It really depends how fussy you are and what you want to use it for i.e. visual or imaging ..... quality always comes at a premium. I have an EQ6 pro and it is serving me well. It is very solid and stable and right now Bintel are selling them at $1,495.
I see you are from around Perth ... give Keith a call at Binnocular Telescope and Optical World ( B.T.O.W. 9249 6825
http://www.btow.com.au/ ) and he will usually match prices on gear.
The advantage is that if he has one in stock you get it straight away and you don't pay shipping costs, just a bit of petrol.
Ofcourse if you want to go better quality I think the Losmandy G11 with Gemini for around $5,500 would be on my shopping list.
