New Guy Questions; Opinions wanted

I have been lurking on sci.astro.amateur a while and have enjoyed to
information therein. I have decided to buy a Go-To telescope and would
appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance for any help.

I have been doing some viewing with my later father-in-law's homebuilt 6"
Newtonian, but it was built in the 30's and is way past its prime. I hope
to continue viewing planets and move to more deep space objects with better
equipment.

I live in the country (about 80 miles from Dallas, Tx) and do not have any
neighbors in sight (1/2 mile) of my house. I will be doing all my viewing
from this location, so portability is not a great factor. I am unsure of
the level of light polution at my location, but the sky seems dark above
with only a faint glow from Dallas on the Southwest quadrant. I can easily
see the Milky Way on dark nights.

My budget allows me to choose between one of three Celestrons Go-To's, and I
would appreciate some advice:

1. Celestron Advanced Series Computerized Go-To 6" Achromatic Refractor C6
R-GT
2. Celestron Nexstar 8i Schmidt-Cassegrain Modular Telescope
3. Celestron Advanced Series Computerized Go-To 10" Newtonian C10 N-GT

Here are my questions:

1. Given the limited need for portability, the obvious choice would seem to
be the 10" reflector. But I wonder if I would be able to use the greater
arpeture this close to a large city (80 miles from city center) due to light
polution? Any comments?

2. Does the ease of use of the 8" S-C trump 2 extra inches on the
Newtonian? Opinions solicited.

3. Do the Go-To drives on the refractors and reflectors work as well as on
the S-C? I have read that they do not, but that information is a bit old.
I want to be able to have school children over and give them tours of the
sky, so and effective Go-To system is important.

4. Is the lens quality on the 8" Nexstar as good (practically speaking) as
on the 6" and 10" Advanced Series scopes?

5. Could the refractor actually be a better choice despite it's smaller
arperture?

Again, thanks for any input.

-John Banister

2. Would the ease of setup and



.

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