Just to put in my tuppence worth;
Bought a 12" GSO from Andrews about 7 weeks ago. It's my first "real" scope and I couldn't be happier with it. Build quality seems pretty good to me and the bonus 5 eyepiece deal has given me a good range of ep's for exploring the sky straight out of the box.
Mine came with the 10:1 Crayford focuser and I've been told by those in the know that this is definitely the way to go as opposed to the standard focuser.
As Scott mentioned earlier; it's probably a Ford versus Holden situation and I for one don't operate on a Mercedes Benz budget.
Good luck with your choice. I'm sure you'll be more than happy whichever way you finally choose to go
