Paul-Folbrecht

Was planning to store in garage and view at home. We live in a semi-rural area.

So it will be stored at ambient temp and generally not require cooling and would not experience condensation normally.

Aware of the size, but with only needing to move it a few feet, and the fact that the base separates, it's quite manageable. 

I just watched a vid on finding deep-sky objects manually and, yeah, it's clearly time-consuming. Probably have to get a goto.

I like the SkyWatcher collapsibility, for the odd transport situations..

I've decided to get a 10 or 12" Dob, probably motorized. Astrophotography on the backburner.

Thank you for all this great information.

It seems I made an error in assuming that one instrument could be ideal both for social viewing and astrophotography. It does sound like splitting the two requirements into two different setups would be best.

I am personally most interested in deep-sky artifacts. (The solar system is a little... boring.  )

I'll probably start with a viewing scope, likely a Dob, as just getting the kids seeing stuff is the primary goal.

Thanks again; I have many follow-up research topics.

Yes, $3K for everything. Thanks.

Hello!

Total newb here. I want to purchase a telescope for the family to look at cool stuff in the universe and take pictures of it easily in electronic form.

Preliminary research had told me that I want a refractor in the 4-5" range.

(I would imagine that the lens diameter follows the bigger = better rule, actually.)

Budget is up to $3,000. I want to buy one telescope to use for years and hand down to kids.

It has to be light enough to be portable by two people.

Ease of use is important, but *image quality is the most important criteria.* I want the most bang for the buck in terms of image quality.

Please give recommendations - and also correct me if any assumptions are off.