[woosydiver]

Hello Forum folks.

Yet another newbie here, just registered yesterday & been browsing the postings in the hope of finding the same questions that I have, but not quite.

So may I ask for some advice on an intended purchase? I think I know what I want in terms of usage, here goes.

1. I'm confident I won't get totally gripped & spend the rest of my nights looking upwards. But I will enjoy a couple of hours every now and then gazing upwards, mainly at the moon [I think].

2. I would like to use a telescope as a spotter scope for bird or whale watching

3. It would be nice if I could mount my digital compact camera on the scope for "snap" type photos. Absolutley no chance of getting an SRL.

4. Ease of use. If it's messy setting up I just know I won't bother.

5. Farely robust. I'd want to take it camping so it'd be in the car bouncing along dirt trails.

6. I guess I'd be looking to spend up to maybe............umm............ lets give a ball park fugure of $700. Less would be good, a little more possible.

7. I'd rather pay for quality optics rather than bells & whistles.

From other postings I think a short refractor would be best for me. I've got a top quality pair of 8x42 binos which show the moon crystal clear & bright - I'd just like to get somewhat closer. More powerfull binos on a stand would be OK but the erganomics are probably not so good & mounting my digicam is probably not possible.

thanks.

Steve