g'day all, after browsing, it appears i've landed in the right place. the generosity of both time and assistance in the astronomical society is truly inspiring and welcoming. anyhow; after aquiring a small refractor a bit over a month ago, the predictable occured. so the first thing i did was some web based research. the next thing i did was to find a reputable astro gear retailer and bombarded the poor bloke with a ton of questions, salivated over his immaculately presented gear, and tried out half of his binocular display. the next thing i did was walked out with a few new eyepieces, a pair 7x50 bino's, a planisphere, some filters and astronomy aus. 2009/2010. he gave me 2009 free even after all i'd put him through. anyway, to cut a very long story short, i'm stuck. the next inevitable chapter in my story involves the unavoidable scope upgrade. although i'm only new to astronomy, over the last few weeks i have learned alot. so my new object of desire? thats where i hope some of you guys might be able to help. i have pretty much settled on a big(ish)gso dob. but for reasons of convenience am torn between a 10 or 12. now what i was hoping for is some unbiased first hand experience, ie; advice from those that have been fortunate enough to look through both scopes side by side (although opinions are also welcome). for i'm keen to know if the extra 2" are worth the backache and portability restrictions, for some one like myself with little experience. apologies for the longwinded intro, but would really appreciate your time and experienced advice. regards; andy.
