<https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/99786-scope-advice-first-scope/#comment-985538>
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"Here are my thoughts FWTW: A decent 6-8\" reflector on an Alt/Az mount. Possibly one equipped with 'go-to' or 'crank-to' if budget permits. A quality 8\" Newt will show one surpassingly better all-round views than any refractor one could reasonably afford. Before all you refractorholics start jumping on me, I currently have a TOA 130 and in addition to about 10 other refractors, have owned an AP 130, a Tak FS 152 a TMB 130 and an AP 155 and know whereof I speak!  OOUK does excellent premium 8\" optics, tho' I've heard grumbles about their mrchanics. GSO (Revelation, TS, Astrotech, Altair etc,), Skywatcher and Celestron all do respectable Newts as well but pushing more cash into better optics WILL pay dividends in observing. I'd stear clear of SCTs only because they are a little fiddly to start off with and have quite narrow fields of view - necessitating expensive WA eyepieces for all but tight-field viewing. Also I've found both Meade and Celestron 'scopes to have pretty variable quality control. An Alt/Az mount has great advantages for visual applications: They are easy to set up, no worries about battery packs, no magnetic offsetting etc etc. They are much lighter than dob bases and tend not to be made of chip-board. Good ones that will handle an 8\" Newt include: Skywatcher Sky Tee and Sky T2 AT Voyager Discmount 4 WO EzyTouch (AOK) and a few others. If you want a go-to right out of the gate (a little more cash) then: Celestron Nexstar mount for 6 &amp; 8\" tubes. Ioptron Minitower Skywatcher AZ4 If I'd paid attention 10 years ago to the advice i've just given, I'd have saved myself about $30,000! \n"
<https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/99786-scope-advice-first-scope/?tab=comments#comment-984730>