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I will second Pauls comments on the various scopes.

Troy, you need to look through a few more scopes and decide if there is one major area you want to pursue or a couple of different uses.
I will second Peter M's comments in that there is a few of the best scope tech's here in Aust.that know the ACF's inside and out. Meade is a too valuable trade Mark that won't be thrown away if the company sells or winds up. There is soooo much Meade gear out there in this world someone would love to take over with parts and patents.

Alot of the negativity of the service issues came about mostly in the USA where most warranty work had to be sent back direct to Meade which caused alot of back issue problems then it became a bashing company game between what seemed like only a few individuals on the forums. The service with Meade gear here from my experience over the years have been first class. Meade has changed alot in the way they do things in the states and if you follow the forums there they have made big improvements in customer service now there is very little bashing going on.
Alot of people make comments about products that they know nothing about or have never used for along time to make a fair judgement about. So be carefull when reading forums here and overseas about things untill you are sure they are correct. I nearly been caught out sometimes from misinformed comments.

I own a 12 inch 200R ( same as ACF) and let me say when it is colimated properly and cooled for an hr or two the views through it both planetary and DSO are very sharp. I used a nice sharp 5 inch Mak on the planets for awhile which gave almost refractor like views but always ran out of light when the magnification was cranked up where the 12 r never ran out of light on the planets and the image was as sharp as the Mak.
I used this same scope to follow up PeterM's first S/nova discovery at over Mag 17.5 in my light polluted back yard suburban Brisbane with a 28 second intergration using a Mallincam video all this was through thin high level cloud. This scope performs the way it was designed and intended for.

Great alround scope for the $ and with a dew strap no problem ever with dew allnight.

You will never get 1 total alrounder as each scope serves a design requirement but the ACF scopes come close for the money.

I may be taking it out to Leyburn either end of June or July with the Mallincam to put it through its paces in pure dark sky. Talk to PeterM and he will let you know and you are welcome to come to Leyburn and have alook through the scope with eyepieces or with the camera on the monitor.
You will see most of these scopes up at astrofest but if you are like me it took about 6 months to take the plunge and I am very happy with what I got.
Good luck deciding which way to go.

Regards Matt.