[mic_m (Michael)]

There are large aperture commercial dobsonians that come with GOTO, tracking and digital setting circles as standard.

There is the Orion XTg GOTO dobsonian. The 12 inch model sells for $2810 at Sirius Optics.

There is also the Sky-Watcher SynScan dobsonian that comes with GOTO. However, these are not presently available in Australia.

There is the Sky-Watcher Autotracking dobsonain, which will track objects you locate yourself. The 12 inch version of this telescope is available at Andrews Communications for $2399.

Then there is the Orion XX12i ($1955), Orion XX14i ($2995) and the Orion XT12i ($1639), (plus the whole XTi series) which all have digital setting circles as standard, these are all sold at Sirius Optics.

As you can see packaged GOTO, tracking and digital setting circles is the present of commercial dobsonians!

In terms of the future of commercial dobsonians, I actually think that commercial producers need to spend time working on reducing the bulk and weight of their telescopes. A major issue for many people thinking of upgrading to a larger aperture dobsonian is the sheer size and weight of these instruments. Commercial dobsonian producers need to make something like this affordable to really make large aperture dobsonians truly accessible.

Also note that an SCT is not really any harder to setup than a dobsonian (actually the SCT will be lighter and a lot less bulky). Here is a video demonstration of the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE being setup and aligned. An SCT however, has other disadvantages, such as a larger central obstruction than a Newtonian telescope of the same aperture.

One other thing to note is that you will need a power supply similar to this to drive the mount of a GOTO or tracking telescope, or a whole lot of batteries.

I also agree with the advice given so far regarding choosing a telescope; join a local Astronomy club, talk to other amateurs and look through a number of different telescopes before making up your mind about which one is right for you.

Michael.