Buying a good telescope

[goyt]

I'm looking for a good, sturdy reflector telescope which I can use eventually with motor and camera attachments. This s for a beginner, but one who intend to develop some serious amateur study. ???It has to be transported from boat to island once a year!
Need recommendations about what to buy ... and does anyone have one they're prepared to sell?

[horstm]

I've had an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain for 30 years. These are a bit of a standard choice because any bigger and they are a bit too heave to handle, set up, transport in the car, etc. In the olden days Celestron was the market leader for these, now Meade will have overtaken them in sales, but perhaps not in value for money.
Two years ago I replaced the original equatorial fork mount with a computerised German mount. (German mount is a technical term for the mount design, they are not made in Germany, usually.) This is more sturdy and the modern drive gives better tracking for astrophotography. Mine is an HEQ5 mount, which is just capable to take the Celestron; I bought it primarily to take camera plus tele lens but not the telescope. One should probably get an EQ6 for an 8 or 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain.
I don't think this is beginners' equipment, though. The Celestron is my third telescope. The first I still have, because it is too small and cheap to sell. The second I got second-hand from a friend and sold third-hand to another. So I would consider buying a complete scope and mount for £100 to £300 and to throw that away in a few years because you either lose interest or need that fancy scope for £2000 plus a good mount for £3000 after all.

[goyt]

thanks for this. Im looking now at what's on offer. I take the point that its better to see what use wll be made of it before committing too much money.
G.