Hello Shannon,

The telescopes I use while sketching are all Dobs. I do have equatorial platforms that I use most of the time but with lower magnifications it is not necessary. Without a driver you are forced to concentrate harder and stay on task. This can actually be a good thing. You might also consider contacting those that manufacture equatorial platforms and see if they have any in their inventory that are cosmetically damaged. In the dark no one notices a skuffed-up eq. platform.

Frank