Hi George,
and welcome to IIS
The meade Lightbridge is a good quality scope.
The truss design makes it easier to transport.
Yes, Orion is a good brand also, I believe optically better (IMHO).
and they do a truss as well.
I also like Skywatcher.
and they do a collapsible (as opposed to separable truss).
I have a 12" Skywatcher and really think it is a good (midway) option.
Orion and skywatcher are available in GoTo as well (add about $1000 to the basic price).
Problem with bigger aperture is moving it about.
The 16 is a big heavy beast, and may be difficult to handle alone.
The Best scope is the one you will use more, so size and weight do affect this.
But all are Good quality mirrors and have many fans.
For your friend, the theoretical highest magnification useable is twice the aperture mm. So for a 250mm (10") would be 500x.
As magnification is focal length (1200) divided by eyepiece mm., that could be attained with 2.4mm.
BUT you would need perfect seeing and atmospheric conditions to get a clear image.
Commonly held is that 300x is about as good as you will ever be able to use and that therefore would be a 4mm eyepiece.
Now a standard plossl with 50* field of view would be a bit like looking through a straw at 4mm.
So a more expensive eyepiece with a larger field of view would be much easier to use. But more expensive.
But know this, photos are obtained by long exposures (to capture more light photons) and this is not possible with real time observing of the human eye. So even then there may be some degree of OK hum!
Best solution for both is to get along to an observing session near you.
Look though other peoples scopes and eyepieces and ask questions.
I think there is a planned session for Katoomba airport next Saturday.
Not sure for Melbourne, but check out the Star-parties forum.
Hope this helps a bit
Clear Skies
Looks like Malcolm and Bill pushed Post before me, so sorry for duplication, but it all sounds similar.