[Mountain_Wanderer]

G'day,

I'm looking around for my first scope and seem to have come down to a choice between either a:

- Skywatcher 8 inch newtonian on an EQ5 manual mount
or
- Skywatcher 10 inch collapsible dobsonian

Both a similarly priced.

Yes, the 10 inch aperature of the collapsible dob sounds inviting, however I'm worried that I'll very quickly get frustrated at having to continually nudge the scope to keep objects in the middle of the field of view. The 8 inch on the manual EQ5 mount should make this issue a lot easier to work through, though at the cost of aperature.

So, can I perhaps hear people's experiences of using a big phat dob to track objects and how annoying it can be to keep nudging the beast along?Perhaps it ain't that hard?

My idea of getting a manual EQ mount is that I can find my way around the sky, and, If I need to, pause to consult my star charts, then go back to the scope to continue the star hopping. An EQ tracking mount would allow me to quickly catch up where I left off. My concern is that with a dob it would be harder to take up where you left off, because there would be 2 axis' to correct and you'd get lost a lot easier.

My hair is falling out over this. Can anyone help me?

Cheers!