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Hi Gunther
I have only ever owned one 'decent' 'scope and mount. So I cannot provide any comparisons, but I've been using them regularly for over six months now.
I've got a SW BD ED-120 refractor on a HEQ5-Pro mount (purchased from Andrews in Sydney) $2299 + $1199 = $3498. Additionally I purchased an Orion Awesome Guidescope Package (purchased from Bintel here in Melbourne) $579.
So far all of this costs $4100. Freight and insurance were extra. I've also bought a flat field reducer and adaptors for a Canon camera (60Da), Kendrick dew heaters and a power tank. If I had my time over, experience is a wonderful thing :-) I'd have not purchased the power tank. There are plenty of threads here on ICE about portable power supplies.
My reasons for purchasing the refractor were mainly wrt its portability and not having to worry about collimation if it gets bumped etc during transport. I've used the scope visually and for DSLR photography and have been very happy thus far with my purchase. Like many others I would love to have the ready cash for a TAK but that isn't likely to happen any time soon. So I chose to purchase the setup I have so that I could get involved in astronomy and AP now, rather than save for another 5-10 years and maybe have to spend the money on other things and never get into the hobby.
It would also be very much worth your while to visit your local astronomical society, pick their brains and look through their scopes before making a decision.
I hope that my 2¢ worth helps.
Paul
PS You can take some pretty good images with this type of rig. I still consider myself very much a beginner wrt AP. I've attached below the best image that I've captured and processed so far.
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