I've owned this cheap department store Bushnell 60mm refractor telescope for ove ten years now.

It totally frustrates me!  It tickles my yearn for astronomy but cheats me with cheap optics.

I think I've decided to take the plunge and purchase a high dollar OTA, in particular the Advanced Series Celestron 9.25 SGT.

I was just wondering if anyne on this board might have any input on this scope.  

I'd initially like to just "learn the skies", DSO's like nebula, clusters, binaries, etc, and of course the planets and moon) then perhaps get into some entry level astrophotography.

The AS 9.25SGT is about the limit for my budget ~$1800-$2000 including eyepieces and filters.  AT that price I'm looking for input from someone who owns or has used this scope...

I've been messing around with scopes since 1986 when Hally's Comet came around. I also got one of those cheap department scopes and really wasn't thrilled with the results ether. In '94, I got a Celestron C90 spotting scope and was really impressed by it!

So, a year later, I got a used Celestron C8 8" OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) with no mount or finder scope. I then found out that you can't park something that heavy on a photo tripod! So, I went back and got a fork mount and 50mm finder scope and use it as a table top scope and sometimes mount it on my ATV's front rack.

I don't do a lot of star-gazeing but I like to do daytime viewing (I live on a hilltop that over looks part of the Wisconsin river valley and into a nearby town - I can wath a game of one-on-one basketball from about 7 to 8 miles away and can keep score).

From what I've read on the web and in Sky and Teliscope magizine, Celestron was bought out by Tasco and are now made in China. But, I have also heard that the big scopes made by Celestron are still good, in fact, the  9.25 SGT is said to be a very fine telescope.

The only real advise I can give you is to check out the telescope forums and look for a good dealer. Don't be afraid to look at used scopes, the money you save can be used to buy eyepieces and other things. Just avoid the "too good to be true" adds, like a $4050.00 Questar - 3.5" Standard seling for $200.00 (only if a truck hit it)!

I've bought from Scope City, Astroptx(Wholesale Optics), Astronomics, to name a few, and had very good dealings with them.

Try this website as a guide:

[url]http://www.astromart.com/forums.asp[/url]

Good luck in your hunt!