[NGC2264 (Gordon)]

Hey everyone. I just joined the website, and it looks pretty cool.

I have had my interest sparked with astronomy, and have for the last 6 months taken all the experts advice and been star gazing with my binocs and guess what - I still like it. So now I am thinking about purchasing a telescope. I have a limited budget of around $1500 and portability for me is required as I will always have to travel away from my home to a local park or golf course to do some star gazing.

At the moment I am thinking about an 8" or 10" Dob, and one of the young guys at the local astro club had a Skywatcher collapsible Dob.

I was wondering whether anyone has one of these and how they find it. Do they have problems holding their collimation throughout the night as you move around the sky? Or should I settle on a solid tube Dob?

What kind of eyepieces (sizes and brands) should I look to partner up with a Dob for about $100-$200 per eye piece?

The other recommendation I received was getting an 80mm refractor on an EQ6 mount. If there are any brand recommendations I will be interested to hear them.

I am not sure I will be leaping into astrophography any time soon, and if I do down the track then I suspect I will be getting a second telescope to do so. Personally I leaning towards to Dob just for the bang for buck on the light gathering capacity.

What do people think?