Thanks for the responses Everyone
rmcpb, you said "Three good eyepieces, wide angle 30mm, 12mm and 9mm if you are staying with no tracking. Otherwise you can go for good plossls in the 12 and 9 as the tracking will keep the object centred but the 30mm should be a wide angle to allow viewing of large objects."
Are the plossls too hard to track objects by hand? I do keep hearing good things about wide angled eyepieces, but with around $300 to spend won't I only be able to get one quality wide angle EP?
As for software I'm currently using Stellarium, and I've just downloaded Cartes du Ciel and having a bit of fun playing around with it learning the ropes . I really like Stellarium, it's so easy to use, just like reverse google earth
. I found Saturn for the first time using it so It'll always have a special place in my heart. I suppose that one day I'll have to get some better software one day but the two that i've got are pretty good for now.
I was also wondering if buying cheap(er) filters makes as big a difference as good eyepieces? Are there good cheapies out there?
To answer your suggestion iceman, it's a bit embarrasing, but my mother has recently retired and she knitted me a beanie
(I did have to stop her from attaching a pom-pom though!)