I'm new, what should I buy?

I've seen the Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes mentioned before. I had been looking at Newtonian type scopes. A few models I was looking at were:

www.telescopes.com/products/celestron-om...reflector-56510.html
www.telescopes.com/products/orion-astrov...reflector-36980.html

Any comments on these models?

Those two you refer us to are fine mid-range amateur telescopes. Almost all of us on these boards, at some stage had one of them, or another branded version. Both show the kind of equatorial mount common with most telescopes today - but make sure you read the print - these mounts are HAND CONTROLLED, therefore are not automated or driven. However, motor additions can be purchased and added to these mounts no problem. So bear in mind - the price is indicative of what you are getting! The more expensive of the 2 (Orion AstroView 6 EQ Reflector at $420) would cost about $600 I guestimate at least with a drive included. Still affordable. But then you have shipping, insurance, and customs tax to think about (and that is if you're lucky that this company ships outside the U.S.).

Seanie.

Those two you refer us to are fine mid-range amateur telescopes. Almost all of us on these boards, at some stage had one of them, or another branded version. Both show the kind of equatorial mount common with most telescopes today - but make sure you read the print - these mounts are HAND CONTROLLED, therefore are not automated or driven. However, motor additions can be purchased and added to these mounts no problem. So bear in mind - the price is indicative of what you are getting! The more expensive of the 2 (Orion AstroView 6 EQ Reflector at $420) would cost about $600 I guestimate at least with a drive included. Still affordable. But then you have shipping, insurance, and customs tax to think about (and that is if you're lucky that this company ships outside the U.S.).

Seanie.

I've been in touch with this company and they do ship to Ireland. I also contacted Andromed Optics to get prices as they deal in Celestron. Just need to contact customs about rates to see which will cheaper, although in my expirence 80% of things I've bought abroad seems to get past customs