[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

for you wizards of the stars.
I've always wanted a Dob.

This one, motorized, for under $900.

cheap crap, or a good "big" scope?

https://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=102013&gclid=CjwKCAjwm4rqBRBUEiwAwaWjjGvw4EcaZvaHYfRLO45p p4PF59SpTfGBaF2yp92R3SThWqclMtA8-RoCNakQAvD_BwE

suggestions for this or others along the same vein and price point.

Rusty, it's not motorized. It's a "push-to". It's got sensors and a computer that you calibrate (each viewing session) most likely by pointing the scope at 2-3 specific big, bright stars. Then you manually move the scope around and via some mechanism, it tell you "warmer, warmer, getting hot, there it is!"

I think you can pick up the version that's not a GOTO for $629. To me, it would be much, much better to save the $270 and just star hop. You can then spend the extra $270 on eye pieces, barlow, etc.....

It looks like Zhumell is hardly around any more, with Orion dominating, which is probably why the price has gone up a bit.

You'll likely want a 2X Barlow and a couple of eye pieces. I went with hyperion eye pieces which were good kit at a decent price. Shoot for being able to get whatever scope you buy (assuming you go with 8" or 10") to about 250-350x mag (max). I think I was able to get to 300x and did occasionally get good views, but most of the time, I was in the 75-225 range, IIRC.

I was even able to watch an ISS pass in my old dob once. It was low mag and tough to keep in the eye piece, but super cool.