Hi everyone, I'd like to say I've been looking around the site for the past week and it looks really good. I hope that my question doesn't seem too repetitive for some of you
So I'm looking to purchase my first scope in the upcoming weeks (Used a department store scope a about 5 years ago my dad got me to look at the moon and not much else). I've been doing research for a few weeks now and have decided on a 8" or 10" dob which seems to be the recommended choice by most. I'm fairly sure if I got a 8" I would wish I had got a 10" two weeks later so I'm trying to go for the 10" at the moment. I also should mention I live in a small town near Cairns so pickup is not really an option anywhere and I have to pay shipping.
Some of my year is spent at home where I live on a 5 acre property and I will be using the scope outside and the other part of the year I'm at college where I would have to drive somewhere to use it (so there is some importance to portability). The two main candidates I have found at the moment are the Skywatcher 10"(e.g.
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/skywatche...pe-10inch.html) and the Zhummel Z10(e.g.
http://www.binoculars.com/zhumellz10...pjn&subid=3656). The latter would be bought from the US but from what I can gather total prices from the skywatcher would be around $860-$930 and the zhummel $1000-$1100.
The thing I like about the zhummel is that it comes with a collimator and a 2" eye piece and would give the appearance of being higher quality although I'm not in a position to tell. I definitely don't want to go higher than the $1000ish range. Could I have some recommendations over the two, or perhaps an alternative? I wouldn't be too disappointed to drop down to an 8" (I think!) also. You might notice the lack of an exact question but I'm just looking for some general advice to help me feel a bit more reassured and anything would be greatly appreciated.
I'd also like to mention I'm a 2nd year physics student taking some astrophysics courses so I don't see myself losing interest anytime soon.
Thanks!
