I have heard that side by side mounting is hard to balance. As I don't have a permanent setup for my mount I have to setup and packup each time I go out. One less technical difficulty potentially dispensed at least untill tube flexure becomes a problem. Also the bars and plate are quite expensive items too. Mind you when you see pictures of that setup it looks impressive!
I don't know about Phil's wife but I did warn mine that for the next couple of weeks lots of packages would be turning up and not to get too stressed about it. I even covered myself by quickly showing her a picture of the ED80without drawing too much attention to the price. She made a comment to the effect that she didn't begrudge me my telescope gear and that's as good as a "Yes" as I'll ever get from her in the astronomy department.
cheers
Mike
