Boneyard made some great points about cheaper scopes...I just hope To use me spell check a little more than him.  One thing he said is that, it is for the fun of it, for most of us.  I have a small table top Celestron and about a year ago I saw a Meade 114mm scope in a Goodwill window for $50.00.  After noticing that it was missing the finder scope and one spring steel adjustment knob..I purchased it.  As time went by I bought a finder scope and a goto mount.  It was getting to be fun.  But wait, there is more!  I dropped by the only store in Indy that sold halfway decent telescopes to look for parts I could use for the Meade.  Then it happened, my heart jumped and I ran over to look at a Celestron 80slt.  It was $349.00 on sale.  Below it was this marvelous little case with all sorts of lenses and goodies just waiting for me to buy.  I did, and couldn't wait to go home to assemble my newest scope.  I hope the Meade will not be too jealous.  Isn't it amazing that Boneyard basically discribed the scopes I have.  The reflector has its good points as Boneyard says, and the refractor is as well.  He neglected to say the most important thing about all scopes, so I will say it instead.  Never wipe a mirror or lens with anything, that's why God made compressed air.  Always keep mirrors and lenses covered when not in use.  I then bought an adaptor to fit both scopes so I could use my Canon powershot camera.  I also bought a smaller lens camera from RadioShack to work with the small diameter lens on the reflector.  I have started taking pics with both cameras and scopes. I am not a photographer and am learning how to use the different filters.  Someday I will get it together.  However I suffered a stroke 3 months ago and it is difficult for me to stand still and look through the lenses.  I have an answer for that.  Boneyard has this one too.  A computer, cables, gps, and software.  I also am gonna get a bigger scope.  This is alot of fun and the first time I found Saturn I almost had to change my shorts!  Wow, and then Jupiter.  To top it all off I finally learned to use the goto's on both scopes and shutter speeds also.  Everyday I learn something else to help.  Now if I could just figure out those darn filters.littlechum48.spaces.msn.com or free ricky.