New telescope - not quite a beginner ...

[Rob Atkins]

Hi - I'd welcome some advice about a replacement telescope.  

Until recently, I had a Celestron SkyProdigy 130, which was a doddle to use and great fun until the drive failed.  Despite lots of effort, it proved terminal, so I'm looking for a replacement.  

My key requirements are (i) Goto functionality (ii) mainly visual, but I do try my hand at some unsophisticated DSLR astrophotography (iii) manageable for me to store indoors but take outside for each session (so easy set up desirable) (iv) better imaging than the 130 SkyProdigy - since I'm replacing it, getter better optics seems a good idea; I was thinking an 8 inch reflector might be a good step up (v) good focussing (my Celestron was very poor) (vi) budget of about £1000

At the moment, I'm leaning towards an EQ mount, so either a combined purchase of mount and telescope : say Bresser Messier NT-203 EXOS-2 GOTO Newtonian on GOTO mount (Harrison Telescopes, £981.00) or Sky-Watcher Explorer-200PDS  on HEQ5 PRO (Tring, £1059) Or separate purchases of mount (EQ5 PRO GOTO : FLO £569, or HEQ5 Pro GOTO : Rother Valley £789) and OTA (either Skywatcher 200 PDS : Amazon £369, or Orion 8297 8" f/3.9 Newtonian Astrograph : Amazon £483)

Note : the sources/prices are indicative - I found them in my browsing online.

Any advice would be extremely welcome, before I make a decision that I might regret.  Thanks in advance.