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Excellent idea. The dobs are great aperture for the money and a great starter scope.
The 10" dob you refer to by Bintel is a Guang Sheng Optical (GSO) scope made in Taiwan and marketed by Bintel with their sticker on it. It is very good quality for the money, and will give you years of use. Usually their showroom scopes are not the one you buy. You buy the scope in several boxes and assemble the base yourself. The tube comes almost totally assembled.
I have a GSO (Bintel) dob. I don't know the Saxon brand well but perhaps a Saxon owner will weigh in here. The GSO mirror - the business end of things, really - is very good, and probably one of the best for the money for the application for which it's designed, here. The base is inexpensive laminated particle board, and servicable. Many of us, after time with the scope, tweak our dob to refine this or that feature. Don't think they were broken to start, they're not! It's just our nature to tinker.
On a side note, later you can buy a dedicated telescope computer and encoders and make your dob a PUSH-TO scope. By this, I mean you can set it up to find any one of thousands (tens of thousands, really) objects stored in the database of this computer by pushing it to coordinates the computer displays for you. It's almost as good as mechanized GOTO, and many of us have our dobs fitted with such gear. It doesn't track, of course...you have to move the scope to follow the objects as they move, but with practice that's easy. In truth, these PUSH-TO add-ons can cost almost as much as the scope itself (computer, encoders, hardware, etc) but you'll find devotees who swear it's the best accessory they have. I’d suggest you wait on this, obviously, until you have some time at the eyepiece and know better what you want.
Weight and size and set-up ease are key issues. The best telescope is the one you use the most, regardless of aperture. And if it's too big to easily lift and transport or too complicated to set up quickly (if that’s your modus operandi) you'll find excuses not to go out...which is bad!
Best advice: find some club nearby, or even not-so-nearby if necessary, and contact them.
Who is closest in Canberra, guys?
Find some veteran dob user in the club who can meet with you and show you the ropes and help you decide what and where to buy. EVERY club I’ve known has a few enthusiastic veterans with vast experience in this or that category of telescope who can and will want to help you. As you read here on IIS, our greatest fear is that you become frustrated and disillusioned with the excess of options you have, or something like collimation or what have you, and abandon the hobby when all you needed was a quick point in the right direction from a veteran who has walked that path already.
Cheers and Clear Sky,
Scott
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