Best budget telescope for skywatching setup? Balcony monitoring on a shoestring

I'm setting up a permanent observation post on my Coventry flat's balcony and I want to do this properly without dropping a grand on equipment. Currently I've got binoculars (Celestron 10x50, decent enough) and a mobile phone on a tripod with a night vision app. It's not ideal, but it's working.

The question: is a budget telescope actually useful for UAP monitoring, or is it wasted money? I'm looking at the Celestron NexStar 130SLT (about £600) or the Skywatcher Dob (£300). The motorised tracking would be brilliant for following moving objects, but I'm not sure if I'd actually get better results than just using better binoculars and a proper camera setup.

What's your experience with affordable scopes for this kind of work?

Motorised tracking is essential if you want to follow fast-moving objects - your eye will lose it in seconds otherwise. That said, the NexStar is excellent value. Pair it with a decent eyepiece (Explore Scientific 82° series are brilliant) and you'll be spotting aircraft at 20km+ away with visual confirmation.

The real investment should be a decent camera though. A secondhand Sony A6000 mirrorless (£300-400) with a telephoto lens will give you better documentation than any telescope. UFO investigation is about evidence, not just viewing.

is a budget telescope actually useful for UAP monitoring, or is it wasted money?

Wasted money. Honestly. You'll spend three hours setting it up, get one decent view of something, and realise it's a helicopter. Get a proper astro camera, learn the night sky, and commit to systematic observations. Haphazard scope viewing is how you get false positives.

I've got the Skywatcher 200P dob and it's fantastic for general skywatching. For UAP monitoring specifically, I use it once a month or so when I've got time. Most of the time I'm just using binoculars and a starfinder app to identify aircraft routes. A balcony in Coventry is actually decent for this - you're not in a major flight corridor but close enough to see traffic from Midlands Airport.

Do yourself a favour: join the Nottingham Astronomy Society. They'll let you have a look through various scopes before you buy. Avoid the NexStar if you're not comfortable with technology - the computerised system is finicky. The manual Dob is more reliable, even if it's slower.