I've been using my 10" Meade LX200GPS since they were first released, and still love it. I bought a Stellarvue 80mm guidescope for it not long ago and just started using the 80mm as a grab'n'go on an Alt-Az mount.
I'm really impressed with the 80mm as a scope in its own right. Whilst it will never be anything remotely resembling the 15" dob I had years ago, it still shows more than I expected under my suburban skies at Cecil Hills (NSW). I was looking at the Sombrero just the other night through it - very easy to find with a 27mm panoptic (I really thought that I had no chance of finding it). Unfortunately, an 80mm will never pick up much in the way of detail on an object like this.
So now I have aperture fever once again. I love my 10" for photography and have it set up accordingly. However, I had forgotten just how much I also enjoy sitting out under the stars and star hopping around the sky with a big(ish) dob lingering over this object and that.
As I'm on a bit of a budget, SDMs and obsessions are out
I'm considering one of the Orion XX14i scopes at the moment. They look quite nice and are just about the right size. Anything over about 15" is getting a bit too heavy for my liking, and perhaps just a little tall. I haven't forgotten about the Meade Lightbridge 16" scopes, however they seem just a little too large and heavy, and I'm not so sure about the build quality on them. I guess you get what you pay for, but I would hate to end up with a nice big mirror, with a mount that makes me cringe every time I use it.
After that massive preamble, I'm just wondering if anyone has been down this path and what options you may have come up with.
Dean