David Trevino wrote:
I would like to ask those that have GO-TO scopes their opinion on them. Looks too me that one could spend more time observing that trying to find objects.
I agree with what Debbie wrote. You can get a lot more aperature for a lot less money if you forego goto. However, having said that... Not that long ago I didn't like gotos at all but I'm starting to warm to them. SLAS has one now (Celestron NexStar 11) and the guy who curates it admits he's not very good with computers but was able to get the NexStar running rather easily. One thing I'd suggest, though, if you do get one, get one that can be operated manually. This will come in handy when you find yourself away from house power and your batteries are dead. Or when the computer dies. By manually, I mean that you can _easily_ move the scope in both RA and Dec without electrical power. Many of the gotos on the market are basically worthless without power. I saw this first hand at SPOC recently when a guy showed up with a goto scope but forgot some part that enabled the motors to run. There was no way to move the scope easily in either axis so he put it away and used other peoples' scopes for the evening. Patrick