Thanks to all who have replied so far.
Yes, the scope will come with a 1.25" diagonal, 26mm or 25mm Plossl and the Meade has an 8x50 finder. The Celestron is only 6x30 which seems a little small.
Astroron, I did visit BTOW a few weeks ago and did speak to someone (name escapes me). He was helpful but they generally only stock the Skywatcher pro series now and their 6" SCT would actually work out more $ than either 8" I mentioned. Don't know why, particularly as Synta seems to make both Skywatcher and Celestron scopes.
Geoff, I have taken a couple of pics of my Ruski scope (it's a TAL). Stupid question, how do I post the pics and where?
I have certainly heard good things about the C9.25 but that's another $1k I'm not prepared to add.
Cheers.