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Hi JS2275,
I dived in with both feet and a credit card when I first started in Astronomy.
Several thousand beer-vouchers later, I came to the conclusion that an 8" Newt on an Alt-Az mount (powered, guided or not) was the ideal set-up for starting out.
The 8" size is very easy to handle and the alt-Az mount equally easy to manouver.
You will be able to see 99% of anything worth seeing and the (generally) low cost of this set-up means you'll be able to sink some cash into some quality eyepieces, which will make a bigger difference than you might think.
Once you've put in some time on this rig, and have some idea of what you want to observe most, then you can get something more up market.
Maybe one of those super-duper guided dobs (they ARE the bees-knees for visual IMHO) or SCTs or what have you.
Just my $.02 but I doubt you'd be disappointed!
ATB,
Peter
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