Gidday Suzy Q,
Long time since I communicated wif ya
.
I've got the local park here now with keyed access along the driveway and keys to the toot as well. Some of us are going up on Sunday night (20th June) for a gawk festival. Get your eyballs over this side of town and have a gander thru mine again if you like.
One of the guys here has got a 12" Skywatcher collapsible (spellcheck) DOB and your not getting much more (eg Sombrero is very faint but visible from this location). The difference is he can pack it into his liddle rice burner with room left over and also the manouverability of the set-up is just beautifull. It is featherlight.
I'm out there very night with my 10" but am now wishin' hopin' cryin' prayin' to get my hands on some Meade S4000 super or Ultra wide angles. I say this because my 10" is ab fab but trying to manouver it on the mount is jerky and its easy to apply certain pressure and overshoot the object (especially high power barlowed down). If it was smoother and less clunky it would be a joy to use. Hence I'm going for the wider FOV.
BUT, I have ordered a ball bearing mettalic (spellcheck) ring which sits on the base of the mount to smooth this a great deal but I still have the Alt Az to deal with.
In your case, I'd give 12" very serious consideration as the collapsible dobs have superb movement at the mount.
Hope this helps Suzy, Hope you and yours are well, and hope to see you at our new site.