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Hi Tim, It is impossible to help you choose without more information
about your situation, your areas of interest etc: for instance, why do
you want dual axis drives? Are you wanting to do any imaging with
your next scope, or happy to just observe. Is your present scope
driven or manually operated? Does size, weight, ease of operation,
set up and take down time matter to you.
The simple matter is that once you move up to 8"or larger
scopes, it's a whole different ball game. An 8"equatorially mounted
scope will weigh any
where between 25 and 40kg, and requires a
set up procedure to be followed. You can't just pick it up and pop
outside with it, except for the most casual observing.
If you are only interested in observing, you will want as
much aperture as you can afford, You can get a 10" collapsible
dobsonian for $699 delivered, which , with the right 2" eyepieces
will blow you away, if you don't mind operating it manually.
If you are young and strong you can get a 12"dob for $899.
Finally, the 8"scope you referred to, is, I imagine,
equatorially mounted. larger Newts on equatorial mounts are
quite cumbersome; you have to keep rotating the tube to put the eyepiece into a comfortable position, and when you do that the tube tends to slide downwards which puts the assembly out of balance.
In other words you need to be dedicated to use one.
I'd wait and do some serious research before you buy.
Hope this helped
raymo
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