you can get 80% of the performance for 20% of the price. I'd go for something with at least a 60mm objective lens.
Something like this might be a bit of overkill but would be useful for light astronomy or birdwatching as well. A decent photo tripod should hold it just fine.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...G&Q=&A=details
This is probably as cheap as you would want to go -
http://www.harborfreight.com/20-60-x...pod-94555.html