Yes, I've been pondering going to the 12". I'm thinking if I'm going to buy a new telescope, I may as well fork out the bit extra and get something decent.

Indeed it will be expensive, but since PC's are my other hobby, I'm no stranger to forking out great wads of cash each year to upgrade. Hopefully I'm not going to have to get into that cycle as quickly with a telescope if I get the stuff on my list first up.

In Australia (where I am), the ETX 125 with all the extra's (computer, focusser, tripod, hard case) goes for around $5k. The 10" LX 200 is around $6k, so I expect to pay around $10-$15k for the parts on my list. I have yet to find some prices apart from those in the US for CCD's, however at this point its a toss up between the 416 and the SBIG ST8e (which is looking like a winner). Either way, that sort of price range is a drop in the bucket compared to what its been costing to upgrade two pc's each year.

Once again, thanks for the input. I'm going to wait until the end of the year, as I've heard there's possibly a new model coming from meade to go against the Nexstar GPS unit. However, I'll most likely grab this gear straight after christmas.

regards,