Still can't decide .......

Sorry guys, but I'm sure everyone goes through this before getting their
first 'real' telescope :-)

I've posted here before, and had some good advice from several people
(reflected in my thoughts below). I want to summarise where my thoughts are
now before I take the plunge.

I want to spend around £500 (i.e. lets say £350 to £750) on my first real
telescope. I feel that my interest will be more deep sky than planets (there
is more to see more often?), and I want a scope that I can take outside
quickly and easily if the sky looks promising. The sky is good (mag 4.5 or
5) where I am but there is a streetlamp almost IN my back garden, so any
instrument might have to deal with off-axis light (although I'm sure I can
arrange a screen). Again portability would help here if I could throw the
instrument in the car and drive to a darker site.

I think I am drifting away from EQ mounts because a good one is too heavy to
carry outside with the scope on. I am therefore tempted by Dobsonians and
Meade ETX scopes. The latter is more expensive, but is a nice "toy". The Dob
will give good aperture per pound, which suits my deep sky interest (also
for which lowish magnification means tracking won't be a problem). One final
point though is that I wear specs for astigmatism, and since eye relief is
proportional to eyepiece focal length (?) maybe a longer focal length system
would be better.

I think my preference is to aim at the lower end of my budget and get a
Dobsonian, although I am also tempted by Startravel refractors (again suited
to deep sky?) because of the lack of cool-down problems, sealed tubes etc.
Then again these come on EQ mounts and that almost takes me full-circle.

Storage: The only place I can store a scope is in the garage. This will be
nice and cool, however there is also a condensing tumble-dryer in there
which can raise humdity now and then. If this is really going to be a
problem, maybe I should go back to the Meade idea and store the instrument
in the house.

I've joined the SPA now so should be able to get a discount - assuming I can
finally decide !

Alan