hey, thanks for the replies.
re: televue telescopes.
i did not think of those as i just had a feeling they would be out of the ballpark. then again, they could be the same price as the stellarvue and vixens.
and to be honest, he should just get the skywatcher- start small/cheaper.
re: EON
i had forgotten about those until this morning after seeing an ad in my AS&T.
I also saw the TMB-80/480 but do not know much about it. also, not sure if it is sold in AU.
Actually, I am fiding the research aspect of this (via google and IIS- thanks, all!) quite a lot of fun.
thanks, again.