Collimation with a Cheshire is
not hard at all. Just take it slow at first. there is an excellent Newtonian collimation guide on
www.skyandtelescope.com
Geoff is right about planets: collimation for the views and smoother motion for manual tracking. Just some washers around the centre bearing will make a huge difference. (See milk jug washer mod.)
A straight-through finder is the best finder if you only have one finder. I got used to it very quickly, but I now use a Rigel 1x and a right-angle finder to save my neck. I actually had to get reused to the correct-image one, because it is upside down compared with what I see in the EP.
Value: well that's subjective. I still think one is getting a hell of a lot of telescope for the money with the 6-12" Dobs available these days. Few short years ago this would have been unthinkable.
But it sounds like your fun to frustration ratio is pretty good, anyway.
