Just a quick poll.

60mm "Monolux" Brand Ref (Japan) late 60's.
First quality scope - Edmund 6" F/6 in mid 70's.

About 1969, Sears 60mm refractor made in Japan for about $70, bought by my parents when I was 15. A lot of money back then.

I eventually saw about 80 Messier objects. Had trouble with the galaxies!

The eyepieces were 0.965 inchers. 20mm, 6mm, and 4mm. Plus a barlow! Didn't take long to realize that the 20mm was the only usable one!

The mount was pretty bad, but the main telescope was decent.

Mike Ratcliff

First a C90, then:

C8
Orion XT8
NexStar 11

now a Discovery 12.5" PDHQ.

Oh yeah, I just picked up an 80mm f/5 shorty on A-Mart...

My first decent scope was an Orion 60mm Alt Taz back in '92, my wife and I had a lot of fun with that scope. However like any small scope it quickly hit the wall. We needed aperture, lots more aperture. So we talked about it and poured through the Orion catalog, Sky and Telescope and Astronomy, for about 3 months. We scrutinized every ad in the mags. After much deliberation we decided to get the 8" Dob. First night we had it we unpacked it as fast as we could and got it set up nd out the front door we went. Dialed up M42 the Orion Nebula and presto we were set for a few years to come.
Then I built a 4.5 inch newtonian and had fun with that. Gave that scope to a Family with interested kids.
Then built the 10" scope, and that was a great machine. M13 looked better in that than the 8" scope. Best view of Saturn, I have ever had was through that scope.
My main scope now is the Orion 12" Dob

4" f/4 newt. Still have it, but the optics are now 26 years old and look it.
Primary weapon is a 13" newt, with sometimes some 6" newt on the side.

Regarding learning curve: I eventually realized I had used way, way under powered guides and charting, for what the scopes were actually able to reveal.

My first scope was an El Cheapo 2 inch refractor when I was around 6 or 7 (a Tasco I think if you are wanting to know brand, but I really can't remember to save life). The optics were horrible, the focuser was one that you slid in and out instead of turn knobs, and I had better luck propping the scope on a tree branch than using the included mount. My parents bought it for me shortly after Halley's comet. My father took my brother and sister and I out into the Texas boonies to view it with bino's, and I was the first one to see it, and didn't want to leave. Seeing the comet with the Milky Way behind it really sparked something, so my parents got it for me for Christmas one year.

My next scope was a homemade 8" newt on a dob mount with optics from Edmund Scientific when I was around 11. The optics were great I guess, but the mount and the construction of the OTA were worthless. I hardly used it and got rid of it shortly after getting it because we moved to another state. I always regretted not keeping it and just fixing the build issues once I was old enough to work the saw myself.

I didn't have a scope for the last 15+ years, but the bug never left me. I just purchased a 10" Celestron Starhopper about a week ago and have had cloudy skies since!! : )

Lane

This is a nice trip down Memory Lane! My first scope was a 60mm Tasco my Dad bought me when I was 13. Decades later, I still have it. Now, I have a Meade 10" LX200 Classic. Wow, what a difference! I must say, though, the decades with my Tasco where great!

Celestron table top 76 ( P.O.S ), but it gave me the first views of M42 and Saturn. Been hooked ever since.

Hello:
My first "real" scope is a Coulter Optical Odyssey 8. I bought it in 1991 when I was 14, and i still have it, though I haven't used it in a while. I currently use a 12.5" dobsonian (home made) and a 12.5" cassegrain.

Cheers
Mike Connelley

I got hooked by the S&T Gleanings in the public library, and naked-eye views of Orion -- in 10th grade. Eventually ordered a Dynascope but waited almost a year for delivery. Took it out to see M42 under NY streetlights. Soon after, I left home (and the RV-6) for college. Ten years later, I bought one of the first 80f5 (Celestron SS-80) and ProOptic Plossls, but the purple halo around the moon was not good. Nearly another ten years later, I tried again with a Genesis and a Questar... and then a "classic" 8f6 Dob (made by our own Walt Hamler). Then I _really_ got hooked.

Now, I have too many telescope projects to list. The Genesis was sold in '03 (it is _right now_ making another appearance on AM), and the Questar Duplex was replaced by an Intes-Micro M615 Mak, Borg 100 Achro piggyback, NexStar mount/Ray's Bracket, Denkmeier II, etc (same $). This "AlterBorgRayStarDuplex" will also be joined by a Starmaster 12.5 ELT. And, still too many projects...

-- William (Saratoga, CA)