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Hi Brett,
I noticed you mentioned "I would like to dabble in photography so would a truss mount severely limit my options for mounting and some sort of tracking options ?" Well STOP right there.
Astrophotography is a bug, once it gets hold of you it won't let go.
What you have to decide on is what you want the scope for.
A (trus) dob is great for quickly moving around the sky but must be aloud to cool down (5mins for evey inch of aperure) and then collimated. Because this comes apart, it never goes back the same way so mirrors will be out.
Photograhy wise good for the moon and some planets. A goto drive for the dob is available at a large cost.
A straight tube dob is a little more flexible, stays collimated for longer. Same easy to move around the sky with and photography as above. But the BIG advantage is that up can make addons as you go like purchasing a HEQ5 GoTo mount for 8" or 10", guide scope, camera adapters, low profile focuser which can be bought as your piggy bank will allow. The bigger the scope the bigger the mount.
Plus how big is your car? Whatever you buy make sure it will fit along with all other accessories including passengers.
I started off with a 8" dob Photo 1 and then added as I went along with HEQ5 mount then GoTo system, Guide scope and camera, Planetary camera and adapters for my DSLR Photo 2. I was into photography as well and now I have a good setup that works for me.
But as I said in the begining think about what you want to do and go from there, forget specials cause if you choose he wrong path it can cost you more in the long run.
Sorry to be doom & gloom but better you know than don't know. Better off going along to a veiwing night and see first hand what you can do with the different types of scopes and talk to there owners.
Cheers
Chris
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