Telescope Advise

Just wondering if anyone has and good advice on choosing a new telescope. I've checked out quite a few and I seem to be leaning towards the new 12 inch Dob from Orion (the SkyQuest XT12 ~$1000). I notice that Celestron has a barebones 12 inch dob (StarHopper) for about eight hundred bucks but it just looks "cheap" to me compared to the XT12, and the Meade ones look to be not much better than the Orion ones. (But I don't know for sure, I don't have any "hands on" with any of the models from any of these companies.)

Then again, maybe I should go with a reflector so I can use a good equatorial mount in case I decide to do any photography (which I have no plans for right now). But a Dob is a reflector without the $500 mount... ah what a conundrum.

Thought I'd ask and see if anyone else here has some opinions on a good scope before I dish out a thousand bucks on one. I'm sure somebody here must "practice" and not just opinionate when it comes to viewing the stars.

Thanks for any good advice!

check these out www.discovery-telescopes.com...

best scopes you can buy at the best prices

If you really want to do photography, get the equatorial mount. It's a bit hard to do long exposures with a dob.

Then if you're going to splurge for that mount, you may as well invest in a Scmidt-Cass. Not as great for deep sky objects, but A LOT easier to transport and to put on a mount.

Anyway, as for the scopes, Celestron, Orion, and Meade are all great companies. I'm a bit biased for Meades though.

Also, check out this thread: Astronomy: Telescopes