Hi everyone
Thank you all for your help. I feel I have enough info to make a semi-educated purchase now; enough to get me going anyhow.
Can't wait to up close and personal with more DSOs! I collimated my small newtonian yesterday, and last night (first cloudless night in a while) found the Butterfly Cluster, Ptolemy's Cluster, and Uranus. What a buzz. It makes me itch to get my hands on a bigger OTA.
Cheers
Dave W