Just a note to support the people intending to buy an 8" and starting to get concerned that they should be buying a 12"...
If you're reading this thread and considering the 8" but starting to worry that maybe it's going to be too small (you want something great from the start, of course!) then I'd not be too worried about sticking with the 8".
An 8" is a great scope. They're physically smaller and, for the inexperienced, they give you truly amazing views of the night sky. Although I have not had the opportunity to look through a 12", my understanding is that will not be missing out on anything with an 8" - everything you can see with the 8" will be visible in a 12" as well - it'll just be more subtle in the 12".
To the inexperienced observer the 8" and 12" give similar views - there's just a lot more subtlety in the 12" - which you'll appreciate more once you've been observing for a while. Also, the 12" is much bigger - harder to move and transport, which means you may use it less.
For me, I will probably stick with my 8". It will take me a long time to exhaust the detail I can see through it. For me the next upgrade will not be more aperture, but some way to track the sky so I can take pictures - either a tracking mount (HEQ5) which I can mount my 8" on, or an equatorial platform. Without tracking your photo taking is really limited to the moon - everything else needs long exposure or high magnification (which moves through the scope too fast to snap easily with a dob, though it can be done
