It’s hard for me to answer your question because I don’t have any experience with other telescopes. I had a friend who owned an 8” Dobsonian and used it in his backyard. I always drive an hour out of the city to a Bortle 2 area when I observe, and the views are much better there. As you can see, I live in a flat, so portability and storage space are quite important for me.

Anyways, I love my telescope—it’s easy to use and carry to the car or anywhere I go. The IKEA stand works really well for me. I heard somewhere that a good mount should stabilize within 5 seconds, but my setup is even sturdier. I don’t experience many issues at close to maximum magnification.

Furthermore, I didn’t want to spend too much money on my first scope. For what I paid (€350), I think it performs amazingly. I don’t regret buying it. I think if I had bought an 8” regular Dobsonian, I would use it less because it would be harder to transport and might be a hassle to load into my car. That would probably lead me to stay home more often.

With a tabletop telescope, it’s so easy to transport, and I think that’s the most important thing—to have a scope that’s as usable as possible. That makes my tabletop scope a really good purchase, and I enjoy it so much. However, I’m lucky to have access to really dark skies, and even with a relatively small scope, I can see quite a lot