to IceInspace, Mathew!
I haven't used one myself, but I do know that the 8" skywatchers are great scopes. Put one on an EQ mount, and you're already set for astrophotography.
I'm not a huge fan of newts on EQ mounts for
visual use as you need to rotate the tube quite a bit depending on which area of the sky you're looking at.. but the 8" newts are a lot shorter than my 12" newt, so it's probably less of an issue and not too bad to deal with.