Stephen,

Good comments. I differ though on the toss up between tracking and
DSCs (I have neither at the moment), but I'm more into DSOs, where the
mag is lowish and the objects often faint and hard to find (I find!).
DSCs don't preclude the fun/frustration of star hopping, but would at
least be a handy confirmation of where you've landed.

For planets and public viewings, EQ...

Mark


IOW, based on my current exeperiences with Dobs, Forks, Wedges and GEMs,
given the choice between a Dob with DSCs and a Dob with EQ platform. I'd
definitely go for the one with platform drive. Finding stuff is a pain, but
no where near as much a pain as hand tracking easy to find targets above
some threshold of magnification (in my case, I get annoyed above 150x).
Lastly, with the platform drive, you don't lose your position if you need to
spend time studying the charts during a star hop. That makes star hopping
less of a pain, thus the DSCs less of an advantage.

Stephen Paul