As stated in the other thread that I started, I am a relative beginner looking to find a telescope. This would not be the first telescope that I have owned, I got a 114mm reflector for Christmas at around 7 and I currently have a small refractor that I got for free, but it will be the first time that I have actually researched and chosen the telescope that I will be getting. The issue is that I have no idea where to begin looking for what I need. I do know that a larger aperture equates to more light gathering, and by that alone I have been looking for an 8" Dobsonian within my budget of around $550. However, I am wondering of something that bulky* will be annoying enough to move around and store that I won't be as likely to get it out and use it. The problem is that I don't understand anything about telescopes except for the aperture thing and that there are refractors, reflectors, and catadioptrics, and that they all work in different ways. I have looked at some smaller options than the Dobsonian, but I don't really even understand how relatively better or worse they are than the dob. This is leading to confusion that is making any decision about which one to get very difficult. If anyone could give me guidance as to what I need to do to understand all of the choices that I have and what recommendations you could make then I would really appreciate it.
*I have never seen a Dobsonian in real life, but from pictures they look quite bulky. Also there is no astronomy club in my town so I don't really have the opportunity to see one or to try out any kind of telescope really.