My Equipment
Remember: Spend the money on the optics!
Sure, all the fancy "Go To" stuff gives you a chance to see a lot of objects your first few nights out, but then what. When it's all over you know nothing about the sky and you're out of sites to see. I believe go to technology can greatly aid the experienced observer, but as a starter it's just too much of a crutch. Spend the money on the optics; force yourself to learn your way around the sky. I've been out there for 2 short years and I have a lot left to learn.
That said, my second scope is a goto scope. I have seen many wonders of God's creation that I couldn't find with my dob, but there is no longer any challenge to finding something. I now go out and study a small area of the sky in detail. Trying to see every Deep Sky Object (DSO) in the area. The light pollution is really starting to get to me. I suspect the new scope will force me to take more trips to dark skies to take full advantage of it capabilities.
I still maintain that a 6" or 8" dob is a good first scope. Any smaller and you will be disappointed, any bigger and you might not use it. Once you have a scope for a year or so you will know how much set up and tear down time you are willing to accept.
My original equipment consisted of an 8" dobsonian reflector, 6 1.25" eyepieces, 2X barlow, a few filters, red lights, and a laptop. I guess I should mention that I am cheap. So when I got the scope and wanted some eyepieces, I shopped around quite a bit and ended up at the Surplus Shed. Fortunately, I live close to the shed, and the drive was well worth it. I ended up getting the exact same type of eyepieces eyepieces that came with the discovery scope. They sell these same eyepieces for $28.50 each. They are GTO Plossl (series 500); the performance is excellent for a Plossl and the price is great.
When I purchased my 11" Celestron I decided to add a Wide Field low power 2" eye piece to my collection. I found another great deal at Owl Services where I got a 70° field 30MM eyepiece for $59. This is quickly becoming my favorite eye piece. I also picked up a few filter to try to help with the light pollution, but nothing replaces dark skies.
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