Hello Friend,

You'll see how buying the WRONG telescope in the first place can end up costing you more money than buying the right
one, and spending a bit extra initially.

OK, let me explain further.

Beam me up Scotty!
He already owned a very basic telescope ( a 4.5" reflector on an equatorial mount)  that he had owned for several years, and was ready to
move up to something better that would allow him the capability of doing some visual astronomy now and for future purposes
some astro-imaging.

This Scope sucks!
His complaint about his first scope is that the mount was wobbly, and the eyepieces were of poor quality and he found
the scope frustrating too use, so it spent most of the time in the closet. 

When he offered a budget range,It was suggested that for him that one a choice would be either a 6" or  preferably an 8' inch SCT.    

However, he had his mind set on a 6" reflector with an equatorial mount  that you could add a motor drive too for tracking
purposes  at a later time because it seemed like a "really good deal" for the money initially.

Yes, it does appear to be a good deal for the money, until you realize that the only reason it's a good deal is because
for the price it was selling for, is that  compromises had to be made somewhere.  

In other words, you get what you pay for.

 No malarkey here
The motor drive system was an optional $190 to add, which would have brought it to within $25 of what
we had suggested in the first place.

So yes, you might appear to save save some money initially.

 Down the road when you are ready to try out system for
some imaging, you'll find that the tracking system is likely inadequate   Same for the optical tube, because
it will require the purchase of additional adaptors to achieve proper focus.

Sometimes doing too much research means information overload, and it's easy to get confused
so I am sympathetic to this chaps dilemma.

Well confound it all.  
He ended up purchasing the reflector and it will be find for visual observing,  Astro-imaging down the road
will be  interesting.  I can hear the jaw dropping curses in my head already.

Clear Skies,

Ray Khan


PS Vixen Optics is offering a sweet $500 off one of their high quality mounts right now the SXD2 with Starbook
It represents a good example of a precision made, high quality mount. You can take this one to the bank because
it really works well, and you can mount several kinds of optical tubes on it, not just Vixen brand.
This is the kind of mount you buy once and keep for life.   

direct link: http://khanscope.com/collections/vixen-instant-rebates/products/sphinx-sx2-equatorial-mount-w-starbook-one-tripod-25071hal130