[vespine]

Hi again. Obviously there will be a lot of advice for you to take in all at once so I'll try to be as concise as I can. Firstly my disclaimer, the LB is my 1st scope, I've just had it over a year now so I'm not the most experienced person when it comes to various types of telescopes.
The above post makes some valid points but I'd like to add a few comments. It seems the main concerns raised are collimation and dust contamination. While it is true you will need to learn how to collimate your telescope, this actually isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. You will need to budget for a collimating tool, but don't let that discourage you. I collimated for about 6 months with just an old film canister and when I eventually bought my laser tool I found out I was never that far off.
People have posted that since the LB "comes apart" you'll need to collimate more, but I've never actually seen evidence of that, I've had the scope apart and put it back together after driving for 3 hours and it has not even needed adjusting. Again, if it had, after doing it a few times it's not even a bother. In fact, I kinda like it. I liken it to checking the tyre pressure on your motorbike before going out for a weekend ride, it's like a reassurance/ ritual/ "get you in the mood" kind of thing for me, I could be just a little crazy though . You could argue the same thing about polar alignment, personally I find the idea of assembling something and collimating it more appealing then polar aligning.
Secondly, the dust: The LB comes with a snugly fitting "bin lid" dust cover that fits over the mirror, INSIDE the OTA, so you aren't just capping the end of the tube, you are actually covering the mirror it self, so I don't think the LB truss design is any worse then any other dob when it comes to dust.
So I guess dust is dust, wether you have a dob or a eq mounted maks or whatever, you can't avoid the dust. In my opinion, the dob is a low tech piece of kit, especially when compared to anything on a go-to mount that needs power, low tech beats hi tech when it comes to dust. But just because it isn't high tech, does not mean it isn't high end, it's a very impressive telescope, most lay people that see it are seriously blown away, I've had "non astro" people guess it cost five grand because they think it's so impressive looking.
To sum up, whatever choice you make, actually seeing the scope, and seeing through the scope are worth a thousand words. Getting an idea of what exactly it is like to sit beside a dob and move it and hold it and look through it, also putting your hands onto a go to controller and hearing the motors buzz and seeing how easy it is to track something down with a go-to mount, these things can not be conveyed to you with words written in a post, it's something you have to experience to appreciate. Have you considered coming along to a viewing night? I'm in Melbourne too and I think this Saturday Dave and I, and who ever else comes, are heading down to the Mornington Peninsula Astro Society site near Mount Martha, there is a thread in the Star Parties and Observing Sessions folder. Dave said "this weekend" I'm waiting for him to confirm if he meant "Saturday", have a look at that thread and post if you are interested.