Hi Peter,
Thanks for the reply... OK I think I've decided against getting one of these smaller aperture reflectors (like the 4" or 5" Celestron NexStars) because I guess you're paying mostly for the mount and I've seen a lot of very mixed reviews of these scopes - plus the Alt/Az tracking is useless for long-exposure astrophotography, yes?
Anyway... I've been looking at GSO dobs from Andrews, they seem to be highly regarded for budget scopes...? What can I expect to see with an 8" or 10" GSO dob? Will I need to buy extra eyepieces, filters etc? I think what you suggested, i.e. start with the big scope but simple mount, and then eventually move to a more complex mount is a good approach for managing budget and bang-for-buck over time.
So is a big Guan Sheng dob a good choice? Sorry for so many questions, but I want to get it right.
Cheers,
Colin {R}