Dan
I go regularly to dark site with another mate who has the 14" Orion Intelliscope (non-GoTo) and it is indeed a very handy package - easily broken down to pack into the boot of the car - mine is a 12" SW FlexDob and for fainter fuzzies, there's no comparision at all - go for the 14" and you'll soon forget about the perceived "inconveniences"!!
HTH
Cheers
Bill