An interesting discussion. I would certainly have been very tempted by the 6"f8 at that price if I hadn't wanted a wider-field, shorter scope (hence my new (to me) 6"f5). For what it is this scope has excellent optics.
Sorry to hear Lewis' problems with his "dinosaur". I suspect this may have been more due to lack of QC in manufacturing than inherent problems with a good 6"f8 achro... Certainly the purple fringing in my 6"f5 is not as bad as he has described, and it is ameliorated somewhat by the eyepiece I use. (For example my old 9mm T1 Nagler shows a lot less purple around Sirius than (say) a cheaper 10" plossl.)
Ed Ting has some interesting comments on this very scope here:
http://www.scopereviews.com/page1i.html#3
All the best folks,
Dean