Is there another way?

[estwing]

every home should have one!

[kostur]

you are going to learn positions faster using 2nd option. It's true, you don't need a strong scope to learn positions, but when you look through them, you will not like what you see. Buy 200mm dobson, if you find 253mm don't even think, just take it, instal stellarium and off you go to dark sites.

[sunshine185]

Option 3 , buy a dob, use stellarium to find coordinates of object, then locate using setting circles and an altimeter on the dob.