[Satchmo]

In breif, the reality is you may need to own a number of instruments as large traditional dobs aren't generally used for deep sky photograpghy ( tracking issues ) or high resolution planetary imaging( due to thermal lag ).

My own check list for retirement `arsenal' would go something like this ( assuming money no object )

* 32" Altaz in housed under dark sky for visual observing at least one weekend a month.
* 14-18" Binocular scope for Deep sky observing that can be transported and used either in suburbs or at dark sky.
* 14-16" Planetary Newtonian on GEM with lightweight fast cooling mirror for high resolution CCD planetary imaging
* 10 or 12" RC Cass for narrower field deep sky astrophotograghy on quality GEM with CCD happy in suburbs.
* 5" F7.5 Apo refractor for wider field CCD imaging
100mm fork mounted binoculars with interchangeable eyepieces.

* Eyes that stay healthy !

Hope this helps.