I'd consider myself a beginner. I bought as my first scope an EQ-1 8" Newtonian f/4. Then an ETX-80. Then an LX90-8".
For me, the important things are:-
First; goto, preferably a goto that's Alt-Az,, with GPS and LNT because it will set itself up and point you to the things you can't find when you can't find anything.
Results seem to indicate a couple of very valid points:
1. Best to start with a managable telescope. 8" or 10" Dobsonian telescope. It seems to be a solid recommendation that you learn the sky, by doing this with a manual scope you will certainly stand well with the ability to jump around the sky easily and this ability is also very usefull when you step up to larger or goto telescopes.
2. Learn from others. Use the knowledge and skills found in your local astronony group to further your knowledge and skills and in doing so you have the ability to try out many scopes firstly to see if the hobby is what you expected and work out the best scope for you.
3. There seems to be a strong recommendation towards an 80mm ED refractor for your first imaging scope. These little scopes are by far the most under rated imaging scope on the market today and certainly produce the goods.
The one comment I will make with regard to imaging is spend as much as you can afford on a good tracking mount. Buy the biggest and best you can. You will see lots of figures on what a mount can be expected to carry and in most cases they do it effortlessly. With imaging in mind use about 2/3 of the rated capacity as a maximum and you will not have any problems. High end mounts can and often do meet every expectation with loading capacities but a lot of the cheaper mounts struggle a little at full load.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this poll and maybe your comments will help a new and inexperienced astronomer from making some very expensive poor choises.
