[Mountain_Wanderer]

G'day all.

I'm after my first telescope and am having a brain melt researching which one to get. My priorities are:

- Compactness, light in weight, easy to take places (something that can fit in a car boot)
- Cost must be reasonable (I'm on a budget!)
- A scope that will do a decent job at seeing a lot of stuff and won't dissapoint (planet detail and deep sky objects such as galaxies are my favourites)
- A mount which tracks objects (I don't want to nudge a dobsonian around)
- My preference is something to suit observational astronomy
- Something with Astrophotography capabilities, although this is not as important as observational astronomy
- A scope with decent optics (focal ratio and aperature are priorities. I don't want something with problems such as coma due to focal ratio)

So given all that, I think I've found a scope to fit my requirements. It would be good to hear people's thoughts on it, being:

Skywatcher 200mm (8 inch) Newtonian on EQ5 mount
- Code: SW600
- Diameter: 200mm
- Focal Length: 1000mm
- Focal Ratio: F/5
- Highest practical power: 472x
- Mount: EQ5
- Tube dimensions: 24cm x 92cm
- Tripod height: 97-121cm
- Anyone know the weight of the tube and the eq mount?

Cost right now at Andrews is $799. Looks to be a bargain. So what's the catch?

Just hoping upon hope that this could be the ONE. I read somewhere that newtonians on equatorial mounts are a joke? Apparantly they're difficult because the eyepiece can point in weird directions?

Also, what's the difference between an EQ5 mount and a much more expensive HEQ5 mount. Are they both operated by electricity and not by hand? I want to track objects to look at continuously without the need to re-align the scope. Hopefully both mounts would do this. Are both mounts suited to long exposure astrophotograhy?

The short length (1m) should be much easier to fit in a car boot? Can these be fit in a typical car boot? Anyone have a personal experience? Other 8 inch dobs have a length of 1.2m (F/6).

Would an F/5 focal ratio be an issue in terms of coma? Can it be fixed at all if this is a problem?

So many questions that my head is now hurting. Better go have a beer or three...

Cheers
Jowel