Is skywatcher 8 dobsonian worth buying

I'm going to get a telescope for christmas and had my heart pretty set on the orion XT8. unfortunately Orion doesnt ship to australia and i only have about an aus $400-$500 dollar budget. I was pretty disappointed and now im looking at another 8'' for around the 400-500 bucks mark. i found

http://shop.australiangeographic.com.au/-Skywatcher-8-Dobsonian-Telescope-P2007.aspx

is this worth buying? if not, could you please provide me with other decent dobsonians that fit my budget please?

SkyWatcher telescope are built in the same factory in China as most of the Orion telescopes, including the XT8. There may be slight differences in the details and the specifications, but they are essentially identical. I've owned an Orion XT6 and have tested SkyWatcher 6" and 8" Dobs, and their main difference is the colour of their tubes. SkyWatcher telescopes are a fine product, and I recommend them highly.

Yes, Skywatcher are a British brand and well-regarded, and their Dobs offer great value-for-money. The actual optics are manufactured by the same company (Synta, in China), only the telescope body and base differ.

Yes. The Skywatcher will be very worth-while. If you ever get a chance to compare it ''head-to-head'' with an XT8, you may have difficulty seeing any perfomance differences - and those may very well be individual variations between scopes.

Yes, it is an excellent choice. Skywatcher has a very good reputation.