New scope choices... some advice please

[ollypenrice]

To be quite honest the 8 inch Dob will take up far less 'real world' space than any of the other options. Tripods are bulky things and need to be collapsed and re-opened for use. They need to be stored apart from the instrument, making two packages. The Dob, however, will stand in a corner. You could make a small occasional table to cover it up. Just don't water the scope if you put a plant on the table! When storage is tight you can't beat a small Dob. (8 inches is small in the Dob world.) Unobtrusive, upright in the corner. Perfect.  Also, tell your wife that there's a bloke - me - on SGL who houses 19 telescopes, one of them nine feet tall. He has five observatories in his garden, one of which is three metres by four. That should get you off the hook! 

Olly

[Naemeth]

To be quite honest the 8 inch Dob will take up far less 'real world' space than any of the other options. Tripods are bulky things and need to be collapsed and re-opened for use. They need to be stored apart from the instrument, making two packages. The Dob, however, will stand in a corner. You could make a small occasional table to cover it up. Just don't water the scope if you put a plant on the table! When storage is tight you can't beat a small Dob. (8 inches is small in the Dob world.) Unobtrusive, upright in the corner. Perfect.  Also, tell your wife that there's a bloke - me - on SGL who houses 19 telescopes, one of them nine feet tall. He has five observatories in his garden, one of which is three metres by four. That should get you off the hook! 

Olly

Until you ask 'can we holiday in the south of France at this place I found, near a village called Etoile'