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Hello Arman,
I started out with an eBay 8" f/4 Newtonian originally made by Optex, on what I believe would be described as an EQ1 (no motor drives).
There were some plus points and some minus points.
Plus - a good deal of light collecting area, and a low (fast) f/ ratio.
Minus - The setting circles did not permit celestial navigation even when used with Stellarium. They were too coarse in resolution.
The tripod was wobbly and I found it hard to see much while focusing.
It took a long time to align with celestial south, and it would not track the stars (due to no motor drive).
It was also heavy and bulky and hard to take and hard to set up.
My next telescope was an ETX80 - much smaller,lighter, 80mm f/5 refractor, but with a Goto alt/az mount.
This was a revolution. Although I could not see faint objects as well, the Goto mount would reliably take me to where they were in the sky, and I could hook it up to my Mac and Stellarium and get to know what stars were where in the night sky. This alone made the device incredibly useful, and represented the point where I realised that astronomy was a viable hobby for me.
My current scope is an LX-90 8" GPS UHTC. It is as heavy as I can reasonably carry (19kg for the scope, 13kg for the tripod), and this is the limiting factor for me. I realise that although a 14' scope would deliver more stars and DSOs, I would never get it out because it stops being fun and becomes bloody hard work to transport the thing.
It is Goto, and can hook up to Stellarium or Astroplanner on my Mac. I can guide with it if I wish to. I can also mount it on a wedge for astrophoto work if I wish.
My advice to anyone considering an upgrade would be to work out what the limiting factor for you is. Weight? Setup time? Navigation ability? The desire to take astrophotos? Uncle Bob (author of the Used Catadioptric Telescope Review) makes the vital point that the best scope for you is the one you'll use ... not the gee-whiz technoscope that lives in the garage on a dolly that's too hard to carry and too time consuming to set up and too complex to work in the dark.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Tony Barry
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