Telescope advice

[W9TR]

Dave,
If you go with a 16" you will have a monster on your hands. That's both good and bad, so you have to really think about the size, weight, and bulk that you are trading off for more light gathering.

A 16" SCT will weigh in at over 300 lbs and take two people to set up.
A 12" SCT wIll weigh in at under 100 lbs and take one person to set up.

So for a 16" scope, practicality sets in and if you want to go that big, it will need to be a Dobsonian IMO. Or you need to think about building a permanent structure to house it. Obsession telescopes have some great examples of big Dobsonians to give you an idea of what they are about. What you are trading off when you go to a big dobsonian is the ability to do long exposure astrophotography of deep sky objects. Planets and the moon will be ok.

So I'm with Glenn and think a 12" is a sweet spot. The vast majority of amateur instruments are smaller.

Plus the Meade LX-90 you highlighted earlier looks like a great value. Both Celestron and Meade make great telescopes. I'm not sure using your phone to control the scope is a big advantage, but I have not seen this capability in action.

Tom