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G'day Glen,
I'm only a newcomer myself, but I feel I can comment on your situation. I got an Astromaster 130eq for Christmas (which by the way, comes with 10mm Plossl, and a 20mm 'erecting' eyepiece, for terrestrial viewing), which I had out at every opportunuity, and the views are quite good.
About two weeks ago I got onto an 8" dob that was for sale at a very good price (too good to refuse). Ever since I've had the two scopes I can tell you that the dob is always the first one to come out. I can carry the dob in two pieces and be set-up in a minute. But with the 130 I try to lug it out the door as one unit, and sometimes struggle with polar alignment (though there are a whole bunch of good tips on this site). Once set-up, there's the issue of sometimes wrestling with the scope to try and get it to a specific target only to find that the eyepiece is then in an impossible position for viewing.
So IMHO dollar for dollar, I'd go for the extra inches of apperture, ease of set-up, and operation. But that's my opinion.
Hope this helps,
Dave.
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