Hi Trevor, I have a VC200L for imaging and cannot speak highly enough about its performance for this facit. I can honestly say I rarely use it for visual work but for the few times it has been used it is a real performer. I had an 8" Newt and this blows it away. I have had a problem with the secodary freezing up in sub zero tempratures but this is easily fixed with a dew shield. The thick spiders are the biggest thing to get used to with stars , particularly bright ones causing quite a difraction spike. I don't mind this. I have a focal reducer which lowers it's FL to 1200mm at F6.4.
One of the big advantages is that there is no mirror flop as the primary mirror is fixed by a retaining ring and focusing is carried out with a rear rack and pinion focuser of good quality and collimatable.
As for planetary work or imaging I really can't comment but with a focal length of 1800 it is a bit short. Most planetary imaging is done at about 12 to 14M.
I can recommend this scope as an imaging scope for DSO's and Galaxies.
Check out some of the images on my website and see what you think.
The VC200L images are here.
http://www.darkskyau.com/cm/thumbnails.php?album=10