Good or not?

Hi everyone i am new to this forum and know very little about space though i want to learn more. I was looking at telescopes and i was wondering if this is a good telescope for a beginner?
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-21049-127EQ-PowerSeeker-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNKY/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1324346599&sr=8-15[url][/url][/url]

What functions do you want?

Rob

I've got a Celestron C8 with powered mount, which I think is pretty good. Powered because I eventually want to do some astrophotography.

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-StarBri ... 421&sr=1-1

Having a goto mount makes things a LOT easier, but does bump the price up, and the Celestron handset is a PITA to use - I think a more modern one would be good. I want to mod a Raspberry Pi or similar.

Going much larger than 8" and things get a bit unwieldy to move around, mainly the tripod, my is a right monster!

As Rob said - what do you want to use it for?

I am mainly interested in viewing objects rather than photographing them.

What sort of objects? Planets? Nebula? Moon? Galaxies?

Mainly planets and nebulas. Maybe some galaxies and the moon.

I would always go for the biggest dobsonian you could find if you want to view for short times without long exposures

Thanks. Is there a telescope that you would suggest right for me?

I use an 8" dobsonian because i cant ever be bothered to set things up over a long time and also it gives huge magnification for a cheap price! Maybe go skywatcher or another big name?

I realize this was a long dead thread, but I'm new to the forum and I also enjoy amateur astronomy and astrophotography.

I agree with Mr. Goldsmith on the 8" dobsonian. I took my avatar photo from my backyard (in town) with an Orion XT8 and my wife's DSLR. (To be fair, I did brighten it up a bit with software, but not nearly as much as you might think. An 8-inch telescope is legit.)

I had a little 3-inch tabletop Celestron before - also a lot of fun by the way - but no comparison to the big 8-inch. And with both Orion and Celestron offering 8s for well under $500 delivered... come on, you can eat rice and beans for a few weeks and pick up a real telescope with the savings.