But, I'm thinking of either making, or picking up an 8 inch Newtonian, however I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if I should spend cash on an equatorial mount, or if a Dobsonian mount is sufficient.
Any thoughts?
It all depends...... on what you want to look at. Dobsonians are cheap for the apeture, but are limited to low power otherwise, the object flies out of the field of view in only a few seconds, and it doesn't lend itself to tracking (unless.... you put your Dobsonian on a Poncet platform!) They are good for big, deep space object that require lots of apeture, like faint nebula.
If you want to see planetary detail, I don't think a Dobsonian is the way to go.
This is the reason that the catadioptric designs by Meade and Celestron are so popular: they are compact (due to the folded light path), do everything reasonably well, and are fairly reasonably priced.
You might consider a smaller scope, say a 4.5" or 5" catadioptric, even a used one, for your "first" scope. A used one would have the advantage of not depreciating much, in case you decide you don't like freezing your a** off in the winter and getting eaten by insects in the summer.....
For reference, I have an 8" Celestron sitting in the garage, collecting dust. I never use it anymore... too much hassle, especially if you have to drag it somewhere....