Which Telescope

Howdy! I am fairly new at the stargazing business, but I have had a simple Celestron Firstscope refractor telescope for a few years. I am now considering purchasing a more powerful telescope to increase my viewing pleasure. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? I am looking to spend between 500.00 and 1000.00 and would prefer a unit with electronic assistance in finding stars. Thank you.
~~Brett

Brett,
You will surely get a ton of opinions and advice on this one.

If you do not plan on doing astrophotography in general they you will realize the most scope for you money (assuming you are buying a new scope)with a dobsonian mounted reflector. The mount other types of scopes require for best use often consumes half your total cost.

I would recommend the Orion XT dobs. I went with the regular XT8 for my first scope and it exceeded all my expectations. I have been seriously looking at Orion's XT12i (their intelliscope model) which you can do object locating with as a next scope but it has been backordered until this month. It is not motorized like goto and is usually referred to as push-to but the result is the same. Keep in mind though that when goto scopes malfunction many models become comepletely unusable where the push-to is still a fully functional Dob.

Orion offers intelliscope models of their dobs in 8"-12" to span your listed price range.

Ed.

Hi Brett,

I'll go along with Ed's suggestion. The Orion XTi series dobs sound like they would fill your needs. Both the 8 and 10 inch models are easy for an adult to transport. If you want tracking, you can always get an equatorial platform at a later date. 8)

In direct contradiction to Ed's guess that you'll get a lot of opinions, I'll be the third out of three to recommend the Orion XTi series. These scopes aren't premium scopes, perhaps, but they've really mastered the art of "good enough" - meaning there's nothing wrong enough about them to be worth complaining about. I love my 6inch XT (classic model).

With your budget, and if you want electronic assitance, I'd get the 8 inch model and use the remainder of your budget for a few nice accessories (observing chair, an eyepiece or two, books, binoculars if you don't have any now, etc.). Eight inch dobs are really at the performance/convenience sweet spot, in my opinion, although 10 inchers aren't all that big and heavy for most people.

I'd skip the electronics, buy a few good observing books, and buy the classic 10inch. I may, in fact, buy a classic 10inch in the future, although I'm still a ways off from deciding.

I did it. I decided, against my previous posts, to buy an Orion Classic XT8 tonight. I did so for several reasons:
1) I want to learn the sky and NOT having the intelliscope will facilitate that.
2) It was on sale for a nice price and I was able to buy some accessories, and
3) It will be an excuse to upgrade in the future to a scope with electronic capabilities

I would like some advise from you folks on what extras I should buy to make the classic xt8 even more accessible and 'stellar'.

Thanks for all your help. I have always heard that astronomy buffs are only too happy to help. THanks for proving that true.

Brett

I just purchased my first telescope last week. I had been looking for quite sometime to find just the perfect scope for myself and family. I decided the 8" Skyquest Dob was the best choice for us. It gave us beautiful views and didnt break the bank. I am extremely happy with my decision. Its simple and easy to use. I would forget the computer driven stuff for now unless you are an experienced viewer. I took the advice of club members and went simple. I can grow from there at my own pace and still keep the dob for fun stuff!

Keith