Welcome to IIS Daniel
I would back the push for a dob on your budget. They will give you the best bang for your buck and I would only say to get one with a Crayford focuser and not a rack and pinion focuser. My upgrade to the Crayford was the best single upgrade I did to mine so get one straight up.
BTW, get to your local astro society's viewing night and have a look at some of the options in action, they should have nights over the next couple of weekends with the new moon coming.
Cheers