I agree with John and I think the GOTO will get old very fast unless you are an avid astrophotographer. Part of the thrill I find with astronomy is star hopping. Sometimes you even stumble on better objects than the ones you set out to observe
IMHO the best you can do for a grand is one of them GSO 12" dobs with no bells and whistles...just plain and simple raw aperture to pull in all those ancient photon's !!!!!!!!!!!
Darren