[synthguy2 (Malcolm)]

Hi, I have an Orion Telescope and Binocular ED-80 Apo Refractor on a Televue Gibraltar Mount.

I'm thinking of getting a new scope, and was wondering what people thought of the Skywatcher Mak 127 / AZ GTi combination? That's going for little under $1000 at the moment from various retailers. Is it worth it as an upgrade, primarily for Moon, planets, and brighter deep sky objects?

Or should I wait, get a HEQ5 Pro mount and a Skywatcher Quattro 8" f4 Newtonian (my other choice, but more expensive)? I'm primarily doing visual astronomy at this time, but am interested in getting into astro imaging. I'm observing from home, and I live in fairly light polluted skies (Canberra - with a street light near my home).

The Mak 127 / AZ GTi is lighter than the HEQ5 Pro / 8" combination, so easier to travel with, but I'm wondering whether the jump from a 3" Apo to a 5" Mak going to really be that significant in terms of being able to see more? The GOTO of the AZ GTi would be welcome, and I like the integrated wifi to allow me to connect into mobile devices easily, but I can get the same with the HEQ5 Pro mount, albeit a bit less elegantly.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks

Malcolm