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I have 3x on my 9.25 SCT and very rarely get to use it due to conditions and the strength of the F10. Especially when attempting to take images of the planets. Unless you are willing to spend the money on a TeleVue Powermate and only use it a handful of times a year its money better spent on your AP side of your new setup. The best bang for your buck if you are keen on a good unit would be the 2.5x Powermate not only will it magnify the image for visual it will be much crisper than a Barlow for imaging. When using a CCD imager with an F10 and a Barlow, the more magnification you get the more light you loose and the more clarity you also lose. Looking at the budget you have you will probably starting out with 1/3" at max CCD chip and using a 5x with this will be extremely hard. But saying all of this you will get some cracking visuals on the times you can use it.
Hope this helps a bit the C8 is a nice tube and will work well for the planets and if you add a 6.3 reducer and use a DSLR you can certainly achieve some great deep space images aslo.
Carl
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