My interest in astronomy was rekindled in early 2003 when on impulse I bought a cheap 70mm refractor from a supermarket. This scope was surprisingly good, and set me on a path of perpetual upgrading. First I wanted more aperture, so I bought an 8″ Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector. Then I wanted something more portable, so a 4″ Maksutov-Cassegrain was added to the stable. I got fed up with “nudging” the Dob to track planets so I bought an EQ-6 heavy duty equatorial mount to put the OTA on. Then I wanted widefield views, so got my first “short tube” 80mm refractor. This gave me a taste for refractors, so I added a 6″ f/5 and replaced the 80mm with a William Optics ZenithStar 80 Short.
Eventually I wanted even more aperture than the Dob, but in a smaller package, so replaced the Dob with a 9¼” SCT. During the last couple of years, the price of “ED” refractors (which have much less chromatic aberration than normal achromatic refractors) has reduced considerably, so I’ve bought a cute little ZenithStar 66 SD and replaced my 80mm achro with a Sky-Watcher 80ED.
So, after a mad spree of telescope buying, I’ve gone from a small, cheap refractor, via a medium sized general purpose Dob, to a set of scopes — one for every occasion.
| Small | Large | |
| Wide field refractor |  Sky-Watcher 80ED (80mm f/7.5) William Optics ZS66 SD (66mm f/5.9) |  Helios 6″ (150mm f/5) |
| High magnification Cassegrain |  Sky-Watcher 4″ Mak (102mm f/12.75) |  Celestron 9¼” SCT (235mm f/10) |
| Mount | NexStar 80 alt/az goto |  Sky-Watcher EQ-6 GEM |
Scopes I no longer have include a Sky-Watcher SkyLiner 200 Dob, a Sky-Watcher StarTravel 80 refractor and a William Optics ZenithStar 80 Short refractor.