<https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/81571-purchasing-first-scope/#comment-795183>
<http://schema.org/text>
"Cheap, good optics, moderate aperture but it's cheap because it's on a very light mount that I personally would find rather frustrating (the reason you get so much optics for your money on an equatorial mount is because they cut a few corners in selecting the mount; not that the quality is lacking, but the mount is really suitable mainly for smaller scopes). Lots of aperture, good optics but a fairly short tube, equatorial mount (not ideal for this scope but not too shabby either for visual use).  The advantages of such a mount are that after you set it up, you can track objects at high magnification with just one slow motion control, but really eventually you'll want drives so that the mount tracks automatically. It also stores in a very compact way. The disadvantages are that, compared to Dobsonian mounts, the mount is less stable (the tube vibrates when you touch the focuser, when there's too much wind, etc.) and that the entire setup is a lot heavier (not in small part because you have counterweights as heavy as the scope, but the mount ad tripod are also quite heavy). And tracking with a slow motion is only possible after setting up the mount ad aligning it, which is slightly time consuming (especially at first), and slewing to an object yourself is far less intuitive at first. It's also slightly less comfortable than Dobsonian mounts because the eyepiece frequently ends up in uncomfortable positions (and sometimes you have to rotate the tube in the rings). That is a 6\" Newtonian on a Dobsonian mount. Advantages: -You spend all your money on the optics. -It's very intuitive; just grab the open end and push the scope to wherever you want it to point (in the eyepiece, the view is rotated, but you'll do what you wat if you just think of \"pushing\" the object). -The tube is longer, which makes it friendlier to less expensive eyepieces (but less compact to store). -Usually, a combination of a low chair (or a adjustale ironing chair), with very occasioanal kneeling and standing lets you observe comfortably everywhere. -No setup time: just plonk the base somewhere ad drop the tube in it. -Actually lighter and more stable. But it doesn't track automatically, so at high magnification you need to nudge the scope from time to time to follow an object. And the base is actually to that heavy but much bulkier than an equatorial mount. Whether you need an EQ mount is a difficult thing to say: if you observe the moon and planets at very high magnifications, yes, it's very useful, but only if the mount is good (as e.g. the EQ5 is). By the way, in the 130mm range, you also have the Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flex-Tube (ultra-compact and a Dob mount), and in the Skyliner range you also have the Skyline 200, which still is a lot cheaper than the 200p on an EQ5 which you can spend on the inevitable accessories. You can find 130mm, 150mm and 200mm apertures on all the different types of mounts. If your partner's interest is in the moon and the planets then the 200p with EQ5 is mainly interesting because you can just add a drive.  You can get Dobs with an autotracking mount as well these days, but not within the budget and you can't upgrade and just add drives like you can on the Explorer 200p EQ5. But a Skyliner 200p FlexTube auto is usually around 500GBP and actually cheaper than a Explorer 200p once you add drives, so on the long run,... Yes. An 8\"/200mm scope will show you even more, though. See, not that easy to decide, but on the other hand: any of the choices are good. You don't eve have to spend that 400 GBP if a smaller scope is enough. One word of advice: don't buy anything that is too large to transport to a dark site, because in due course you'll regret it: you see much more from a dark site. \n"
<https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/81571-purchasing-first-scope/>