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@Evan The 5" to 16" was probably too big a jump: a 5" Newtonian (?) is somewhat aperture and in other respects challenged, while a 16" consumer Dob (like GSO, SW etc) requires time and effort to get it to perform well. An 8" Dob is much more likely to deliver the goods for someone starting out.
@Adam re what Evan wrote: You've got to at least get a good look at Saturn and her rings on a good night (when the atmosphere is still) before you decide visual astronomy is not for you. Also check out a few Jupiter moon shadow transits. Note that the atmosphere is still enough to make the most of an 8" f/6 Newt only relatively infrequently. So a bit of patience and persistence pays off. But even on better than average nights you should pick up a fair bit of detail on the gas giants. On nights of poor-to-average seeing (roughly about half the time when it's clear), the atmosphere will very noticeably blur what you see through the EP at mid-to-high powers (over ~150x).
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