Good morning Everyone
I posted a question about getting a Nexstar 4SE as a beginners scope on the forums a while ago. The general consensus was to go for aperture over GOTO. Well I have borrowed a Nexstar 4GT with a broken hand controller but perfect optics and I can say that it wasn't any better than the 5inch reflector that I have already. I'm a newb so I guess I thought that it would be better somehow
. Anyway I've given up on the whole tiny GOTO scopes. Maybe when I can afford a big aperture GOTO I'll get one. So I've decided on getting a big (for me anyway) aperture Dobsonian. I live in Canberra so my local options are few. I've seen an 8inch saxon for sale at Questacon for $799, but I've seen cheaper 8s for sale from interstate. Is the scope going to get smashed around if I go with the interstate options? I'm particularly interested in BinTels own brand 10inch ($699). I suppose that the telescopes at Questacon would have been shipped here anyway, and the ones from a professional telescope store would have been put together better?
On another note, how easy are Dobs to move. Where do you pick them up? Do you take the bases outside then put the tube back on or can you move the whole setup?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, I just want to get a scope that will give me a good few years to learn with.
Thanks in advance.