[simmo]

Hello astr0 and welcome.

I just recently got into astronomy and purchased a 10" dob. So far nearly every night I have been blown away by the views. It's also quite challenging hunting dso's. The planets and the orion neb will stun you first time. If you can get one second hand then go for it you won't be dissapointed. Try it out though before you buy it. My local astroshop has a try before you buy night every thursday and maybe a shop in brizzie will to.
A couple of points (if you do buy dob scope): - if you're going to sit down take an adjustable chair (i'm using an office chair at the moment) or if your standing take a milk crate or something like cause your back will love you for it. I know you will probably thinking about other gadgets but this was the first thing recommended to me in my post and now with a little time under the belt I have definitely understood why.
Free software that's cool is 'Stellarium' and for charts I'm liking 'Cartes du Ciel'. You can print off charts for the night but it takes a little toying around to get used to. It even has asteroids listed which I think is cool as well as being free to download.
Don't forget mozzie repellant if you have them around it sucks if they get bad and probably purchase some lens cleaner as your plossl eyepieces that come with most scopes new mean you have to get close at high mags. My wife took one view with her long eyelashes and that was it for the night on that eyepiece. Camera shops usually have a good range and my eyepiece has never looked better now.
The reason I put this stuff down is that I have had to use them straight away and they are things that you might factor in. Luckily so far most of it has been cheap or free.

Good luck
Simmo