How to look for a good telescope.?

[Tom A]

You say $300, but your posting from the UK. How much exactly abd where?

If we're talking $US, read this:

http://www.astronomics.com/main/product....uct_id/Q8D

I suggest this or something like it, i.e. the biggest aperture Dobsonian you can afford. The six-inch may also be fine for starting, even though it isn't a "starter scope". Plenty of advanced amateurs use scopes like these.

Go to a telescope shop. Not a department store, not a camera shop that also sells scopes. A telescope shop.