[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by astropat

I'm amazed by the number of responses. Thank everyone of you for all those valuable advices. After a long thought, I think I should start with a pair of 20x80 (triplet) binoculars + a tripod.

Beware that on a regular camera-style tripod you will not be able to use the binos higher than 40 degrees above the horizon. You just cannot get under the thing. For this you'd need a more elaborate counterweighted mounts (eg parallelogram mount). They are hard to come by in Oz, but you could build your own, maybe on top of existing tripod + mount head. (see one of Starkler's threads for an example)

You should also get a good FMC pair of low-power binos too. Something in the 7x-10x range with 40-50mm aperture. These will show you a much bigger chunk of sky and will be easy to use hand held.

Is it true that many experienced amateurs use binoculars? If yes, in what occasion?

Yes. Many objects look best in binoculars because they are too large for telescopes. Binos give a different perspective on things with much wider field. They are also an essential star-hopping aid and for learning the sky (esp low power ones, 10x and less).

I may later move on to a back-pack-able/very-portable (<=10kg) telescope.

A 5" Mak is probably the biggest backpackable scope around. e.g., Skywatcher or Orion 127mm. That would be my choice or a Zenithstar style 80mm apo or semi-apo. The mount will not fit in your backpack. Vixen Porta mount looks like a good one for portability and stability. AZ3 is okay but not great. There are different versions of AZ3 around. e.g., the AOE one is much cheaper but also lighter and weaker than the Bintel one AFAIK.

Is the Orion Reflector or the Skywatcher Refractor a better choice? And why?

I don't think a 4.5" Newt will be very backpackable. And the f/4 mirror is unlikely to be figured to the sort of precision you need for high powers. An EQ1 mount will be a frustrating to use. Short tube achromats have a lot of false colour. I really don't like them. For low powers they are okay, but then you'd already have binos for that.