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I considered motorising my 17.5" dob a few years back. Went as far as installing an Argo Navis system. But I ditched the whole lot. Two reasons:
* it added a level of complexity that my push-pull scope doesn't have - no power concerns, no extra pieces to forget, no electronics to worry about. I just didn't enjoy the experience. This hobby for me is not a race, & I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. I'm very happy just using charts.
* I actually see more in the EP by physically moving the scope myself. Not a freak thing, but a real physiological response of our eyes at low light levels. I'm not bothered about the need to nudge the scope. I can spend upto three hours at the eyepiece sketching an object, & I'm ok with nudging. I believe it's also made me a better observer, able to find objects easily & see fainter details.
What this also allowed me to do is redirect the money to better EPs. These also give me a wider AFOV, so a longer drift time of the target though the EP.
Don't forget there is a third option, push-to, such as Argo Navis. Systems such as AN can be readily retrofitted to dobs, and can have a much more extensive catalogue of objects & other features than most go-to scopes. They also add very little weight to a dob. Argo Navis is one great system. Yes I sold the CPU, but I've still got the encoders & couplings should I go back to it. That's another thing about Argo - you can buy or sell the system without killing your current scope, & you don't need to use it all the time, it just plugs in & out. Resale value is very high with it too. Oh, it can also be used in a go-to capacity too. You can get as large a dob as you want now, retrofit it with an Argo system, and still be infront $ wise.
Mental.
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