[NightSkyLK (Dineth)]

Hi All,

I’m new here and wanted to get some advice on my purchase of a Dobsonian in Australia.
This would be my second telescope and my first being a 3.5” catadioptric I used a decade back and haven’t since owned a telescope due to other commitments.

My thoughts are to buy a Dob since I’ve looked through some (8” 10” and 12”) and love the views. The 12” is what I wanted but I hear its always good to buy the size below so planning on buying a 10”. Also the 12” might be too big to handle. This is going to be used in the backyard and prefer the non-bulky size so again planning on a collapsible Dob rather than the full body.

I’ve gone through lots of reviews in here and other places and wanted to get opinions on the latest models of Dobs. Some of the articles and recommendations are old and I know they have improved on the bases and movements, focuser of the Dob so was wondering if anybody can recommend a particular model.

I’m looking at the following:
SW 10”(f/4.8) collapsible DOB - $1k with shipping included (Astro anarchy)
SW 8” (f/6) collapsible DOB - $800 with shipping(Astro anarchy)
SW 8”(f/6) collapsible GO-TO DOB - $1.6k with shipping(Astro anarchy)
GSO 10”(f/5) full body DOB - $1.1K with shipping(Andrews comm)

The GSO comes with 4 eye pieces(inclusive of a 2” 30mm SV GSO which is something I want to buy anyways) and a dual speed crayford and the SW with 2 eye pieces (10mm and 25mm)

Assuming budget is OK what would be the recommendation.
Also
1.Is the 8” GO TO a better option than the 10” SW non GO-TO version. Haven’t used a GO-TO before and I don’t know how complicated that would be?
2.Is the GSO 10” of better quality vs the SW 10”?
3.The SW 10” is f/4.8 so a faster scope. How much more of a pain is the collimation, aberration with EPs? I don’t have super quality EPs as yet and will be a future purchase?

My preference is the SW 10”(f/4.8) but happy to hear otherwise. Apologies for the long post and multiple questions but would love the insight of more knowledgeable people in here.

Thanks
Dineth