£200 to £400 budget ?

[Moonshane]

I am very biased on dobs - see my signature.

As Russ said, the 6" is a little top heavy but with a few (!!) mods is fab now.

Personally, I'd urge you to go for at least 8" of aperture. if you can handle 12" then this would be incredible at a dark site (but the 8" would be great too).

a 12" scope is quite big but if you could put the scope on eg a sack trolley or a buggy with air filled wheels then it could be rolled over a field or what have you no problem. I could carry my 12" in two pieces 50 yards but I wouldn't want to do it every day - I carry it about 20 to the back garden though so it's not too bad.

one thing's for sure. once you've had a taste for aperture you always want more.

if you can, get to a meeting or star party and see some scopes in action before you buy.

[Moonshane]

this SkyWatcher Skyliner 200P 8" Telescope with Telrad RDS on eBay (end time 11-Nov-10 15:28:05 GMT) might be worth considering although that's the maddest mounting of a Telrad I have ever seen.

[Lazzy]

The 8" dob is quality - don't worry about the whole nudging business! That worried me but within 5 minutes of first light I had it sorted, and now im a nudging pro!