o.k. so I have been here and done that a bit and have a few tidbits
1: Stay the heck away from Big 5 or any department store scopes- they are crap.
2: ignore any claims of magnification. Scopes are actually designed to pull in light. ALL scopes can be jacked up in mag to the sky but the limitation is their light gathering. That is why Defied likes the Dobs- big (cheap) light buckets.
3: It has been said " the best telescope is the one you use the most". This means if your scope is huge and unwieldly, you won't often pull it out to use. A smaller scope may have less light gathering, but if you can put it in backpack and hit the trails, what the heck?
There are three basic designs-
Refracting- the classic telescope- light comes in the front, out the back. These are long-ish. If you get one of these you want a 3-4" model.
Newtonion- Typically, around 4-5 inches diameter. Light in the front, off a mirror in the back, bounced off a smaller mirror in the front up to your eyepiece, which effectively doubles your focal length. These are pretty common and cheap.
Schmidt Cassegrain or MAK telescopes- are the cream of the crop- short with big apertures and a complicated mirroring system. These are the more expensive scopes and the coolest. Serious astronomers go for these or Dobs.
Now- advice. You can see a lot with a decent grade scope. The moon, moons of Jupiter, rings of saturn can be seen with almost any decent scope. You need to make sure you get a decent selection of eyepieces with whatever you buy as these are the power to see more or back off more. A 2X barlow is a must too---doubles any eyepiece.
If I were to do it all over (I have a 8"SCT Celestron with a tripod that could mount a .50 cal) I would get a smaller one. Maybe a 5-6" MAK or SCT. They are small and light, you can use them on the ground or for the sky. You can ever hook your camera to them and use them as a insane zoom if you are crafty.
Often, folks buy scopes and don't use them as much as they thought they would so that would argue for a cheaper beginner scope. Newtonions and Refractors would be good for this.
Plan on spending around at least $200+ for a decent beginner scope. Some folks argue that you should buy a good pair of binoculars and use them at first for stargazing but you won't get as close as you may want to the moons of Jupiter.
http://www.telescopes.com/
http://www.shopatron.com/products/categ ... 12.0.0.0.0 Meade telescopes factory outlet
This is a nice little MAK scope that you could see a lot with.
http://www.telescope.com/control/produc ... t_id=09824
Some places let you go out and try the scopes---like sean's astronomy shop in battleground, wa
http://www.infobtainers.com/
The trick is to spend enough to get a good scope so you won't have a sour experience. Another thought is getting a GOTO scope that you can use to have it point to things. Astronomy purist don't like them but they are cool and can find the stuff you want to see. I wish mine had it :(
Anyway- nuff said. Gimme a PM if I can be of more help