Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.
My apologies, I linked the wrong one. This is the cheap newt.
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/st...v=322b26af01d5
It looks like one of the key differences between them is that the more expensive versions have the iphone mount on the mount rather than on the top of the scope.
I'd definitely be using my existing eyepieces. Have a few half decent Explore Scientific's that will do the job.
I've also got an old Orion ST80 that I used as a guidescope, so I'm tossing up between just using that and trying to find a cheap mount for it (though the cheapest AltAz thing I can find is $250 at Bintel, which seems expensive for what it is). If I got the more expensive Starsense Explorer with the camera on the mount I could possibly mount the ST80 on it too, for super compact grab and run.
Whatever I end up going with will now be my main and only scope. 102mm makes a pretty big difference from the 80mm ST80. But the cheaper newt, at almost 6", might be better.
Mainly I am keen to get half decent views of Saturn and Jupiter. So if the newt will pull that off better than the 102mm refractor (or ST80) then that's probably the go, especially at $300 cheaper.
How would the views from the newt vs the 102 compare, when looking at Jupiter/Saturn do you think?
I hadn't even considered collimation, being a SCT user before. Would this one with the correct model at F7.8 need collimation? That might be the clincher really, I don't want to have to do that every time.
Cheers, Chris
EDIT: this is the more expensive Newt, in case anyone is interested. It looks pretty good too
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/st...v=322b26af01d5