I am surprised Meade could put out (what sounds like) such a piece of junk - has anyone heard anofficial response from Meade or one of their representatives about this? Or the distributor....?
Just came across this post and wondered what it was you wanted to image. As the 7" MAK have fallen in price and aren't on your list I presume planets aren't your thing.
I'm using a 9.25 Carbon Fibre Celestron and it's a pleaser as an all round scope. But I'd guess in your budget you need to include electronic motor focuser (you probably don't need a temperature compensating one with a CF OTA) and the JMI or Shoestring USB Focuser adapters. Do you also have filters and camera's selected. If you have the main imaging CCD selected, what's its pixel size - as that has a bearing on your ideal scope too doesn't it?