> One other thought. I bought a Meade 2130 5inch telescope

> with Autostar. It cost about $300.00. I would suggest

> considering something like this. I believe it would satisfy

> all of your (John Renstrom's) criteria. I like playing with the

> GOTO and allot of the time I just like pushing the tube

> around by hand. I figured if I didn't like the telescope,

> I could give it to my son and then I would have a better

> idea what I really wanted after my experience with the Meade.

I have thought about buying a small cheap version of the nexstar, but as I keep asking people why they are selling these types of scopes, it almost always the same story...they are upgrading. I have several thousand dollars that I am willing to invest into my scope and despite how anxious I am to buy, I enjoy reading and learning more about this field...Also, the prices on this equipment just keep getting better and better...

> It sounds like, John, you have been looking at telescopes

> for a while. If you haven't gone to a Star Party or two

> that would be a good move before you actually plunk

> down a sizeable investment.

Yes, you are correct, I have been reading up on scopes for over 2 years now...I really like to take my time before buying anything...I consider this a very expensive and time consuming hobby and I want to be as prepared as possible before plunging in...I consider myself a very caucious buyer and like to buy for the long-term...As for the star parties, I am very anxious about attending one...I have some friends with scopes, but I think the idea of a bunch of people all draging their scopes out for a party sounds like a total blast! I anticipate I will be that nosy person asking a lot of questions and roaming around mindlessly.

To Kim:

I my bark sounds worse than my bite...I actually liked what you said...In fact, I think I was replying to Chuck's email more than yours...

To Chuck:

I know someday it might be nice to roam the stars and to be able to know where everything is...But until then, I must rely on the auto find feature. I don't think the auto find feature is bad at all...I compare it to calculators in the class room...when I went to school, we couldn't use calculators because the teachers felt like the students wouldn't learn how to do the math...Now days, the tests are so complicated, you would be crazy to even try to take a test without a calculator...I just think that the auto find technology is the beginning of more intelligent scopes...Having more intelligent scopes only opens the door for the lazy people like myself...and let me assure you, when I say lazy, I mean lazy! I am so lazy that I am extremely tempted by the GPS unit simply because I don' want to have to care where I set the scope up...I want to plug it in start playing without having to key in any numbers! :-)