Paul. You've come to the right place. I thought I'd get in early before the dob owners do
(yes the dob would be a better option - more bang for the buck) but they do take up room when going camping that is for sure.
If all you are going to do is visual stuff then the SW500 will be ok. You won't really be able to image through it successfully though. However, properly aligned and with an RA motor and tuned up a bit, it makes a great little widefield imaging setup. Consider getting the RA motor anyway. I have the same mount the the RA motor makes life a lot easier.
Anther option as far as suppliers goes is Steve Massey at
Myastroshop . BTW I use this
motor for my eq3