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Hi Henry,
With $1800 to spend I recommend that you maybe go for a 10" dobsonian rather than the 12" straight off the bat. You can pick up the 10" collapsible SW from Andrews for only $799 and this leaves you $1000 of your budget for some QUALITY eyepieces. You will get a 25mm and 10mm Standard Super Plossl with this scope and these are finer starters but a quality 2 x ED barlow and one or pehaps two different Ep's of the range 15mm and maybe a 30mm will give you a good range of magnifications across the board.
Good quality eyepieces (not the SUPER expensive ones) are about $150 - $300 EACH so a couple of $200 ones like the Baader Hyperion 15mm or Pentax XF are a good investment and will improve the views out of sight!
The reason for the 10" size is that its quite a bit more portable than the 12" which I have of the collapsible variety and even though I am 6 foot 9, its a bit bulky even for me to carry around when fully assembled. Remember! A bulky scope you never take out is an UNUSED scope. Its also easier to fit in the car (collapsible even better) when you have to take the OTA off the base and lie it on the back seat or in the cargo area of a wagon. The collapsed 10" Skywatcher should fit in the back of a wagon with the tube still connected to the base. In my case, the OTA JUST fits in the back of my high roof Ute canopy if I slide it in, which means I have to take the tube off the base and put the base beside it. Something you will HAVE to do with all other Dobsonians of the 1500mm focal length tubes.
Also, you could go for a 10" solid tube, and I recommend the ASDX 10 inch GSO version as it has 5 eyepieces, a fan, 10:1 fine focuser and could be converted later on to be mounted on a EQ mount for Astrophotography if that bug bites you. This costs $899 and is a GOOD starter package for you.
Add an adjustable chair (YOU WILL NEED ONE sooner or later) and maybe an EP case, barlow, LASER collimator and 2 nicer eyepieces and you should still have a few hundred left in the kitty to splurge on something later on. (there is always something else to buy)
As Greg said, you could wander into Bintel with your shopping list and get a comparable price and package as I think they match prices if you ask them. Also both establishments are reliable, experienced and very good to deal with.
I didnt worry about the white colour of my SW12" dob compared to the sexy BD version seen on most sites as the price I got mine for was significantly less than the others and still has a 5yr warranty to boot.
Something to get you thinking.....good luck.
Cheers
Chris
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