Ended up getting the Celestron omni 150

only had a minute to mess around with it but already saw jupiter and that shit blew my mind!

Man, one of the XT8's reviews said he could see the icecaps of mars!!! I know YMMV but we're in arizona so I expect good results. You are close to talking me into it.

One other one I just found looks like its a killer deal, but might be too expensive after accessories. It was used to take this picture which is just blowing my mind..http://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/s6130/just_snapped_this_monster_with_my_6_reflector/

Are dobs harder to use? I'm afraid my dad who is in his 60's and has a bad back will have to lean over more...something I read indicated that you had to hunch more.