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Hi Labros,
I ended up going with the 8" dobsonian from Bintel, and for $500 it's fantastic value. It took me 10 minutes to put together, and it's very easy to use. I haven't had a chance to do any deep sky observing yet (way too much light pollution and ambient light in my area) but the moon looked amazing through the filter that comes with it.
One thing I did end up doing is building a base with castor wheels to make it easier to move, because this telescope is certainly not petite. You'll also need to find a way to stop the mount from rotating when you don't want it to; the bearings in the roller mat are quite good, which is a pain if there's a breeze.
All in all, I doubt you'll regret buying this scope; I love it. It's easy, it's big, and best of all, it's a great price, leaving more money in your pocket to be spent on other extras like a collimating tool and sky maps/planisphere.
P.s. the guys at bintel were a fantastic help when I was buying the scope.
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