Thanks Russ! Yeah I know about the 18 and maybe 21" (?) also coming soon but they are a big jump up in price and a different, and by the looks more refined, design. I used to own a 12" GSO Dob (just a basic push-to) but I much prefer my 10" Saxon (SW/Synta by another name) which has a much better mirror (US made, pyrex glass, or so I'm told; in any case it performs exceptionally well and it's a definite keeper). If I was to get a bigger scope (as well) 14" is probably the smallest I'd go with. 12" and 10" are too close. And it's not likely I'll get another mass-produced mirror as good as my 10".
Not sure what you mean by the mounts for the 14 and 16" being a different design from the 12". Superficially, from marketing photos, they look identical. Actually that's a bit of a concern: all models from the 8" to 16" seem to share the same Goto hardware. One would think that a 16" needs something beefier than an 8". Or maybe they are in fact beefier underneath the plastic covers...? If not and the motors are good enough to drive a 16", then one could perhaps just buy the 8" Goto dob strip out the Goto, get a
16" mirror and DIY the rest..?